Michael Palin: Around the World in 20 Years

Last night this great documentary from Michael Palin was on BBC1. It is based on his hit documentary series Around the World in 80 Days. He revisits place he went in 1988 and embarks on a new voyage to find people that he met 20 years ago. Catch it on iplayer now!!


The first part is perfect for those of you in Year 7 and Year 9 who will be larning about Fantastic Places this term! Click on the image above to take you to the documentary on BBC iplayer.

Solving global warming

Whilst searching for images on Flickr, I found this great mind map image of ways to solve global warming. Thought it was well worth a post on here...

Click on the image to see the full size version at Flickr. Found using Creative Commons License.
There is another mind map just on global warming and its causes/evidence/solutions here.

January retakes for Year 13

Here's some examples of the 10 mark case study questions that you can expect in your retakes in January...

Rivers/Coasts

• With reference to named examples, examine the impacts of river flooding on people's daily lives.
• With reference to one or more named examples, explain the benefits of environmentally sensitive river management.
• A number of hard engineering methods have traditionally been used to combat coastal erosion. Briefly describe two of these methods and for a named location explain why each was chosen.
• With reference to more than one country, examine the factors that influence government coastal management policies.
• For a located coastal ecosystem, explain how a study of the vegetation pattern can illustrate the process of succession.
• For a named stretch of coastline, examine to what extent sub-aerial processes have affected the coastal features.
• With references to named examples, examine the consequences of human activities on river environments with respect to one of the following: (a) urbanisation, (b) dams and reservoir construction, (c) water quality.
• With reference to one or more named examples, examine the relationships between the hydrological cycle and one of the following: (a) soil moisture budgets, (b) local storm events, (c) river regimes

Rural/Urban

• With reference to specific examples, examine how urban environments can be made more sustainable.
• Using specific exmamples, examine the conflicts arising from developments in the rural-urban fringe.
• Choose two contrasting rural environments. Examine the reason why the vary in character.
• Referring to named examples, examine the success of attempts to revive city centres.
• Referring to examples, explain how conflicts may arise between different groups when rural villages undergo rapid change.
• With reference to specific examples, examine the ways in which rural environments are being modified by one of the following: (a) changing farming practices, (b) the development of resources in the countryside, (c) tourism
• With reference to any named urban areas, examine the ways in which decision makers are attempting to manage one of the following: (a) traffic flows, (b) ethnic and/or religious segregation, (c) water and waste pollution, (d) provision of affordable housing.

The Week in Rap

American news delivered through rap!


The Week in Rap 12-19-08 from Week in Rap on Vimeo.

Managing Change in Human Environments retake

For those of you in year 13 retaking this unit, here are the two revision packages I made a couple of years ago to go with the human exam. The key to success in this exam is knowing your case studies as that constitutes 30/90 marks. I will add some examples of the case study questions to this post once I have found them! We will go through past exam papers in their entirety as soon as we return to school, but the most important thing will be learning the case studies and being able to apply them to the 10 mark extended answer exam questions.

Rural Environments Revision Package
Urban Environments Revision Package