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Why Geography?

You will benefit from having an interest in the world around you, be it curiosity about how a landscape has formed, or an interest in how a community might be affected by trans-national corporations. You need to be prepared to leave the classroom and see for yourself what is going on!

The world we live in is changing. Geography allows you to see why and how it is changing. Geography will challenge your perceptions and stimulate your investigative and analytical skills. It can enhance communication skills, literacy and numeracy, team working, problem solving and environmental awareness.

The Advanced GCE in Geography will appeal to you if:

• You are curious about the world's places, peoples and environments
• You like asking questions and finding answers
• You are interested in local, regional and global issues
• You have the ability to think independently
• You wish to explore human, physical and environmental geographical relationships.

Geographers develop enquiry, decision making, fieldwork and research skills, which will prepare them well for Higher Education courses or a wide range of career choices. They also learn to appreciate the significance of human values in decision making and to think critically on a range of issues.

Course Outline

Unit 1: Physical Geography Examination unit Externally assessed

Hazards – This section of the specification focuses on the lithosphere and the atmosphere, which intermittently but regularly present natural hazards to human populations, often in dramatic and

sometimes catastrophic fashion. By exploring the origin and nature of these hazards and the various ways in which people respond to them, students are able to engage with many dimensions of the relationships between people and the environments they occupy.

Coastal Systems - This section of our specification focuses on coastal zones, which are dynamic environments in which landscapes develop by the interaction of winds, waves, currents and terrestrial and marine sediments. The operation and outcomes of fundamental geomorphological processes and their association with distinctive landscapes are readily observable. In common with water and carbon cycles, a systems approach to study is specified.

Water and Carbon - This section of our specification focuses on the major stores of water and carbon at or near the Earth's surface and the dynamic cyclical relationships associated with them. These are major elements in the natural environment and understanding them is fundamental to many aspects of physical geography.

This is worth 40% of your total A-level

Unit 2: Human Geography Examination unit Externally assessed

Global Systems and Governance - This section of our specification focuses on globalisation – the economic, political and social changes associated with technological and other driving forces which have been a key feature of global economy and society in recent decades.

Changing Places - This section of our specification focuses on people's engagement with places, their experience of them and the qualities they ascribe to them, all of which are of fundamental importance in their lives. Students acknowledge this importance and engage with how places are known and experienced, how their character is appreciated, the factors and processes which impact upon places and how they change and develop over time.

Population and the Environment - This section of our specification has been designed to explore the relationships between key aspects of physical geography and population numbers, population health and well-being, levels of economic development and the role and impact of the natural environment.

This is worth 40% of your total A-level

Unit 3: Geographic Investigation - Marked by teachers and moderated by AQA.

Students are required to undertake an independent investigation. This must incorporate a significant element of fieldwork. The fieldwork undertaken as part of the individual investigation

may be based on either human or physical aspects of geography, or a combination of both.

This is a 3,000 - 4,000 word piece of fieldwork. Students complete an individual investigation which must include data collected in the field. The individual investigation must be based on a question or issue defined and developed by the student relating to any part of the specification content.

This is worth 20% of your total A-level.