AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the 2016 specification Unit 1B: In this lesson we look at how ecosystems operate, from small-scale ecosystems to biomes. We start with a retrieval practice task based around coats. We begin by looking at what the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem are. The students are given an example ecosystem and have to categorise the components according to whether they think they are biotic or abiotic. We then look at different scales of ecosystems and look at trophic levels. The students work out which examples belong with which trophic level . We then explore an example of a food chain, using a small-scale ecosystem (a pond) the students have to work out which creatures belong in which trophic level. We then look at biomass in the food chain and discuss why biomass declines at each level. We finish with a 4-mark GCSE style question and there is some tips for students who need it on how to answer it. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the 2016 specification Unit 1C: In this lesson we look at the physical and human factors affecting flood risk and storm hydrographs and what factors affect their shape. We start with a retrieval practice quiz with ten questions. We begin by looking at the definition of flooding and a brief example by considering the floods around Doncaster in 2019 and 2020. There is a video clip for this. We then look at the physical and human factors that affect flooding. The students have a diagram to annotate and locate an appropriate example on the diagram, they then colour code the annotations into physical and human factors. We then explore the components of a hydrograph. The students have a blank graph to label on the various component parts of the graph. We then look at what factors are likely to affect the storm hydrograph. Here the students have a grid to fill in with annotations from the board. They have to locate where the annotation would logically go on their grid. We finish with a 4-mark GCSE style question and there is some tips for students who need it on how to answer it. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the 2016 specification Unit 1C: In this lesson we look at soft engineering methods of flood management. We start with a retrieval practice grid game based around the work we have undertaken in the rivers unit of work so far. The students then complete a cloze exercise to create a definition of what soft engineering is. The students then investigate flood warnings as issued by the Environment Agency and preparations by completing a guided reading exercise. We then look at three soft engineering strategies in turn: River restoration, flood plain zoning and afforestation. For each method, the students write a description, sort out the advantages and disadvantages and complete a task involving a diagram. There is a short video task on rover restoration. We finish with a 6-mark GCSE style question and there is some guidance for students who need it on how to answer it. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1C: In this lesson we look at hard engineering methods of flood management. We start with a retrieval practice grid game based around the processes and landforms of erosion. The students then complete a cloze exercise to create a definition of what hard engineering is. We briefly introduce soft engineering, then the students have a blank diagram of a drainage basin which has undergone both hard and soft engineering strategies to reduce flooding. The students have to annotate the diagram and work out which is hard and soft engineering. The students are then given some information cards and have to record details on four methods of hard engineering:- dams and reservoirs, flood relief channels, embankments and channel straightening. The students record the advantages and disadvantages and complete a rating exercise for various factors. We finish with a 9-mark GCSE style question and there is some guidance for students who need it on how to answer it. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1B: In this lesson we examine the distribution of the global ecosystems or biomes. The lesson has an ordnance survey map skills retrieval practice starter quiz. We then look at what a global ecosystem or biome is and what the general pattern of their distribution is. The students complete a cloze exercise and write a paragraph introducing the concept of global ecosystems. The students then complete a colouring by numbers worksheet to familiarise them with the distribution of the global ecosystems. They then complete a worksheet on where these ecosystems can be found, using atlases to give named examples of countries that feature those particular biomes. There is another extension to this where the students create a diagram to show the importance of latitude in the distribution of global ecosystems. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some sentence starters and a mark scheme provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1C: In this lesson we look at how the Midlands town of Banbury has managed flood events through a flood alleviation scheme… There is a pre-populated retrieval practice starter grid at the beginning of the lesson. We begin by looking at the location of Banbury and the students construct a description of the location from sentence fragments. We then move onto the historical floods at Banbury and why it needed protection. There is a cloze exercise for the students to complete. We then look at the flood alleviation scheme and the students have a blank map of the area and they use grid references to locate and annotate on the map the feature of the scheme. We then complete a categorising activity on the benefits and issues of the scheme. There is also a 9-mark GCSE-style practice question with some guidance for the students on how to complete it. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1B: In this lesson we look at what valuable commodities and services the rainforest provides. The lesson has a rainforest themed retrieval practice starter. We look at what value the rainforest has to indigenous peoples and why these people may be at threat. Focusing on the Achua tribe we look at a video and complete some guided reading with the students completing some questions relating to the text. We then look at the valuable medicines that come from the rainforest, the students have to complete an annotated ‘rainforest cabinet’ using information from the slide. We then look at essential services. The students read the information on the various services the rainforest provides and rate them according to how important they are and explain why they think this. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1B: In this lesson we look at what how plants and animals have adapted to the environmental conditions in the rainforest. The lesson has a retrieval practice starter to begin with. We then look at what biodiversity is and why the rainforests are particularly diverse. We then look at rainforest stratification and plant adaptations. The students have a sheet to complete and some information slides to use to complete the sheet. This could be used as a carousel or group work task. The sheet can even be coloured in! Then the students complete a mix and match up task on the most common types of animal adaptations. The students then complete a rating task with explanation as to how significant are threats to biodiversity in the rainforest. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1B: In this lesson we look at what the physical characteristics of tropical rainforests are. The lesson has a retrieval practice starter quiz on rivers to begin with. We then look at what it is like to be in the rainforest with a short video clip of walking through the forest. We then look at the location of tropical rainforests and the students have a map with some questions of differing difficulty to answer. The students are provided with a worksheet to draw a climate graph of the rainforest with some additional skills questions to answer (works well with a visualiser). The students complete an annotated profile of the rainforest latosol soil, describing and explaining its characteristics. We then look at the nutrient cycle and the students annotate a diagram making sure they eliminate the incorrect word from the annotation. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1A: In this lesson we look at what extreme weather is, what type of extreme weather the UK experiences and whether the UK may experience more in the future. The lesson has a retrieval practice starter where the pupils choose the places or the circumstances where tropical storms can be found. We then look at the definition of extreme weather. The students complete a map exercise which helps to explain why the UK’s geographical location allows a variety of extreme weather to be experienced. The students then complete a spider diagram on the types of extreme weather, there are some video clips and information slides to help with this which could be a carousel activity. We then complete a map exercise where the students use an atlas to locate where the extreme weather impacted and evaluate how severe the weather event was. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1A: In this lesson we look at the causes, effects of and responses to the Somerset Levels floods of 2014. The lesson has a multiple choice retrieval practice starter. We firstly introduce the location of the Somerset Levels and the pupils consider why the area may be prone to flooding, this could be just a discussion or they could annotate the map. They use sentence fragments to write a description of the location. We then look at the causes of the floods, for this the students complete a cloze exercise and highlight long and short term causes. There is a video clip to watch on what happened during the floods. The students then create a map to show the extent of the floods by colouring by numbers on a worksheet. They then look at the impacts and categorise them into social, economic and environmental. We then briefly look at dredging with an optional video clip before the students sort the responses out into immediate and long-term responses on a worksheet. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students, there is also marking guidance provided. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1A: In this lesson we look at monitoring, prediction, planning and protection in regards to tropical storms. The lesson has a tropical stormed themed retrieval practice starter. We firstly introduce the importance of monitoring to aid prediction with measurements of SST’s. There is a cloze writing exercise on monitoring of hurricanes. A video clip from American tv provides a useful example of how tropical storms are monitored and their paths predicted even on mainstream television. There are some questions for the clip. We then look at protection, specifically storm shelters in Bangladesh, the pupils will have to label the storm shelter and annotate why these features of the storm shelter were needed. We then look at how building in vulnerable areas has made the risks of tropical storms and storm surges more severe. We then look at Bangladesh as a success story of monitoring, predicting, planning and protection, the students have a grid with the actions that have been undertaken by Bangladesh, they have to categorise them accordingly. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1A: In this lesson we look at the events, effects and responses of Cyclone Idai on Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The lesson has a retrieval practice starter based around a field sketch of a coastline. We firstly introduce Cylone Idai and there is a video clip of the impafts to give students an understanding of the context. The students then undertake a colouring by numbers exercise to create a choropleth map of the rainfall accumulations of the tropical storm. We then consider the effects. The students complete a simple classification exercise categorising the effects into primary and secondary as well a SEE effects. We then look at the responses to the cyclone. There is a worksheet for this activity where the students read the repsonses and tick the appropriate boxes to determine if it was immediate or long-term and how long they think the response took. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 1C: In this lesson we look at how coastal management has been undertaken at Lyme Regis in Dorset. The lesson has a retrieval practice starter based around a field sketch of a coastline. We firstly introduce Lyme Regis as an example of coastal management and consider which interest groups may have concerns about the construction of new sea defences. The pupils complete a worksheet where they read through the four phases of coastal management, highlight examples of hard and soft engineering and answer some questions. They then complete a map skills activity where they label on where the coastal defences have been built using 6-figure grid references. We then look at the positive and negatives of coastal management in Lyme Regis. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 2B: In this lesson we look at how trade and in particular Fairtrade can help reduce the development gap. The lesson has a retrieval practice starter based around Ordnance Survey symbols. We firstly introduce what tariffs and quotas are and the pupils fill in a table where they decide if the statement applies to a tariff or a quota. The pupils complete a cloze exercise on what free trade is and we then look at the benefits of being in a trading group or trade bloc. We introduce Fairtrade and there is a video clip, we then look at Uganda and coffee farmers in the country who participate in a Fairtrade scheme and community project. The pupils complete a guided reading exercise and there is also a video for this. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

A starter activity that makes the pupils think about words in context by firstly working out which word goes where, but then they must use the words verbally in another sentence within the context of the subject. Hope it proves useful https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 2A: In this lesson we look at the what traffic management strategies are available to reduce congestion in urban areas and some examples of how this can be done. The lesson has a retrieval practice starter. We then introduce the problems of traffic congestion in urban areas. In the first task the pupils use hexagons to think about the impacts of traffic congestion. We then introduce ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ stratgeies and the students go through a range of example strategies and categorise them into ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ strategies, ranking them in order of effectiveness and explaining their top choices. We then look at two examples of cities (Singapore and Beijing) that have adopted both of these strategies. Using a variety of videos and information slides the pupils makes notes of whether they are ‘carrot’ or ‘stick’ stratagies. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

AQA GCSE Geography lesson for the new specification Unit 2A: In this lesson we look at the what urban sustainability is and how it can be achieved. The lesson has two retrieval practice starter options for you to populate. We then introduce the concept of urban sustainability. The pupils then complete a variety of tasks as we look at water conservation (with Cape Town as an example of water stress). Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS). Methods of energy conservation, waste management and recycling, and creating green spaces. We finish with a GCSE-style practice question with some guidance and structure provided for the students. Hope this saves you some valuable planning time. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer

This is a template for analysing geographical issues by examining what we should stop doing, what we should start doing and what we should continue to do. It works for most geographical issues though of course. I hope it proves useful. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/markthegeographer