Exploring the Concepts and Content in IGCSE and IBDP Geography
This video serves as a great crossover between units like urban environments and oceans/coastal margins in the IBDP syllabus. It’s something you should look out for when you do your post-Covid city trips! An interesting video that concerns many of the concepts of space, place, power, spatial interactions, and more. Credit to Half as Interesting Youtube channel for providing this video.
Why the East Ends of (Most) Cities are Poorer – Half as Interesting
Below is an IGCSE coursework checklist I created for my students and their component 3 (coursework) in the IGCSE geography programme. It is meant to provide a pathway to ensure students have a clear understanding of the expectations to do well. I do not give this to them from the beginning of the coursework writing process as I believe the coursework is a tool for (guided) inquiry. Instead I give them personal feedback as well as this checklist when they have completed their rough drafts.
I have slightly adapted this document so it is more general and other teachers can use/adapt it. We investigate urban stress in Rotterdam, but this coursework checklist is applicable to nearly all other fieldwork investigations. If any teachers out there have feedback I would love to hear it!
Click here to download the IGCSE Geography Coursework Checklist
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to cause unending disruption, researchers at James Cook University and other collaborators put forth some interesting and thought-provoking possibilities for urban areas in this publication which takes only a couple of minutes to read. One has to wonder what lessons can and should be learned from how we have(n’t) adapted to the current state of affairs on all different scales. A further more comprehensive publication is linked to at the bottom of the article.
https://www.jcu.edu.sg/news/releases/re-evaluating-public-spaces-during-the-covid-19-pandemic
(Credit to: Lisa Law, Simona Azzali and Sheila Conejos)
The article below is an interesting read for anyone interested in both rural and urban environments. Counter-urbanisation, urbanisation, tourism, cultural identity, and architectural design are all interesting themes at play in the plans of building Europe’s tallest sky scraper in Brande, a town of just over 7000 people. Credit to the Guardian for the article, no author named. The photograph below provided by Bestseller and found in the article is of the planned skyscraper.
The following two minute video posted by China Spotlight on youtube demonstrates the negative effects of tourism when not managed properly. Additionally, it illustrates the dangers of social media and more specifically geo-tagging and TikTok bringing awareness to intriguing natural sites. A sea of beautiful pink ‘Hairawn Muhly Grass’ is destroyed by tourists looking for that perfect photo opportunity.
This article written by Peter Dockrill for Science alert examines the potentially devestating realities of Arctic ice disappearing. It is based on the modeling research by professor Dirk Notz of University of Hamburg and his team. A quick article definitely worth a perusal for those studying or interested in the effects of the enhanced greenhouse effect and climate change.
This visualisation offers insight into how urban densities can be compared and contrasted with regards to how much area they would take if the total human population lived according to a particular city’s density. It gives good indications of the processes of urban sprawl, urbanisation, as well as the expansion of the rural-urban fringe. A thought provoking creation!
In these times where angst prevails, I figured it was time to pull up a classic video, one that mentions some harsh realities, but more importantly, is flooded with optimism. The late Hans Rosling is a legend among the geographic community for his positive-yet-realistic outlook, unyielding enthusiasm, and desire to educate. He is without a doubt a heavy influence on me as a teacher of geography.
In these times when many of us are staying at home, it is important to remember that history shows us we will pull through COVID-19 outbreak. Take a look to check out the astounding ‘progress’ humanity has made in the last 200 years. We’re not where we need to be, inequality still abounds both globally and nationally, but we are indeed moving forward as a species in many ways.
I wish everyone safety and health and a pinch of sanity during these strange times!
While browsing around trying to find reliable and interesting websites pertaining to the Coronavirus that is currently all anyone can talk about, I came across this nifty website. I do not know if it will be updated as time goes along, but it could be an interesting discussions-starter in Food and Health, and Global Interactions units.
https://towardsdatascience.com/coronavirus-data-visualizations-using-plotly-cfbdb8fcfc3d
This video gives useful and interesting knowledge for any geography student or someone interested in international relations or futurology. Great for revision of the core as well as urban environments to a certain extent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMo3nZHVrZ4&feature=emb_logo
