The River Ribble Spearman's Rank

Why does the volume of water that flows through the River Ribble change from month to month? Is it based on rainfall? Or is it influenced by sunshine? Which factor do you think would have the greatest impact?

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Water and Carbon in the Arctic Tundra

What are the carbon and water cycles like in the Arctic Tundra? What physical and human factors affect them? Just click on  the link below to download all the resources for this lesson - based on the OCR specification.

DOWNLOAD ARCTIC TUNDRA LESSON

Water and Carbon in the Amazon Rainforest

For the past 6 years teaching geography A-level I've had to choose between ecosystems and plate tectonics so sadly I haven't taught much on tropical rainforests for quite a while (you can guess which of the two aforementioned topics is more popular!). So I was excited to see the Amazon rainforest as one of the core case studies in the textbook for this new OCR spec. 

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The Importance of Water and Carbon

Having started off with some human geography (Changing Spaces), January seems a good time to get started with the physical...

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Teaching Migration with Paddington Bear :)

In 2015 I attended a lecture entitled 'Borders, Migration and Globalisation: Changing Geographies of Mobility' by Dr Jonathan Darling at the GA's Annual Meeting in Manchester. I have summarized some of the key points below (with a few bits of my own research thrown in too!).

It contains some useful ideas for the new Geography A-level - I especially like the idea of using Paddington Bear to introduce the topic of migration - check out the article linked under the first photo as a possible teaching resource.

An Immigration Lawyer Reviews Paddington - Article

What would happen to Paddington Bear if he was a real stowaway from ‘darkest Peru’? 

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Last minute tips for the AQA GEOG3 exam

Best Reactions to the AS Geography Exam

I had to write a post to save some of the hilarious comments that ensued on Twitter about the AQA GEOG1 exam this week. Here are some of the best!

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Top Tips for Acing the AQA GEOG2 Exam

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Aeolian Processes

Wow, finally I found the time and motivation to make another video! Deserts, as you can tell, is one of my favourite topics, so I did it on aeolian processes - that is, erosion, transportation and deposition.

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Answering exam questions EXPLICITLY

If I said to you:

'Do you like chocolate? Can you explain why?'

How would you respond? Would you say something like this:

'Chocolate bars cost about £1 to buy in the shop and they come from cocoa beans, which are grown in South America because they need a tropical climate to grow. Different brands of chocolate include Cadbury and Galaxy. You shouldn't give chocolate to dogs. Different types of dog include Poodles and Great Danes...'

Or would you say:

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Starter or Plenary for Hot Deserts

Here is an easy starter or plenary for hot deserts (which you can also do with any topic). I come up with 3 sets of questions and colour-code them according to how difficult they are. I then fold them, put them in a container and students take turns to pick one out; they can decide whether to go for something easy or a bit more challenging. 

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Desert Landforms Revision

Here is a PowerPoint I created to help you revise desert landforms (just in case the videos weren't enough!). Also see my post on salt lakes here.

Desert Landforms Video Competition!

Here are all the entries into my desert landforms video competition! I haven't decided on a winner yet so please vote for your favourite one (in terms of effort, geographical information and how interesting it is to watch) by giving it a thumbs up on YouTube or leaving a comment below.

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How do Inselbergs form?

Well done to Megan and Stuart for this imaginative video on the formation of inselbergs! Please share and give them a thumbs up if you like it. It's not very long but they put a lot of work into it, sticking everything in place with blue tack and patiently moving the pieces for each frame.

What are Mesas and Buttes?

You may have seen my post last week about making desert landform videos with my students. Well here is the first entry on the formation of Mesas and Buttes! Well done to Bayley and Emilie for all the hard work they put into this (it's made up of over 500 photos!).

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Stuff You Should Know

Commuting, cleaning, cooking... all those things that seem to take so much time yet you don't seem to be achieving much, or having much fun! To make these times more productive (and more interesting, btw I'm talking about your routine cooking dinner rather than baking a nice cake) I like to listen to podcasts.

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Desert Landform Videos!

So, each year I really struggle to teach landforms, for rivers, deserts, coastal, glacial - any environment. There are just so many different types listed and it's OK for the first few but then it just gets so tedious having to draw and label and explain each one.

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Hydrology Key Terms Speed Matching Game

There are so many terms in the hydrological cycle it can all get a bit confusing. Test your knowledge of the key terms by matching them up to their definitions (click on the image above to get to the game). All you need to do is drag the correct word down to the definition at the top of the list to make it disappear, and you can also time yourself to see how quickly you get all the definitions to vanish!

A Plant's Guide to Desert Survival

Water. That's one thing us plants need on a regular basis or else we'll just shrivel up and die, right? If your owner is going away on holiday they damn well better get the neighbour to water us; or get some of those special hydrating crystals!



But did you know that not all plants are like this? Oh no, some plants can survive for yeeeaars without any water... some plants amputate their own limbs to survive! ... Some plants can even come back... from the dead!

How do they do this?! I hear you ask, is it magic?

Not quite, but it's close! These amazing plants have special adaptations that enable them to live right out in the middle of a desert! The last place you'd ever find me!

You can categorise these fellas into four main types. Let's have a look at them in more detail:

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Why Do Students Do This?!

During the first lesson of this term I got all my new AS students to read and sign the Homework Policy - homework always due in on Tuesdays unless stated otherwise; failure to hand it in will result in a contract, a college wide system, which if broken will lead to all sorts of problems involving parents and department heads.

This is what happened to me only 2 weeks in... (names changed to protect identity).

THURSDAY

I decide to be extra kind and the only homework I set is to

finish off an 8 mark question that they already started in class.  

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