This is a fully planned and resourced research lesson for a Geography Year 12 or 13 A Level class to investigate the main players involved in the production and supply of energy, designed to fit with the Edexcel A Level course and specifically 6.4c: Energy players (role of TNCs, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), consumers, governments) have different roles in securing pathways and energy supplies. Students work in groups to research a specific energy player, complete a carefully targeted factfile, report back to their peers and then work towards the class production of an Edexcel exam question. Links are provided for students to continue their work privately.

Use this activity sheet with a clip of the ‘America’ song from Westside Story. Students classify parts of the song as push factors, pull factors or results of the migration, while enjoying the music!

This is a full lesson that uses a conference style debate to encourage students to look at differing viewpoints about the controversial issue of migration from Mexico to the USA, thinking about it from the perspective of a range iof different stakeholders. The Powerpoint presentation starts with a series of key pictures of ways in which migrants try to cross the border to remind the students of the lengths the migrants will go to, and then the conference groups are introduced and the conference explained. There is also a set of role cards to help the students put their conference speeches together and a helpsheet with some key facts they could incorporate. I have used this successfully with Year 9, but it would probably work for any year group in Key Stage 3.

This can be used as a task within a lesson about population growth. It is a series of factors for students to classify as mostly affecting either birth rate or death rate, then they can use them to create a spider diagram of the factors, adding an up or down arrow to show whether it would increase or decrease the birth rate or the death rate, also explaining why.

This is an ideal revision resource for a class who have come to the end of the Edexcel AS/A Level Topic 2B, Coastal Landscapes and Change. The resource comes with two files - a Powerpoint slide with 36 answers, so that the students can jot down five random numbers between 1-36 and the answers that go with them. The second file is a set of Bingo clues that go with those answers for the teacher to read out. With a higher ability or lower ability class, many of the clues could be modified to make them easier or more difficult ways of achieving the same answers.

This is an ideal revision resource for a class who have come to the end of the Edexcel AS/A Level Geography Topic 1, Tectonic Processes and Hazards. The resource comes with two files - a Powerpoint slide with 36 answers, so that the students can jot down five random numbers between 1-36 and the answers that go with them. The second file is a set of Bingo clues that go with those answers for the teacher to read out. With a higher ability or lower ability class, many of the clues could be modified to make them easier or more difficult ways of achieving the same answers.

Aimed at new Year 7 classes - students go around the room and speak to their peers, writing names into the boxes. Works really well with some teacher led feedback at the end, asking further questions around the bingo requirements.

This is a complete lesson on China’s One Child Policy aimed at Year 9 and using the excellent ‘Mai Ling’ mystery task (not mine)

A complete lesson aimed at Year 9 introducing migration as a concept. There is a matching task to learn key terms and definitions, a push/pull factors activity and a task using the ‘America’ song from Westside Story to identify push and pull factors from the perspective of the Puerto Rican migrants to New York. It concludes with a homework task asking students to interview a real-life migrant!

This is a complete lesson on the hydrological cycle, with a focus on stores and fluxes and both green and blue water flows. Students use a card sort to build their own water cycle, using knowledge they will have from Science and Geography lower down the school. It may help to have a device or textbook on hand in case students need to look up definitions of new terminology to help them correctly place it. All instructions for the task are on the Powerpoint. The lesson starts and finishes with short, thought provoking embedded video clips to put the hydrological cycle in a context of supporting life.

This is a complete lesson comprising a Powerpoint presentation and a worksheet that introduces the tundra biome, looking at where it is located, its main characteristics and its climate, using a climate graph to help develop graph skills.

This lesson looks at coastal erosion on the Holderness coast with a focus on the village of Mappleton, where defences have been constructed. It starts with a couple of quick rounds of ‘odd one out’, which can have several correct answers, then a some maps locating Holderness and Mappleton setting the scene. The worksheet has a sketch of the village and some simple shading tasks to identify the defences etc, using the photos on the slideshow (taken by myself) and an embedded video clip. There are also some follow-up tasks for students to pull their new knowledge together and explain how the defences might work, plus a higher level extension.

This complete A Level lesson takes students through the difficult topics of El Nino and La Nina and looks at the effects on the weather and therefore the links to droughts and flooding either side of the Pacific and elsewhere. It comes with a printable sheet for students to take notes onto and some really clear explanatory diagrams for you to talk the processes through. You will need internet enabled devices for the research elements of the lesson.

This is a complete lesson on unconventional energy, with the focus on tar sands in Canada. It works best with some research or a key textbook to provide the introduction, then I have used one of the textbook ‘pros and cons’ grids to create a card sort activity - students have to join together the start and end cards to create the pros and cons, then classify them. The embedded video clips provide some background and also some footage of the immense destruction Alberta has experienced.

This is a worksheet that students can use while watching Episode 2 of the excellent ‘Future of Water’ documentary series - students look out for ‘truth and lies’ statements and try to work out why the false statements are false! The documentary series is currently available on Amazon Prime at https://www.amazon.com/The-Future-of-Water/dp/B07N14YWSP and has also been on Netflix.

This full lesson uses the well known ‘Enrique’ card sorting task to build a story of why Mexicans continue to take huge risks to cross the border into America. It has a starter, a differentiated follow up task and a plenary.

This is an ideal revision resource for a class who have come to the end of the Edexcel AS/A Level Geography Topic 5, Water Cycle and Water Insecurity. The resource comes with two files - a Powerpoint slide with 36 answers, so that the students can jot down five random numbers between 1-36 and the answers that go with them. The second file is a set of Bingo clues that go with those answers for the teacher to read out. With a higher ability or lower ability class, many of the clues could be modified to make them easier or more difficult ways of achieving the same answers.

This is a staged exam question planning sheet that builds up an excellent answer to this exam question from Edexcel A: *Assess the importance of human activities in creating distinctive UK landscapes (8)+(4) * It is designed to work alongside the ‘Tomorrow’s Geography’ textbook.

Revision activity for all of the sub-aerial processes on the Edexcel AS/A Level Coastal Landscapes and Change topic. Print out the starts and ends and cut out horizontally so that each student has a card with a process and a definition. Start with a student reading out their definition, then the student with that process shouts it out, then reads out their definition etc etc until you get back to where you started! You can run the activity the other way, starting with the terms and students responding with definitions. With larger classes, print out two copies and have an element of competition! With smaller classes, students can have more than one card. The correct answers are also attached to make easier for the teacher to arbitrate and keep a check on activity progress!

This lesson looks at the causes and consequences of water insecurity using the case study example of the Aral Sea. It guides students through doing some initial research and then using a documentary to build on their notes. Note that you will need internet accessible devices for initial research and also a copy of the small green Philip Allan ‘A2 Geography’ textbook for information on the key stakeholders referred to in the follow-up conflict matrix task.

This is a complete A Level lesson that uses a combination of research and video to look at the pros and cons of the Three Gorges Dam. The video is embedded in the Powerpoint - you will need access to internet accessible devices for the initial research stage of the lesson.