Andrew Marr - Mega Cities - Ep1 - Living in the Cities - Worksheet to support the BBC documentary ‘For the first time in history, more people live in cities than the countryside. Across the globe, we have 21 cities with more than 10 million people, and these numbers are set to increase - busy, noisy, crowded megacities are the future. In a fascinating three-part series, Andrew Marr finds out how these heaving mega-metropolises feed, protect and move their citizens. In the first episode, Andrew looks at how people live in five of the world’s biggest megacities: London, one of the world’s oldest megacities; Dhaka, the world’s fastest-growing megacity; Tokyo, the largest megacity on Earth; Mexico City, one of the most dangerous cities in the world; and Shanghai, arguably the financial capital of the world.’ The worksheet is written to provide independent learning and enrichment opportunities through a variety data collection and analytical tasks. The worksheet has been written in Publisher to an A3 format but can be amended and printed as a PDF to accomodate A4 printing. I have included an A4 Word document version to allow for use in Google Classroom

Ray Mears explores how 500,000 square miles of flat, treeless grassland was the setting for some of the Wild West’s most dramatic stories of Plains Indians, wagon trains, homesteaders and cattle drives. Ray joins the Blackfeet Indian Nation as they demonstrate bareback riding skills before a ritual buffalo hunt and sacrifice, and learns how their ancestors were dependent upon the buffalo for their survival. He follows in the wagon ruts of the early pioneers along the Oregon Trail and hitches a ride on a prairie schooner with wagon master Kim Merchant. He discovers the stories of the early homesteaders who lived in sod-houses and farmed the wild grassland around them. At a cattle auction in Dodge City he explores the story of the railways, cow-towns and the buffalo massacre. His journey across the Great Plains ends at Moore Ranch where he joins a long-horn cattle drive and learns about the life and myth of one of the Wild West’s most iconic figures, the cowboy. Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the document can be fully edited and saved as a PDF for A4 printing

BBC - Extinction - David Attenborough - Worksheet to support the BBC Documentary With a million species at risk of extinction, Sir David Attenborough explores how this crisis of biodiversity has consequences for us all, threatening food and water security, undermining our ability to control our climate and even putting us at greater risk of pandemic diseases. Extinction is now happening up to 100 times faster than the natural evolutionary rate, but the issue is about more than the loss of individual species. Everything in the natural world is connected in networks that support the whole of life on earth, including us, and we are losing many of the benefits that nature provides to us. The loss of insects is threatening the pollination of crops, while the loss of biodiversity in the soil also threatens plants growth. Plants underpin many of the things that we need, and yet one in four is now threatened with extinction. Last year, a UN report identified the key drivers of biodiversity loss, including overfishing, climate change and pollution. But the single biggest driver of biodiversity loss is the destruction of natural habitats. Seventy-five per cent of Earth’s land surface (where not covered by ice) has been changed by humans, much of it for agriculture, and as consumers we may unwittingly be contributing towards the loss of species through what we buy in the supermarket. Our destructive relationship with the natural world isn’t just putting the ecosystems that we rely on at risk. Human activities like the trade in animals and the destruction of habitats drive the emergence of diseases. Disease ecologists believe that if we continue on this pathway, this year’s pandemic will not be a one-off event. Written in Publisher and formatted for A3 printing, the resource can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing The worksheet is a 3 page resource

Mexico City World’s Busiest Cities - Worksheet to support the BBC Documentary This time, Dan Snow, Anita Rani and Ade Adepitan are in Mexico City, uncovering the hidden systems and armies of people that help run this sprawling megalopolis of over 22 million people. It is crowded, it is congested and this haphazard city sits in a major earthquake zone, but the people here have a strength of spirit that allows them to defy everything nature can throw at them. Anita discovers how they are trying to stop this megacity from drowning in its own waste, while Ade heads to the edge of the sprawl to find out about the daily struggle for clean, affordable drinking water. Dan reveals how you build a skyscraper in an earthquake zone and learns the hard way that Mexican street food can be hot! Mexico City has grown at a staggering pace. How on earth does this epic sprawl survive its many daily battles? In Mexico City, Dan Snow, Anita Rani and Ade Adepitan uncover the hidden systems and armies of people that help run this sprawling megalopolis of over 22 million people. Written as a PDF

Richard Hammond -Wild Weather - Ep2 - Water: The Shape Shifter - Worksheet to support the BBC Documentary ‘Richard Hammond investigates the crucial role water plays. Without water there would be almost no weather: no rain, no snow, no hail, no clouds. So Richard goes in pursuit of water in all its forms. He tries to weigh a cloud, finds out how rain could crush a car, and gets involved in starting an avalanche’

More than half of us now live in cities. Crowded, chaotic and bursting with life - these are places under pressure. In this series, Dan Snow, Anita Rani and Ade Adepitan go behind the scenes to reveal the hidden systems and armies of people running some of the greatest cities on earth. This time, they are in Hong Kong, where space is at a premium and real estate is the most expensive in the world, so Ade heads into the high rises to find people living in tiny spaces no larger than a cupboard. This former British colony, handed back to the Chinese in 1997, is a city driven by trade and commerce and Dan discovers how it is adapting to life in China’s embrace, while Anita learns about the city’s many traditions - from bamboo scaffolding to banishing bad spirits on the daily commute. Ade heads to the races at Happy Valley, and Dan discovers the history of the origins of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - HSBC. Hong Kong is crowded, chaotic and facing an uncertain future. How does this city of contrasts manage the delicate daily balancing act that keeps it on track? This worksheet is written in Publisher and formatted to A3. It can be edited and saved as a PDF for A4 printing

Iain Stewart reveals the stories and science behind some of the world’s most dramatic earthquakes, including how 1960s Cold War spying gave scientists a clue to understanding them. Iain Stewart looks at some of the world’s most dramatic earthquakes and reveals the stories and science behind them. In seconds, these powerful forces of nature which cannot be predicted or prevented can shake a town to destruction and shift the landscape forever. We discover why quakes can last 60 times longer on the moon than on Earth, how one particular earthquake fault line can produce hallucinations, and how 1960s Cold War spying gave scientists a crucial clue to understanding them. Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the worksheet can be saved as a PDF and printed as A4

Richard Hammond -Wild Weather - Ep1 - Wind: The Invisible Force - Worksheet to support the BBC Documentary Richard Hammond investigates how wind actually starts. He visits one of the windiest places on the planet, walks into the centre of a man-made tornado and creates a 10-metre high whirlwind - made of fire!

Andrew Marr - Mega Cities - Ep3 -Sustaining the City - Worksheet to support the BBC documentary ‘In this film, I’m going to be asking how our megacities can survive without having a colossal heart attack. Motorways, the freeways, the railways below us are the veins and the arteries. But all round the world, these arteries are getting clogged up and congested.’

Andrew Marr - Mega Cities - Ep2 -Cities on the Edge - Worksheet to support the BBC documentary *'For the first time in history, more people live in cities than the countryside. Across the globe, we have 21 cities with more than 10 million people, and these numbers are set to increase - busy, noisy, crowded megacities are the future. In a fascinating three-part series, Andrew Marr finds out how these heaving mega-metropolises feed, protect and move their citizens. *‘Love them or loathe them, fear them or embrace them, the megacities are the human future of the planet. 'They are also Man’s biggest and most dangerous social experiment yet.’ The worksheet is written to provide independent learning and enrichment opportunities through a variety data collection and analytical tasks. The worksheet has been written in Publisher to an A3 format but can be amended and printed as a PDF to accommodate A4 printing. I have included an A4 Word document version to allow for use in Google Classroom

BBC - Kolkata with Sue Perkins - Worksheet to support the BBC Documentary Sue Perkins immerses herself in the complex life of Kolkata. She sees first-hand how it has evolved from a place notorious for its fabled ‘Black Hole’ dungeon and the dreadful poverty of its street people to a place reinventing itself as a vibrant new megacity, with a booming property sector and a reputation for eccentricity, culture and tolerance. In this intricate human habitat, Sue explores the lives of its people, from the 250,000 homeless street kids hustling for a living to the wealthy young entrepreneurs who race their Ferraris and Lamborghinis down the streets of the New Town. She joins the rickshaw wallahs navigating the chaotic city streets and narrow lanes, thronged with people, and descends into Kolkata’s Victorian sewers as part of an epic clean-up. She limbers up with the ladies of the Laughing Club and makes an offering to the goddess in the sacred Kalighat Temple. No other city tells the remarkable story of India more clearly than the beautiful, crazy, colourful city of Kolkata. Through encounters with people from every strata of society, from the richest to the poorest, Sue paints a picture of contemporary India emerging from a brutal colonial past to take its place among the most powerful nations on earth. Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the resource can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing

Dan Snow travels back to a seething Manhattan in the throes of the industrial revolution. Millions fled persecution, poverty and famine in Europe in the 19th century in search of the Promised Land. When they arrived what they found was even worse than what they’d left behind. New York was a city consumed by filth and corruption, its massive immigrant population crammed together in the slums of Lower Manhattan. Dan succumbs to some of the deadly disease-carrying parasites that thrived in the filthy, overcrowded tenement buildings. He has a go at cooking with some cutting edge 19th century ingredients - clothes dye and floor cleaner - added to disguise reeking fetid meat. And he marvels at some of the incredible feats of engineering that transformed not just the city, but the world. Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the resource can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing

Richard Hammond -Wild Weather - Ep3 - Temperature: The Driving Force - Worksheet for the BBC TV Documentary Written in Publisher to for A3 formatting editable and savable as a PDF for A4 printing. A Word version is provided for ease of upload to Google Classroom

Using state-of-the-art 3D graphics and the timing of a stand-up comedian, world-famous statistician Professor Hans Rosling presents a spectacular portrait of our rapidly changing world. With seven billion people already on our planet, we often look to the future with dread, but Rosling’s message is surprisingly upbeat. Almost unnoticed, we have actually begun to conquer the problems of rapid population growth and extreme poverty. Across the world, even in countries like Bangladesh, families of just two children are now the norm - meaning that within a few generations, the population explosion will be over. A smaller proportion of people now live in extreme poverty than ever before in human history and the United Nations has set a target of eradicating it altogether within a few decades. In this as-live studio event, Rosling presents a statistical tour-de-force, including his ‘ignorance survey’, which demonstrates how British university graduates would be outperformed by chimpanzees in a test of knowledge about developing countries. We live in a world of relentless change. Huge migrations of people to new mega cities, filling soaring skyscrapers and vast slums. Ravenous appetites for fuel and food. Unpredictable climate change. And all this in a world where the population is still growing. Should we be worried? Should we be scared? How to make sense of it all? Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the worksheet can be saved as a PDf for A4 printing

Geologist Professor Iain Stewart shows how the continent of Africa was formed from the wreckage of a long-lost supercontinent. He discovers clues in its spectacular landmarks, mineral wealth and iconic wildlife that help piece together the story of Africa’s formation. But he also shows how this deep history has left its mark on the modern-day Africa and the world. Iain starts at Victoria Falls, with a leap into the water right on the lip of the 100m waterfall. Hidden within this cliff face is evidence that the falls were created by vast volcanic eruptions 180 million years ago, marking the moment when Africa was carved from the long-lost supercontinent of Pangaea and became a separate continent. The creation of Africa had a surprising impact on evolution. At the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Iain finds marine creatures that reveal that this part of Africa was once a shallow sea that formed when Africa was created. And within the arid Western Desert, he reveals 17m-long skeletons of early whales revealing how land-dwelling mammals were lured back into the shallow seas created by the birth of the African continent, leading to the evolution of whales. At the diamond mines of Sierra Leone, the vast gravel pits once fuelled the devastating civil war. These diamonds reveal not just the very earliest origins of the land that makes up Africa today, but how the very first continents came into existence. On the Serengeti Plains the wildebeest migration is fuelled by a process that will eventually lead to Africa’s destruction. Every year the wildebeest return to give birth in an area of nutrient-rich grass growing on fertile volcanic soil and ash and lava from the nearby volcano reveals that beneath Africa there lies a mantle plume of molten rock. This volcanic upwelling is so strong that scientists predict it will one day tear the ancient continent of Africa in two. Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the resource can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing

Kate Humble joins a team of geologists on a journey right to the heart of one of the most active volcanoes in the world. On the island of Tanna in the Vanuatu archipelago lies Yasur - a volcano that erupts constantly, firing out red-hot lava bombs and showering the island in thick black ash. To discover whether another devastating eruption might happen, the team needs to collect a lava bomb the minute it is hurled from the crater. As they prepare for their death-defying mission, Kate explores the island and discovers how the volcano shapes the lives, traditions and beliefs of everyone who lives in its shadow. Written in Publisher and formatted to A3, the resource can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing

BBC - Orbit: Earth’s Extraordinary Journey Episode 3 Right now you’re hurtling around the sun at 64,000 miles an hour (100,000 kms an hour). In the next year you’ll travel 584 million miles, to end up back where you started. Presenters Kate Humble and Dr Helen Czerski follow the Earth’s voyage around the sun for one complete orbit, to witness the astonishing consequences this journey has for us all. In this final episode we complete our journey, travelling back from the March equinox to the end of June. Kate Humble is in the Arctic at a place where spring arrives with a bang, whilst Helen Czerski chases a tornado to show how the earth’s angle of tilt creates the most extreme weather on the planet. written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the resource can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing