Geography

Head of Department: Miss A McCaughern
Contact: ajmc@felsted.org
Instagram: @Felsted_Geography

Exam Board: AQA   www.aqa.org.uk
Syllabus Code: 8035  

 

 

Why should I study Geography?

There has never been a better or more important time to study geography.
Geography helps you to make sense of the world around you. It's hands on, relevant, and fun. Whatever your passion for the world – fascination with landscapes or concerns about sustainability – geography will provide you with knowledge and transferable skills that will reward you personally and advance you professionally.

Geography is a broad based academic subject which will open up options for you in your future. Employers and universities see geography as a robust academic subject rich in skills, knowledge and understanding. As a subject linking the arts and the sciences it is highly flexible in terms of what you can combine it with, both at GCSE and A Level. If you choose to take geography on to university there are literally hundreds of courses to choose from and the range of career areas accessed by graduates of geography will probably surprise you.

Fieldwork plays a key part in supporting the teaching, with opportunities for day and residential trips, as well as virtual fieldwork using GIS and Google earth to explore Lagos and the River Tees. 

Geography draws on other subjects to consider the interaction between people and places, understand the processes that are occurring and consider how these can be managed to ensure a sustainable future.​ It helps develop maths skills as well as extended writing skills with a particular emphasis on application and evaluation. 
 

Expectations of independent study

Prep is set on a weekly basis and students should be spending 20-30 minutes on each task. There are many key terms in Geography and it is advisable for students to be also spending time between lessons going back over key processes, features and concepts by building up their glossaries.

 In addition there is a wealth of other material in the form of books, magazines and TV programmes that it is highly recommended that students engage with as the Geography topics that we study are also huge global issues that affect people everywhere. 

Assessment in Geography focuses on application of knowledge. The maximum mark per question is 9 marks where pupils have to write more in depth about particular issues such as opportunities versus challenges of economic development in a remote cold environment.
All pupils complete two mini fieldwork projects on field trips that are now assessed in the skills exam paper. 

What do the pupils say?
“A friendly and supportive department, who challenge us to work hard.” 
“I find it fascinating that so much of the work we cover I can witness happening around me and in the news.”
“I enjoy Geography so much, especially the ‘Coasts’ topic which we studied in Swanage, that I want to do it for A Level.”

 

 

What skills will I develop by studying this subject?
The course is designed to encourage pupils to become independent enquirers and to be able to formulate arguments using case study material. In addition pupils learn to react to unseen resources and to apply their knowledge. On field trips they develop the ability to work with their peers collecting data first hand and then use a wide range of skills including ICT, graphs and statistics as well as map skills to analyse and evaluate their findings.

Assessment:
3 written exam papers 
Paper 1 – Physical Geography 35% 
Paper 2 – Human Geography 35% 
Paper 3 – Geographical Skills 30%

The trip to Dorset was a great way to learn; seeing the landscape really brought it to life!

Molly, Year 10