Final classroom lesson before exam....

Today we discussed issues relating to the questions below:

Using the Data

Resource 14

1. Look at the aims of the fieldwork. What do you think about the questions that the students asked ?

2. Do you think Friday morning in October is a good time to carry out the fieldwork (remember issue of sampling) ? Explain your answer

3. What were

a) the smallest age group sampled

b) the largest age group sampled

4. How would you ensure that the sampling was better / fairer than the method used by the students ?

5. What are the main differences between the arguments given for building at:

a) the docks

b) Longford

Resource 15

1. Read the comments made by the Gloucester residents

2. Try to summarise the type of person who prefers

a) the docks area

b) the Longford area as a place to live

3. Overall, do you think the views expressed are in favour of the docks or the Longford development ?

Resource 16

Organic Farming

1. Summarise the main differences between organic and non-organic food

2. What are the suggested benefits for the consumer ?

3. Why might organic farming be more SUSTAINABLE than non-organic ?

4. What do you think might happen to the demand for organic food in the FUTURE ?

What problems face British farmers given the changing nature of the population ?

A week today....

The exam is a week today...
Remember to work through the questions, but also to make sure that you really appreciate the links to FUGIS.
Each topic is labelled and the labels can be seen down the right hand side of the screen.
Revise smart !
I have told all staff that you have GCSE exam next week, so if you are given a homework for another subject that is not as 'important' (for the next week only of course....) please explain the circumstances...

End of Work Experience

By the time you're reading this, work experience will be over !
I hope you had a good time, and learned something. Perhaps you got to use your Geography at some point.
It's important that your attention now turns to the Pilot exam, which is in just under 2 weeks time. We have 3 lessons where we will concentrate on the final sections, and then it is over to you !
Read back through the recent postings and make sure that you are familiar with the contents of the booklet...

Fourth day of Work Experience

OK, so you're on Day 4...
Have you been checking the blog every day ?
You should probably be up to around Question 15 by now...

Pre-Release Questions 41-45

These are the final questions !!
They are based on the final resource: Resource 18 from p.23

Photos of Environments: remember that we do the Extreme Polar Environment...
(If you can't remember that I give up...)

Q41) List 6 things that all 3 extreme environments have in common.
What makes an environment extreme ?

Q42) Which extreme environment have you studied ?

Q43) What do you think Svalbard will be like in the future ?

Q44) Name one city on Svalbard which we have looked at...

LONGYEARBYEN

Don't forget to browse through Laurel's COLD PHOTO blog, and also past posts...

• What is life like for people in this place ?
• How do people in this place make a living ?
• How is their way of life affected by the physical environment ?

Q45) How is the way of life of people in Svalbard being affected by changes from outside ?
What aspects of life in Svalbard are threatened by change ?

And that's it - I suggest you make sure that you have worked through ALL the questions and write the answers down in your book, or as a WORD document....

If you fail to prepare, you should prepare to fail.... (or at least get a lower grade...)

Pre Release Questions 39-40

Organic Farming
See earlier post on Organic Farming
Also check the INDEPENDENT article on Food Miles
Here's a debate at the WAITROSE site.

Q39) Read resource 16 on p.21 of the booklet.

Access a couple of websites which give information about Organic Farming.
Such as

• Wikipedia article
• DEFRA site
• SOIL ASSOCIATION
  
• Why ORGANIC ? site of Soil Association
  
• Take a virtual tour of an organic farm at FARM TRAILS
  

Draw a poster / table / mindmap (I don't mind which one you use, but it has to be visual...)
The poster / table / mindmap has to EXPLAIN the following:

• What is organic farming ?
• Why do some people say this is more SUSTAINABLE than traditional farming ?

Q40) Imagine that non-organic farming was made ILLEGAL in the UK. What problems might this cause for consumers ?
Is organic always the best option ?

This is a complicated issue !

Pre Release Questions 37 and 38

Data Collection
The next set of questions relate to a set of data that have been collected by a Year 10 group from Gloucester.

Q37)
Look at the data on the questionnaire and pie charts and answer the following questions:

Approximately how many people were surveyed ?
Where/when did the survey take place ?
What do you know about the people who were surveyed ?
What was good / not so good about the questionnaire that was used ?

How reliable do you think the results of the survey were ?

Q38)
Think about local shopping centres that we have...
Chapelfield, Norwich
Castle Mall, Norwich
Queensgate, Peterborough
Grafton Centre, Norwich

Find a website for these..
Imagine that you were going to be doing a shopping enquiry in one of these places as part of a Geography fieldtrip.

How could you collect data ?
How would you collect data ?
How could you show your results ?
How would you show your results ?
How could you present your results ?
How would you present your results ?




New VW ad has a site which allows you to use JUMP CUT to make and edit your own movie.

Pre Release Question 36

The Greenfield site: LONGFORD: on the Northern edge of Gloucester.
www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap

Image produced from Ordnance Survey's Get-a-map service.
Image reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey and
Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

This is the site in the centre above.

Find the site on the map in your booklet.
Draw a SKETCH MAP of the area which contains the following 4 Grid Squares
8320, 8321, 8420 and 8421
Add annotations to explain why building houses here is a good idea, and some issues that there may be...

Pre Release Questions 29 to 35: GLOUCESTER FOCUS

Gloucester Docks and the redevelopment forms the central part of the exam paper.Remember to relate this to the planned developments for King's Lynn and the docks as related by Mr. Clarke when he visited last year.
Go to the right hand side of the blog and click on the Mr. Clarke label to get the posts from his visit.

Question 29 - 35
USING Resource 6, 9 and10, plus details from the GLOUCESTER website
Q29)
Write a short description of the Gloucester docks area from 1830 - 2000
Q30)
Why did Gloucester docks fall into disrepair ?
Q31)
What have the old dockside buildings been converted into so far ?
Who is the target audience for these developments ?
What impact do you think these developments have had on the people of Gloucester ?

Think about positive and negative points, and remember the multiplier effect.

Remember the warehouses in King's Lynn such as the Granaries - what has happened to them ?

Check out James Rye's FLICKR set of photos for some nicely atmospheric shots of King's Lynn's river frontage and buildings.

Q32) Identify 3 groups of people you think might be annoyed about the way that the dock area has changed. Who would disagree with these groups ?

You will now need to use Resources 10, 11 and 12 (on pages 14-16)

Q33) Is the Gloucester docks site a GREENFIELD or BROWNFIELD site ?
Explain your answer...

Q34) Read the following statements and sort them out into POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES.

Then decide which ones apply to GREENFIELD and which ones to BROWNFIELD sites.

Statement bank:

1. In centre of town - close to amenities
2. Pretty surroundings
3. No services on site
4. Can walk into the CBD
5. Dangerous river and open water
6. Dangerous busy roads
7. Plenty of space for children to play
8. Longer commuting distance to work
9. Site already has services
10. Ugly, noisy environment
11. Difficult for young children to have places to play
12. Pollution from previous users
13. Cheap land on the edge of town
14. No garden
15. Site already clear for use
16. Safe environment
17. Quiet environment
18. Cleans up an eyesore in town
19. Apartments are expensive
20. Government money available

Q35)
Imagine you have just bought a new dockside apartment.
Write a letter to the local paper: the Gloucester Citizen, Echo or The Forester which:

• describes the benefits of life in your new dockside apartment (8 marks)

Use the other resources to help you write the item
Add comments below of some of your other answers...

and finally, just to the SE of Gloucester is Cooper's Hill near Brockworth
This was in the news over the Bank Holiday weekend for an annual event: the famous CHEESE ROLLING. This takes place on Spring Bank Holiday Monday.
Competitors race down an incredibly steep hill chasing a DOUBLE GLOUCESTER cheese. Every year there are injuries of varying severity...
The CHEESE ROLLING page has the details of this year's winners. Here are some You Tube videos from last year's race.

Pre-Release Questions 25 to 28 - Mapskills

Question 25-28

Look at the OS Map Extract of Gloucester.
Get your own from the OS GETAMAP site.

www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap

Image produced from Ordnance Survey's Get-a-map service.
Image reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey and
Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

Some sample questions - you will get a variation on these ideas...

Q25) Briefly describe why the Romans chose this site for their town called Glevum (Hints: Water supply, food, fuel, building materials, defence)
Q26) Give the 4 FIGURE GRID REFERENCE for

• the CBD (how do we know where this is ? what buildings would you expect to see ?
• the Longford site
• junction 11A of the M5
• other places of your choice...
  

If you can't remember how to do Grid References, check out GOGGS' GUIDE from BBC Scotland which looks at these in an animated way, and is an interesting recent find...

Q27) Why is the CBD not in the centre of Gloucester ?

Remember that we looked at the similarity with King's Lynn, which also has a CBD which is not literally "the town centre", and also remember where the dead centre of any town is: the cemetery...

Q28) Taking the cathedral as the city centre (and why might we choose this building ?), how far is it from:

• the docks to the city centre
• the Longford site to the city centre
• BY ROAD from the motorway to the city centre

Pre Release Question 23 and 24

Question 23
Q23) Look at Resource 8, and separate the measures into 3 columns:

Measures of Deprivation (poor)
Measures of Affluence (rich)
Neither (rich nor poor)

A23) Go on then !

Question 24
Q24)
How many of these statements apply to King's Lynn ?

A24) Add a comment to let me know...

Pre Release Question 22

Question 22 - these are TRUE or FALSE questions. Just answer TRUE OR FALSE, and use Resource 8 on page 10 of the booklet to help you
Q22)
Compared to the average figure for England and Wales, Gloucester has:

• Fewer lone parent households ?
• More households without central heating ?
• Fewer unemployed people ?
• More people working in shops, transport and offices ?
• Fewer households without cars ?
• More people using trains, buses and taxis ?
• Fewer sick people ?
• More people with no qualifications ?
• Fewer Black and Asian residents ?
• More lone parent households ?

If you lived in Gloucester, what would your neighbours best be described as ?

Add a comment with your answers and thoughts on this...

Pre Release Questions 20 & 21

Question 20
Q20) "Gloucester is home to Britain's most inland port".
How is Gloucester linked to Britain's trading patterns in Europe, USA and the Far East ?

A20)
Gloucester is on the River Severn.
What can you find out about this river ?
What was it that made Gloucester an important port ?
Why did Gloucester decline ?
Look at the history of Gloucester - what products would have passed through the docks ?


Question 21
Q21) How far are London and Birmingham from Gloucester ?
How would goods unloaded at Gloucester docks have been transported from Gloucester to Birmingham and London in Victorian times ?

A21)
Need to use the Atlas, or perhaps a tool such as Google Earth.
Also use the GLOUCESTER DOCKS website to read about the present day tourist attractions in the area.

Pre Release Question 19

Question 19 - 21
These use the MAPS on page 3 of the booklet, and an ATLAS. If necessary, so some other searches on the Internet.
Q19)
What is Gloucester ?
What county, region and country is it located in ?

A19)
It's important that you know about Gloucester and how it compares to King's Lynn.
Start with a WIKIPEDIA article on the CITY.
It's the county town of GLOUCESTERSHIRE.
Which region is it in ?

Began as the Roman town of Glevum in AD48, so it has a long history.
Check out the CITY COUNCIL webpage.

Pre Release Question 18

Bank Holiday Monday weather !
Image: BBC Weather Forecast for Eastern region...

Question 18 - Uses Resource 5 - Some newspaper clippings...
Q18)
Who are John Prescott and Gordon Brown ? (mentioned in the articles)
What have they done to help people buy their own homes ?
Why have KEY WORKERS been singled out for help ?
Who will support these ideas ?
Who will oppose these schemes ?
What do you think ?

"The green belt is a Labour achievement and we mean to build on it."
John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister (attributed)

A18)
John Prescott and Gordon Brown both hold positions of power (at the moment) in the Labour party.
John Prescott has had some responsibility for overseeing the building of new houses.
There are plenty of BBC NEWS articles on the plans, such as HERE,
Also see this GREENPEACE report for an alternative view.

Who are KEY WORKERS ?
Well I'm one for a start. Without me, King's Lynn would grind to a halt (or something...)
John Prescott's website has now become the COMMUNITIES website.
The Pre Release booklet identifies what is meant by Key Workers.
How do you feel other people would think if teachers and nurses got help with buying a house but they didn't ?
What are your views ? Add a comment...

Social Trends

Social Trends on the National Statistics Website is a KEY RESOURCE for investigating population trends.

Pre Release Question 17

Question 17
Q17) What will happen to house prices ? (See earlier question)
How have house prices locally changed since 2000 ?
Is this a good thing or a bad thing ?
Will you be able to afford to buy a house in 10 years time ?
Think about the fact that average house prices are 8 or 9 times higher than average earnings...

A17)
House prices have risen steadily (see earlier post)
Use the HOUSE PRICE calculator to compare houses.

Look at some of the jobs in the local paper which are available to people with qualifications that you have at the moment, or that you expect to get when you leave school.
How many times more is a house than the wages that are being offered ?

Pre Release Question 16

Question 16
Q16) How will the changes in the number of households and an increasing number of migrants affect the demand for homes in the future ?
A16)
Not hard is it ?

• More single parent households
• More single young people getting married later and having children later
• More migrants
• People living longer
• People staying in the same house and extending it due to high cost of moving house and buying property

What does demand do to prices ?

Look at the earlier questions for some detail on this...

Pre Release Question 15

Question 15
Q15) How many single person households were there in 1991 and 2006 ?

Use the diagram in the previous post...

How is the number of single person households predicted to change ?
Why might this be happening ?

Look at the thickness of the bands not just the slope of the line once you get above the bottom section of the graph.

Pre Release Question 14

Question 14
This needs Resource 4 on p.6 - colour version reproduced below...

Q14)
How many households were occupied by couples in 1991 and 2006 ?
How is the number of households occupied by couples predicted to change by 2021 ?

A14)
OK, do we mean married or unmarried couples ?
Need to look at the line and read the question carefully - provide the answer that is asked for in the question.
The lines going across are at 50 000 intervals, which are fairly large. Use a ruler to measure !
Look at the trend or slope on the line...

Add an answer as a comment below