Lasswade High School
S1 Broad General Education
Geography Department
Course Outline
Unit of Work
Timeframe
Teaching strategies
Significant Aspects of Learning
Extreme World (dessert, tundra, tropical
rainforest)
Map skills
6 week (rota)
6 week (rota)
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Individual, pair, group work
Co-operative learning
Active learning
Higher order thinking skills
Discussion
Question and answer
Research
ICT activities
Presenting
Giving views/opinions
1. understanding the place, history,
heritage and culture of Scotland and
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Individual, pair, group work
Co-operative learning
Active learning
Higher order thinking skills
Discussion
Question and answer
Research
ICT activities
Presenting
Giving views/opinions
1. understanding the place, history,
heritage and culture of Scotland
appreciating local and national
and appreciating local and national
heritage within the world;
heritage within the world;
2. developing an understanding of the
2. developing an understanding of the
world by learning about how people
world by learning about how people live
live today and in the past;
today and in the past;
3. understanding economic, social and
environmental issues;
3. understanding economic, social and
environmental issues;
4. becoming aware of cause and effect,
4. understanding the principles of
change, sequence and chronology;
representative democracy,
5. understanding the principles of
participation, citizenship by
representative democracy,
practising democracy through
participation, citizenship by
electoral participation and active
practising democracy through
citizenship in the school and local
electoral participation and active
community;
citizenship in the school and local
community;
6. developing useful skills for learning,
life and work
5. locating, exploring and linking
periods, people, events and features
in time and place;
6. developing useful skills for learning,
life and work.
Homework
Assessment
Summative and formative
Design you own animal:
Pupils should use their knowledge of
the conditions which animals need to
adapt to in order to survive in harsh
environments and design their own
animal. The animal should be designed
to live in either the desert, tundra or
rainforest and pupils should annotate
their animal to highlight the
adaptations.
 Deforestation investigation:
Pupils should investigate the meaning
of deforestation and research
strategies used by the UN and other
organisations to combat it.
Summative
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Pupils should write a diary extract of
someone living in one of the biomes studied
(either tundra, desert or rainforest). Pupils
are provided in advance with the marking
rubric so they are aware of the standard of
work which is expected and what they
should include in order to achieve a gold,
silver or bronze award.
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Geoduko
Treasure island map task:
Pupils must use the map work skills
they have developed such as using grid
references, scale and direction to
complete the task.
European country research:
Pupils research a country of their
choice and present their research in
poster or leaflet format. Pupils are
issued with a rubric to highlight the
success criteria and demonstrate what
should be included to achieve a gold,
silver or bronze award.
Summative
European country homework research task is
used as an assessed piece. A rubric is used
for marking to ensure consistency and
standardisation.
Pupils should use their map skills to design
their own island. Success criteria for their
own island are displayed on the board and
include skills they have learned throughout
the unit such as grid referencing, map
symbols, scale and direction. Pupils will also be
shown examples of good work so that they are
aware of the standard expected.
Success Criteria
(differentiated):
Formative
Formative
AIFL strategies used include:
The use of learning logs based on learning
intentions and success criteria; no hands up
for questioning; traffic lights; think, pair,
share; exit passes; carrousels and peer
assessment etc.
AIFL strategies used include:
The use of learning logs based on learning
intentions and success criteria; no hands up
for questioning; traffic lights; think, pair,
share; exit passes; carrousels and peer
assessment etc.
Section 1(humans and the environment):
 Acknowledge there is a link between
humans and the biosphere
 Discuss the relationship humans have
with the biosphere
 Explain the impact humans can have on
the biosphere
Section 2(location of biomes):
 Name three biomes and show where they
are located on a map
 Use an atlas to find a map which shows
biomes
 Explain why certain biomes are located
in certain areas
Sections 3 (rainforests):
 Name the different layers of vegetation
in the rainforest
 Annotate a diagram
 Explain convectional rainfall
Section 1 (Atlas skills):
 Explain what the contents and index pages
are used for
 Find specific places using the contents and
index pages
 Locate specific places in an atlas using coordinates
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Label the continents and oceans on a map
Identify the continents and oceans without
the aid of an atlas
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Use an atlas to locate European countries
Name at least one line of latitude
Locate the five main lines of latitude on a
map
Sections 2 (OS map skills):
 Locate the key on an OS map
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Name at least one rainforest
Describe the threats the rainforest
faces
 Explain the consequences of these
threats
 Justify an opinion about rainforest
destruction
Section 4 (deserts):
 Locate deserts on a map
 Explain what affects the deserts climate
 Explain how the climate affects people
living there
 Develop research skills
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Describe what desertification is
Explain what causes desertification
Explain how desertification affects
people
 Justify solutions to desertification
Sections 5 (tundra):
 Locate the tundra on a map
 Describe the climate of the tundra
 Explain what affects the climate
 Draw a climate graph
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Name at least three tundra animals
Describe how these animals have adapted
to the climate in order to survive
Discuss the link between climate and
fauna
Give at least three facts about Inuit
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Use the key to find specific symbols
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Use four figure grid references to locate a
place on a map
Use six figure gird references to locate a
place on a map
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Draw and identify the points on a eight
point compass
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Identify where the scale is on a map
Use scale to calculate distance
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Describe what contour lines on a map show
Use contour lines to describe the relief of
the land
Calculate the height of the land using
contour lines
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Social
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skills success criteria:
Listen to the ideas of others
Contribute their own ideas
Work to a deadline
Encourage and help people in their group
Manage resources
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Social
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How Parents/Carers can support
the coursework
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people
Describe how they survive living in the
tundra
skills success criteria:
Listen to the ideas of others
Contribute their own ideas
Work to a deadline
Encourage and help people in their group
Manage resources
Provide a quiet place to work.
Provide lots of healthy food and
water.
Support regular sleep (8 hours a
night)
Give lots of encouragement and
praise.
Support time management.
Prompt learners to do the following to
increase their learning:
 Check knowledge of facts using
questioning based on jotter work
which has been completed in class
 Go to websites for extra learning.
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Provide a quiet place to work.
Provide lots of healthy food and water.
Support regular sleep (8 hours a night)
Give lots of encouragement and praise.
Support time management.
Prompt learners to do the following to
increase their learning:
 Check knowledge of facts using
questioning based on jotter work which
has been completed in class
 Go to websites for extra learning.
Websites to support extra
learning in S1
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
http://kids.mongabay.com/
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/kids
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildlife
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/eart
h/desert.html
http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/biomes/desert.html
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-forkids/0166-tundra.php
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sys
m/landscapes/highlands_islands/mapskills/ind
ex_intro.shtml
http://education.nationalgeographic.co.uk/edu
cation/map-skills-elementarystudents/?ar_a=1
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/