Geography Year 9
Term 1 Risky World
A classic unit on plate tectonics. It’s all here – Yellowstone supervolcano, Montserrat, Haiti’s killer quake and the deadly
Japanese tsunami.
Lesson
Objectives
Scale & case Numeracy/literacy Skills
studies
focus & key terms
Resources
1
Where is the
most risky
place on
Earth?
To describe the location of
volcanoes and earthquakes
To discover the four
different types of plate
boundaries
Global
Literacy focus
Key terms: Crust, convection
currents, destructive
boundary, constructive
boundary, conservative
boundary
Labelling atlas
maps
Annotating
diagrams
Independent
Enquiry
The Plates (map);
Structure of Earth
(sheet); natural
disasters 2011 (clip);
San Francisco quake
footage (clip)
2
Do all
volcanoes
kill?
To distinguish between
composite and shield
volcanoes
To explain how lava type
affects how violent
volcanoes become
Regional
Mount St Helens,
USA
Kilauea, Hawaii
Literacy focus
Key terms: composite
volcano, shield volcano,
basalt, andesite
Labelling diagrams
Reflective Learning
3
Can you save
Montserrat?
To reinforce your
understanding of volcanic
landforms & processes
To apply and stretch your
essential Geography skills:
QWC, specialist terms, map
skills, annotation, data
National
Montserrat, The
Caribbean
Numeracy focus
Key terms: flank, lava dome,
composite volcano,
pyroclastic flow, andesite
Information
gathering
Data analysis
Annotating maps
Decision making
Team working
Critical skills
Features of a volcano
(sheet); 2 types of
volcanoes (sheet);
Dantes Peak (clip);
Lava in Hawaii (clip);
Pyroclastic flow (clip);
Merapi eruption
(clip); Volcano (clip)
Two laptops required;
3 Ws starter (clip); 24
theme (song);
helicopter recording
sheet; helicopter
report (ppt);
Montserrat map; risk
Geography Year 9
analysis & decision making
4
Supervolcano
– the end of
the world?
To describe the features of
supervolcanoes
To explain how they form
To understand their
potential global effects
Regional
Yellowstone
Caldera, USA
Literacy focus
Key terms: caldera, magma
chamber, Yellowstone USA
5
How close did
we come to a
global
nuclear
meltdown?
To explain how earthquakes
are created
To discover their impact and
how people responded in
Japan
Global/National
Japan earthquake
Fukushima
Literacy focus
Key terms: Focus, epicentre,
magnitude, Richter scale,
nuclear meltdown
6
How do
tsunamis
form?
To explain how tsunamis are
created
To discover their impact and
how people respond
National
Japan tsunami
Literacy focus
Key terms: Tsunami,
drawback, megathrust, train
7
Assessment
To assess and level students’
progress
Extracting
information from
sources
Interpreting maps
Drawing and
labelling diagrams
Extracting
information from
sources
Drawing diagrams
Sketching and
labelling maps
Extracting
information from
sources
Independent
enquiry
Humanities Independent Project (HIP) accessed via blog
‘As an employee of USGS (United States Geological Survey) you have been asked to write a report on a hazard of your choice’.
assessment (sheet);
teacher notes
2012 eruption (clip);
Mega Disasters
(documentary);
documentary sheet
and notes;
supervolcano sheet
BBC This World 2012
Inside Fukushima
(documentary);
Fukushima sheet; raw
footage (clips x2);
Japan’s Tsunami
Caught on Camera
(documentary)
How the Japan
tsunami happened
(video and sheet);
Japan tsunami
(sheet); clips x2
Geography Year 9
Term 2 Conflicted World
A unit on population change and conflict. We start by looking at how the UK’s population has changed through time. We then
look to conflict zones around the world to discover how war, drug trafficking and religion has affected populations.
Lesson
Objectives
Scale & case
studies
Numeracy/literacy Skills
focus & key terms
Resources
1
How does a
country’s
population
change
through
time?
To discover how the UK’s
population has changed
through time
To understand the factors
that affect birth rate
International/national
UK
Numeracy focus
Key terms: Birth rate, death
rate, natural increase,
population density
Choropleth map
(sheet); population
UK (clip, sheet &
notes); birth and
death rate clip, 7
billion clip
2
How do war,
heroin and
religion affect
Afghanistan’s
population?
National
Afghanistan
Numeracy focus
Key terms: Population
structure, population
pyramid, opium, Shariah
Law
3
How did
genocide
affect
Rwanda’s
population?
To compare the population
structure of the UK with
Afghanistan
To discover the impact of
war, heroin and religion on
population structure
To discover the dark
history behind Rwanda’s
genocide
To explain the affect the
genocide had the
population structure of
Rwanda
To understand what is
meant by forced migration
National
Rwanda
Numeracy focus
Key terms: Genocide, Hutu,
Tutsi, forced migration
Choropleth
mapping
Extracting
information from
sources
Independent
enquiry
Drawing and
labelling sketch
maps
Interpreting
population
pyramids
Extracting
information from
sources
Interpreting line
graphs and
population
pyramids
Population structure
(sheet); Afghan
farmers and
traffickers (clips x2)
Rwanda (sheet &
clip)
Geography Year 9
4
Who are
asylum
seekers?
5
Who’s taken
all the jobs?
6
Assessment
To explain why people are
forced to seek asylum
To understand the effects
asylum seeking has on the
UK
To discover why people
move from Poland to the
UK
To understand the benefits
and the drawbacks
National
Iraq
Literacy focus
Key terms: Immigration,
asylum seeking, country of
origin, destination country
International/regional
EU
Poland
UK
Peterborough
Numeracy focus
Key terms: Economic
migration, migrant worker,
EU, standard of living
Decision making
Extracting
information from
sources
Reflective learning
Interpreting
choropleth maps
Communicate
information clearly
Form opinions,
debating
Asylum seeking pros
and cons (sheet);
Iraq (clip)
Polish People in the
UK (clips x3); Polish
migration (sheet)
To assess and level
students’ progress
Humanities Independent Project (HIP) accessed via blog
‘You work for the United Nations (UN). You have been asked to create a report on the affect of conflict on a country’s population. This could be a
report on Afghanistan, Rwanda, Iraq or any other conflict zone’.
Geography Year 9
Term 3 Urbanised World
An introduction to the global growth of urban areas. The unit covers the phenomenon of rural to urban migration, the growth of
squatter settlements and their problems and ends with a look at sustainable cities.
Lesson
Objectives
Scale & case
studies
Numeracy/literacy Skills
focus & key terms
Resources
1
What is
meant by an
urbanised
world?
Global
Miami, USA
Numeracy focus
Key terms: Urban , rural,
urbanisation, rural to urban
migration, bright light
syndrome
Extracting
information from
sources
Interpreting atlas
maps, comparative
line, pie charts and
bar graphs
Two faces of Miami
(video); Internal
migration (sheet);
maps of an
urbanising world
(sheet); The True
Miami (sheet)
2
What is a
megacity?
To explain what is meant by
urbanisation
To discover the reasons
why so many people are
moving from rural areas to
the city
To understand what is
meant by bright light
syndrome
To locate the world’s
megacities
To describe the features of
a megacity
To discover what life is like
in the world’s biggest cities
National
Shanghai, China
Mexico City, Mexico
Tokyo, Japan
London, UK
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Literacy focus
Key terms: Megacity, rural,
urban, migration
Interpreting atlas
maps
Extracting
information from
sources
3
What is life
like in
squatter
settlements?
To explain how rapid
urbanisation leads to
squatter settlements
To discover what life is like
there
Regional
Rocinha, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
Literacy focus
Key terms: Squatter
settlement, slum, rapid
urbanisation
Interpreting
photographs
Creative thinking
Team work
Andrew Marr’s
Megacities: Living in
the Megacity (video,
sheet and notes);
World map (pdf);
Megacities (sheet
and table)
Reflection (sheet);
Rocinha (sheet);
sensogram (sheet);
starter (sheet)
Geography Year 9
4
What are the
problems of
living in
squatter
settlements?
To discover how people
living in a squatter
settlement in Bhopal, India
were suffocated as they
slept.
Regional
Bhopal, India
Literacy focus
Key terms: Transnational
corporation, Union Carbide,
Methyl Isocynate,
asphyxiation
5
Can cities be
made to be
more
sustainable?
To discover how some cities
are being built with the
environment in mind
To understand how Bristol
and Curitiba are sustainable
cities
Regional/local
London
Bristol
Masdar, Abu Dhabi
Literacy focus
Key terms: Hydrogen, public
transport, sustainable, zero
emissions
6
Assessment
To assess and level
students’ progress
Extracting
information from
sources
Drawing and
labelling sketch
maps
Extracting
information from
sources
Creative thinking
Team work
Humanities Independent Project (HIP) accessed via blog
‘Bristol City Council have asked you to create a plan to make their city more sustainable’.
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
(video); Bhopal
report; Bhopal
disaster (clip starter)
Bristol Green Capital
(sheet); Cycling city
(x3 clips); London’s
Hydrogen buses
(sheet & clip); Top
Gear hydrogen car
(clip); Masdar (sheet)
Geography Year 9
Term 4 Flooded World
A wet and watery tour of global flooding. We start by looking at the flood hydrograph and the factors affecting river discharge.
We revisit Boscastle and Pakistan and end by taking a look at the world’s largest dam – The Three Gorges in China.
Lesson
Objectives
Scale & case
studies
Numeracy/literacy Skills
focus & key terms
Resources
1
What is a
flood
hydrograph?
National
Toowoomba,
Australia
Numeracy focus
Key terms: Flash flood,
hydrograph, discharge, lag
time, peak discharge, peak
rainfall
Interpreting
hydrographs
Annotating maps
Student hydrograph
sheet (ppt slide);
Toowoomba clips x2;
Toowoomba
mapping the causes
(ppt); train vs flood
(clip)
2
What are the
causes of
flooding?
To explain what is meant by
the term flash flood
To label the features of and
be able to read a
hydrograph
To explain how different
factors affect river
discharge
To model flood events
To understand what
conditions cause flooding
Regional/National
Taroko Gorge,
Taiwan
Indonesia
Literacy focus
Key terms: Surface runoff,
deforestation, v shaped
valleys, impermeable
Cress, tables, water
bottles, scissors,
plates
Taroko flood (clip);
Indonesia flood (clip)
3
Why was
Boscastle
washed out?
To explain the causes of a
flash flood
To describe the impacts
and responses to the floods
in Boscastle
Regional
Boscastle
Numeracy focus
Key terms: saturated,
interception, steep slopes,
impermeable, confluence
Modelling
Extracting
information from
sources
Team work
Creative thinking
Interpreting
photographs
Interpreting OS
maps
Six and four figure
grid references
Boscastle (video,
sheet and notes);
Boscastle Flash
Floods (sheet);
footage (clips x2);
Boscastle map (ppt
slide)
Geography Year 9
4
Why did
Angelina Jolie
visit refugees
in Pakistan?
5
Why did
China flood
13 cities, 140
towns and
over 1000
villages?
Assessment
6
To discover how the
monsoon lead to flooding
in Pakistan
To understand why it took
so long to save people and
why so many died
To know why the Three
Gorges Dam was built
To discover the impact that
the dam has had
Pakistan
Afghanistan
Kashmir
Literacy focus
Key terms: monsoon, aid,
cholera, refugees
Annotating maps
Extracting
information from
sources
Pakistan map;
Pakistan Press Report
(sheet); Flooding
clips (x2)
Three Gorges Dam,
China
Literacy focus
Key terms: relocation,
environmental, social,
reservoir
Extracting
information from
sources
Three Gorges Dam
(sheet x2); dams in
films (sheet);
Goldeneye (clip);
Ungorgeous China
(video); news clip
To assess and level
students’ progress
Humanities Independent Project (HIP) accessed via blog
‘The MET Office has asked you to create a report of a flood of your choice’.
Geography Year 9
Term 5 Warming World
An introduction to global warming and the impact on our coastal zones. We take a look at the disappearing island of Tuvalu and
the storm surges that threaten New Orleans. We end by studying the Thames Barrier and the defence it gives to London.
Lesson
Objectives
Scale & case
studies
Numeracy/literacy Skills
focus & key terms
Resources
1
What is
global
warming?
To distinguish between
climate change and global
warming
To explain the factors are
causing global warming
Global
Numeracy focus
Key terms: Greenhouse
gases, atmosphere, climate
change, global warming
Ranking
Interpreting line
graphs
Drawing and
labelling diagrams
Extreme weather
cards (laminated);
Global warming
(sheet); Global
warming clips x3;
climate change
(video)
2
Why are our
oceans and
seas rising?
To know by how much our
seas are expected to rise
To explain the phenomena
of thermal expansion,
glacier melting and postglacial rebound
Global
The Maldives, Indian
Ocean
Literacy focus
Key terms: Sea level rise,
thermal expansion, glacier
melt
Extracting
information from
sources
3
Why are
people
fleeing
Tuvalu?
To discover why Tuvalu is at
the forefront of sea level
rise
To outline the impacts of
Regional
Tuvalu, Polynesia
Literacy focus
Key terms: Salt water
intrusion, coral bleaching,
forced migration
Team working
Reflective learning
Extracting
information from
Which cities will
flood? (infographic);
Greenland melt (clip);
Day After Tomorrow
(clip); Maldives
cabinet (clip);
thermal expansion
(clip); Simon Reeve
Maldives (full
episode)
Twelve Tuvalu
Questions (sheet and
notes); how to get
rescued from an
Geography Year 9
sea level rise on the island
sources
4
Was Katrina
created by
global
warming?
To discover how Hurricane
Katrina flooded New
Orleans
To explain the link between
hurricanes, storm surges
and global warming
Regional
New Orleans
Numeracy focus
Key terms: Storm surge,
hurricane, low pressure
5
Is London
threatened
by rising sea
levels?
Regional
London
Literacy focus
Key terms: Storm surge,
Thames barrier, floodplain
6
Assessment
To discover how the
Thames Barrier operates
and protects the capital
To comprehend the cost of
coastal flooding and the
costs of defending against it
To assess and level
students’ progress
Tracking the path
of a storm
Longitude and
latitude
Grid references
Sorting
information
Interpreting maps
Extracting
information from
sources
island (starter clip);
Tuvalu clips (x2)
Hurricane Katrina
(tracking sheet);
Atlantic Chart (pdf);
Katrina introduction
sheet; card sort
(sheet)
Flood (clip); BBC Five
Disasters Waiting to
Happen (video, sheet
and notes); 1953
newsreel (clip)
Humanities Independent Project (HIP) accessed via blog
‘You work for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). You have been asked to create a report on the impacts of rising sea levels on
different parts of the world’.
Geography Year 9
Term 6 Extreme World
An overview of adventure tourism. We start by looking at extreme environments and adventure activities. We head to Blue
Canyon Utah, Antarctica and Kenya. Two major heroes make an appearance too – Aaron Ralston and Ed Stafford. Legends.
Lesson
Objectives
Scale & case
studies
Numeracy/literacy Skills
focus & key terms
Resources
Extreme
environments
(sheet); Extreme Top
Ten (sheet & clip);
Bear Grylls (x2 clips);
Anaconda hunter
(clip)
127 Hours (trailer);
127 Hours (full film);
Aron Ralston (clip);
Aron Ralston story
(sheet)
Antarctica extreme
environments
(sheet); MS Explorer
clips (x2); Bird Island
(clip); Frozen Planet
Maroon 5 (clip);
Frozen Planet (full
episode)
Kenya Tourism
Exposed full
1
What is an
To understand what makes
extreme
an extreme environment
environment? To know what is meant by
adventure tourism
To understand why it as a
sector is growing
National
Venezuela, South
America
Sahara, South Africa
Iceland
Numeracy focus
Key terms: Extreme
environment, adventure
tourism, DINK
Interpreting bar
and line graphs
Extracting
information from
sources
2
Why did Aron
Ralston cut
his arm off?
Regional
Blue John Canyon
Utah, USA
Literacy focus
Key terms: Niche market,
DINK, canyon, adventure
tourism
Extracting
information from
sources
3
How is
Antarctica
being
affected by
tourism?
To describe the profile of
an adventure tourist
To retrace the events of a
very fateful adventure
holiday
To discover what
Antarctica is like
To describe its attractions
To understand the impacts
of tourism on its
ecosystems
National
Antarctica
Literacy focus
Key terms: IAATO, SSSI,
management, MS Explorer
Interpreting pie
charts
Extracting
information from
sources
4
What are the
problems of
To discover the problems
that mass tourism can
National
Mombasa
Literacy focus
Key terms: mass tourism,
Annotating maps
Extracting
Geography Year 9
mass tourism
in Kenya?
5
6
bring
To explain the impacts of
tourism on Kenya
What is
To discover how safaris are
ecotourism?
going to change in Kenya
And why is Ed To understand what is
an eco-head? meant by ecotourism by
taking a look at Ed Stafford
Assessment
To assess and level
students’ progress
Masai Mara National
Park, Kenya
International/national
Kigio Conservancy,
Kenya
The Amazon
safari, honeypot sites,
Mombasa, Masai Mara Game
Park
Literacy focus
Key terms: ecotourism,
sustainable tourism
information from
sources
documentary (video,
sheet and notes)
Report writing
Extracting
information from
sources
You are a wimp
compared to Ed
Stafford (sheet); Ed
Stafford website
Humanities Independent Project (HIP) accessed via blog
‘You work for BBC Three. Write an article exposing the darker side of mass tourism in Kenya, East Africa to go alongside Stacey Dooley’s documentary.
Outline the specific problems of tourism and suggest a way forward’.