This powerpoint resource offer a series of 8 starter activities, each designed to develop a particular critical thinking skill in students such as meta cognition, assessing importance of different view-points and sources. Each skills-based task is set in the context of human-based Geography, largely connected to the AQA Specification A topic of ‘Urban Issues & challenges’ but does also encompass wider synoptic links to other parts of human geography. Each skills based starter can be done as a stand alone activity, or all 8 skills could be done together in one lesson as a revision session for Paper 2 Human Geography. The importance of critical skills to exam success is implied throughout, and at the end, the final task asks students to analyse past exam questions and identify which of the critical skills taught will be useful to answering the question set. This resource is aimed at middle to high ability learners.

This resource is designed for a quick recap across all 3 of the Human Paper topics: Urban Issues and Challenges, The Challenge of Resource Management and Changing Economic World. It is made up of a series of 20 questions on each topic ( 60 in total) which only require brief answers ( 1 -2 marks) and is taken from across a broad range of the specification, focusing on the CORE elements. It has been designed for last minute revision and can be done in class or at home. It would be useful for students to complete with access to the BBC bitesize revision website or a revision guide to ease speed of completion. Most of the command words are give, identify, outline, describe etc. Please note these are questions only without answers/ mark scheme.

I love to spend a lesson doing these reflection activities at the end of a half term or unit of work. These are ideal for lower year groups, 7 and 8, but possibly could be used for junior years at primary school too. I set these when I want some feedback on my topic and also some time to get some assesment marking done. For those that finish early ask them to mount their sheet onto coloured sugar paper and draw a fancy border, alternatively print double-sided with a geography themed colouring page/ map on the reverse. Keep completed copies for displays and to bring out at open evenings.

This worksheet builds on the basic map skills once they have been taught and is designed to stretch and challenge middle and higher ability students to interpret maps and images and create contour maps. They will need to 1. create a contour map of Mordor, 2. Use colour to shade the relief onto their map or image and 3. Use compass directions to see where will be effected if mount doom volcano erupts. For middle ability sets the teacher may need to help the students get started by drawing some contour lines onto the whiteboard to represent gentle hills, steep volcano and flatter areas as they may find this tricky.

This series of activities gets students to use their maps, graphs and numeracy skills to learn about the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. It can be done as a lesson using the powerpoint slides or set as a homework activity using the publisher document and printing in large A3 size. The posters look fantastic on display and is sure to gain attention from SLT and ofsted while you develop cross curricular links with maths. On the poster there is a simply AFL tool- teachers can circle or tick whether the work gets bronze, silver or gold award. Ideal for any Ks3 grouop- originally written for year 8.

I have adapted the famous game of connect 4, where 2 players are pitted against each other to connect 4 coloured ’ disks’ into adjacent slots vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Each player needs to give the correct answer before being allowed to colour in their disk. 2 players can fill in the same sheet, or ideally laminate the blank board for multiple uses with non-permenant markers and save your photocopying budget. Great for all ability ranges and engaging less motivated student with physical Geography content for the paper 1 AQA GCSE examination. Questions cover changes and processess along the long profile of a river plus definitions for drainage basin features.

Land use refers to what is built on the land at a specific point or the way in which humans use it; for example- residential, industrial, commerce and so on. Land use patterns vary considerably between HIc’s and Lic’s and this lesson examines the Hoyt and Burgess model with a focus task on Brazil. Students must place phototgraphs around their models base on their knowlege of land use patterns. They will start with a quick recap on keywords linked to the theme of urbanisation and urban environments. Fiinally a 4 mark exam question wil test their ability to compare land use between HIc’s and LIC’s. Written for the older AQA GCSE Geography syllabus, but still relevant today.

This odd-one out activity encourages students to consider key terms, important concepts and processes within hot deserts and tropical rainforests. There are 8 sets of 4 words/ phrases and students must critically think about which one does not fit the overall pattern. Answers are provided with simple explanations. This works well as a starter activity for GCSE groups but could easily be set as a homework task for independant study.

This resource is my own predictions for the content from each topic that I think will come up in the summer exams for this spec which I myself have taught for 10 years. I have cross referenced the full exam from 2018 to highlight content not yet covered. It is pupil friendly and would be ideal to plan your departmental revision around or give straight to the students

Combining creativity and map skills where students need to read the map to fill out gaps in a story. The story will test students understanding on map symbols, grid references,direction, scale and distance, and there are extension questions which require critical thinking around the map for the most able students. Answers included! You could even ask your students to write their own map skills story too based on a map of their choice to embrace national story telling week.

A River long profile shows the changes to the river channel, valley and land use as it travels downstream. All GCSE Exam boards require in depth knowlege of the river long profile and require students to demonstrate proficient map skills. This worksheet based activity combines both knowlege and skills effectively and engages student with maps! Teaching River profiles no longer has to be dull and dry. I created this resource for year 9 in their first GCSE year and wanted to engage them in their learning. This activity works well in small groups huddled round and OS map- all the maps can be different, that’s the beauty of the questions, they are left open-ended. Hints and help are given on the worksheet and an OS water map symbols guide is included for reference. There are a variety of challenging extention activities for the more able. It could be the perfect task to do in association with a river based fieldwork trip, to familiarise students with their chosen river location and drainage basin.

These resources were created to help students complete learning aim A in their unit 5 coursework for Btec ( climatic factors that effect tourism). There is a help-sheet for students to read about the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on the USA tourism industry. Students then use this information to complete / fill out the Power-Point slide to show their understanding from Pass to Merit level. Links for further study are provided. This template has been used successfully in my school to gain MERIT level awards. please see my other resources for Learning aim A: Snowfall in the Alps.

This is a teacher-made example of part of a UNIT 5 coursework ( learning aim A); Factors that effect Worldwide Travel and Tourism. The factor here is snowfall, and how this impacts on the appeal of the ALPs, in France. The work shows the difference between describe and explain, and was used to help students understand the detail and quality that examiners look for in MERIT work. There are no formal activities linked to this, however students could use this to judge against their own work.

A useful revision homework where students pick and annotate photographs/maps of coastal landforms. A peer assessment and feedback grid is included.

This is a lesson which introduces the concept of e-tickets and m-tickets. Students then complete a grid to assess the advantages and disadvanatges of using these types of tickets. this resource was produced for the Unit 1 examination in Travel and Tourism.

This is a stand-alone activity using De Bono’s thinking skills/ hats to analysis a GIS image of air pollution levels accorss the uk. There is a link to the met office website to help complete the task, and an extension activity for the more able. The questions are colour-coded into the 6 hats, however you don’t need any prior knowlege on these to utilize the resource. Originally written for our year 9 GIS scheme of work.

A full lesson which can be done with internet research or with textbooks/ revision guides. Student are introduced to a range of landforms and must summarise their formation onto a worksheet grid with links to relevant sites. A detailed annotation task of sand-dunes is included.

This Powerpoint lesson describes what time zones are, and explains how travellers are effected as they travel East or West ( Jetlag, DVT. There are activities where students have to calculate time zone differences and questions to check their understanding in conjunction with the official Btec Travel and Tourism Textbook. This lesson is ideal to accompany the coursework element at Pass and Merit level.

A literacy based starter activity to get students to understand the benefits of debt relief for NEE’s and LIC’s. A link is provided to the relevant news article in question. Higher ability challenge question included. Directly linked to AQA specification A curriculum for ’ Changing Economic World.’

Ks3 full lesson written for year 7 ‘Manchester’ themes scheme of work, aimed at deepening their understanding of the city and how football supports the local economy. includes literacy skills through report reading, and a fun starter game where students move around the room to test their understanding on local football teams. Differentiated main activity for low ability students.