Year 9 Homework: Can Geography make a difference to our world? 1
Homework will be set in a 4 week cycle. Over the next 16 school weeks, choose any 4 homework activities from the grid
below. When you do your research you must use a least two sources of information.
2012-13
Name: ……………………………….
Teacher: ……………………………
1. A future sustainable family home
2. Bidding for the 2026 World Cup
3. Blackout Britain?
Whether its because we want to do something to
reduce our impact on climate change and the
environment or simply to reduce our bills, we are all
becoming more conscious of the way we live.
Research ways of making a family home more
sustainable. Design and produce a model, exploded
diagram or plan of a future home. Annotate it with
detailed labels to show how it is sustainable. Consider
things like: building materials, aspect, water, energy
consumption, waste, work, travel and anything else
you think is important.
The Football Association’s bid to hold the 2018
Football World Cup in England lost out to Russia.
However, London won the bid to host the Olympic
Games in 2012, the Rugby World Cup will be held
here in 2015 and the Cricket World Cup in 2019.
Produce a film (using Moviemaker) for the FA to use
to support their bid to FIFA outlining why England is a
good place to host the 2026 World Cup. (Make sure
you save in Moviemaker using the correct procedure.)
Last winter, Britain experienced power blackouts. As
energy demand rises blackouts will become more
common. As North Sea gas and oil runs out, Britain is
becoming dependent on imported energy from
unreliable parts of the world like the Middle East and
Russia. Produce a storyboard for a 5 minute item on
the main BBC news. Outline the issues facing Britain’s
energy supplies, examine alternatives and make
recommendations about what Britain should do to
ensure future energy supplies. You should consider
both demand (use of) and supply of energy.
4. Plan a showcase residential area
5. Is a wall the best way to a peaceful
solution to a divided land?
6. Can you make the Eden Project
guide more informative?
In a small crowded part of the Middle East the Israelis and
the Palestinians claim the same territory. The two nations
have been in conflict for the last 60 years. The Israelis have
been building an 8m concrete wall to surround and contain
the Palestinian areas of the West Bank. Research the
Israel-Palestine conflict to help you understand the different
political positions and life on both sides of the wall. Decide if
a wall is the best way to create peace or if there is a better
option. You can present your task as an annotated map or
a piece of writing.
You are a graphic designer who has been
employed by the Eden Project in Cornwall. They
have asked you to use IT to improve the guide
that is given to visitors when they buy their ticket
at the entrance. The guide should educate visitors
about one of the biomes (ecosystems) in the
project’s conservatories and explain why the
biome of your choice is so important. Visit the
project’s website to select a biome.
8. Shaping the landscape
9. An enquiry of your own…
You are a newly qualified teacher in your first year at
Cottenham Village College. You have to teach a
lesson to a Year 9 geography class on the processes
involved in shaping the landscape and the landscape
features they produce. You should research these
processes and present your work as a lesson plan
accompanied by the resources you intend to use in
the classroom. Choose one from the following
landscape shaping agents - ice, rivers or the sea to
be the topic for your lesson.
You could decide to really challenge yourself.
Research any topic or issue that interests you. (It
must be geography though!) Come up with a
research question and some aims showing what
you want to do. Check this with your teacher
before you start. Your teacher will agree or help
you change your ideas as needed. How you
present your work is up to you. Away you go!
Britain’s population is growing and we need to
build more homes. As a cutting edge urban
planner, research current thinking about how
best to plan residential areas in our cities.
Design and produce an annotated plan or
model of a residential area that is fit for 2013.
Your plan should take account of mobility, road
safety, amenities, minimising crime, creating
social cohesion, affordability, sustainability and
any other issues that you think are important.
7. Should Britain be providing
develoment aid to India?
Over the last 5 years India’s yearly growth of GDP
has averaged over 8% - after China, India is the
world’s second fastest growing economy. Its economy
is now 50% larger than the UK’s and it has more
billionaires and millionaires. Over the same period the
UK has provided India with £1.5 billion in aid and has
promised to continue to do so. However, the UK
Government’s austerity plans mean large cuts in
spending and public services in this country. Should
this be rethought? Write a speech for an MP to
deliver in Parliament, outlining the background to
both sides of the issue before concluding what you
think the Government should do in future.
Year 9 Geography Enquiry Homework 2012-13
Homework is not the most appealing aspect of school, but it helps you to progress, teaches independent study skills and has to be done. This is a new
Humanities idea to make homework a more creative and enjoyable experience. You get to decide what you do and when you do it.
Over the next 16 school weeks you must complete 4 tasks for geography homework from the options below. It’s your choice - try to think about which tasks you
will enjoy doing, what you are good at and what resources you have access to. If you need the Internet but don’t have it at home you can use the computers in
H7 at lunchtime or after school. Your teacher will get you to write the 4 hand in dates in your planner when you are given this sheet.
Make sure you use at least two sources of information when researching your chosen task.
You have to show independence, deciding how to undertake the necessary research and complete each task. However, you can ask your teacher for guidance if
you get stuck. You can discuss tasks with friends (that’s discuss not copy from them) but you must produce your own work to hand in to your teacher.
You can organise your homework in a way that suits you, just meet the deadline. You can do it in 20 minute bursts or two-hour sessions - a good guide would be
to spend about 45 minutes each week or at least 3 and a half hours overall on each task, but you can spend more if you really get into it (again, your choice).
You should also attach a reflection sheet to each task where you write comments to explain how and why you have gone about completing your work.
Good luck – Hope you enjoy it.
To be successful you should: (some of these things are more relevant to some tasks than to others – so pick a balance of tasks)
Choose a variety of issues and types of task:
e.g. to do with environmental, economic, social
and/or political issues…
e.g. to do with local, national and/or
international issues…
e.g. that use practical, ICT-based and written
methods to present your tasks…
Think of questions when you begin
your task. These questions
help structure and guide your
research.
Ask further questions as your
research progresses.
Be prepared to explain reasons for your choice of
focus/question(s) e.g. explaining your choice of tasks and
particular questions you decided to consider:
e.g. “I decided to research this question because…”
“I decided to look at this issue because…”
“I wanted to study this because…”
Present your findings appropriately and
creatively in an organised way.
Select relevant sources and types of
information.
Group evidence collected during
your research into
appropriate categories and/or
themes.
Explain reasons for taking a particular route and/or your ways
of presenting your findings, etc.
Be flexible and be prepared to change
direction or approach the task from a different
angle if it helps you in the research process
and the completion of the task.
Analyse and explain what you have
found out, to make sense and
meaning out of it , rather than
just describing something or
listing facts.
Draw conclusions about the
questions you asked.
Comment on the success of dealing with potholes,
e.g. “I was looking into…however, I felt that a better Q was…”
“Originally, I wanted to…However, in the end I…because…”
“When researching, I had problems with…so I…”
“When I found out…this made me think that…However, later I
discovered…so then I thought…”