Geography
OVERVIEW
This course offers an introduction to contemporary and topical themes, including climate change. The GCSE course covers geography of the UK, worldwide topics and environmental geography. As a result, pupils are able to foster attitudes that will assist them to participate as active and informed citizens in our global society and to appreciate and apply the concept of sustainability.
OUR SYLLABUS
At GCSE (and for some of Year 9), Edexcel Geography B not only covers geographical content but also introduces a wide variety of skills (and an enquiry-based approach). This includes interpreting resources, mathematics, extended writing, and Geographical Information Science. It bridges the sciences and humanities.
The GCSE course covers UK physical and human geography, focusing on case studies such as the development of Birmingham, and enabling pupils to better understand the county and country they live in.
This section is augmented by field trips to Sidmouth, for coastal studies, and Exeter, for urban studies. The second paper focuses on global geography, including a large section on India and pure physical geography in the form of typhoons, tectonic hazards and flooding.
At its heart, geography blends our understanding of the human and physical worlds, and in paper 3 this is evident with topics focused on energy use, global resources and global ecosystems.
WHY STUDY GEOGRAPHY?
Geography fosters a love of the world around us. It helps us understand the places in which we live and the wider world in order to create a generation of future changemakers. It provides pupils with an opportunity to identify their importance and responsibility within the wider world.
Whether in human or physical landscapes, geography give us the knowledge and skills to better understand the challenges of the present and approach the future with positive agency.
Field trips enable first-hand opportunities to study a variety of topics: GCSE pupils study coastal features and management at locations such as Sidmouth, alongside exploring regeneration and quality of life in a city such as Exeter. In addition, the department has previously run international trips, such as to Iceland, where pupils were able to explore its unique geomorphology and seismic activity.
We regularly have external speakers come to the department to speak on a range of global and local topics. The department has embraced the use of technology, incorporating GIS into the fieldwork research and using online journals to enhance learning.
Geography encourages pupils to be inquisitive about the world around them and to take an interest in current affairs. It inspires pupils to be global citizens, aware of sustainability, climate change and the challenges that face their generation.
Geographers are adept at bringing together perspectives from multiple subjects, thinking laterally across debates, synthesising materials, and holding ideas in creative tension. Vocations range from Civil Service roles to working as a geoscientist, politician or a GIS analyst among others.
