Admin Procedures: one for the teachers...

GCSE Geography Pilot 1949

Procedural guidelines for Centres

UNIT 2389	OPTIONAL UNITS 4957 – 4965 (excluding Units 4958 and 4963)
Centres should receive an MS1 form and sufficient copies of the Coursework Assessment Grid (GCW742) for each candidate. Should Centres not be in receipt of these items please contact Customer Contact Centre 01223 553998.	Centres should receive an MS1 form for each Unit entered and a single copy of the Band Descriptors for each of the Optional Units. A copy of each relevant Band Descriptor grid should be completed for each candidate and used to record the marks awarded for each assessment piece. The Centre number, candidate name and candidate number should also be completed. This acts as a ‘Cover Sheet’ for each of the Optional Units that the candidate has been entered for. Should Centres not be in receipt of these items please contact Customer Contact Centre 01223 553998.
Send top copy of MS1 to Cambridge, and second copy to moderator by May 15th 2008. The third copy should be retained by the Centre. Please check very carefully for any arithmetic or transcription errors and note the penalties for incomplete portfolios (Specification page 82). Please note that zero means that work has been submitted but has no geographical value, whereas absent means that the candidate has submitted no work.	Send top copy of MS1 to Cambridge, and second copy to moderator by May 15th. The third copy should be retained by the Centre. Please check very carefully for any arithmetic or transcription errors. Please note that zero means that work has been submitted but has no geographical value, whereas absent means that the candidate has submitted no work.
If there are 10 or less candidates entered, then the complete work of all candidates should be sent to the moderator. In all other cases await sample request from moderator on form CW/L1. Send sample to moderator, within three working days. Please include: · One copy of coursework task / instructions provided for candidates · TOP TWO copies of Assessment Grid (GCW742) for each sampled candidate. Please annotate this grid to indicate how the marks have been awarded. Centres are advised to complete these grids for each candidate when assessing the portfolio. Should a further sample be required, an annotated grid will once again be requested with each candidate’s portfolio of work · Completed and signed Centre Authentication Form for Coursework (CCS 160) – one per Centre. Please ensure that each piece of work within the portfolio is clearly labelled with the · Centre number · candidate number · candidate name.	If there are 10 or less candidates entered, then the complete work of all candidates should be sent to the moderator. In all other cases await sample request from moderator on form CW/L1. Send sample to moderator, within three working days. Please include: An annotated copy of the Band Descriptor grid for each candidate. Please also show the Centre number, candidate name and candidate number. Completed and signed Centre Authentication Form for Coursework (CCS 160) – please note that one is required for each unit entered. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO THE TEACHER ASSESSED UNITS (4958 AND 4963) ALTHOUGH PLEASE NOTE THAT SAMPLES OF WORK AND COMPLETED ‘COVER SHEETS’ MAY BE REQUESTED TO ASSIST IN THE AWARDING PROCESS.

Just in case you didn't get the e-mail from earlier this week...

Podcasts

This finally arrived in the department today...
Took a bit longer than I'd hoped to get it working tonight, but seems to work fine and good quality. Did my first bit of mixing and fading and adding music to voice podcast with some multi-track stuff....
Watch out for some new Pilot GCSE podcasts when I get a moment...

Year 10 Coursework Mark Scheme

This is what I will use to mark your poster and written work....
Does your work match these requirements ?
If not, you need to adapt it / add / remove anything that is needed....

How to make your coursework into an A*

Try to make your work match the descriptions below. This is what teachers will be looking for to award an A*!

Tick them as you achieve them. We will give you a printed copy of the sheet...

AO 1: KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

• Show good knowledge and understanding of Svalbard.
• Show you understand the concept of ‘possible futures’.
• Give arguments to support your view of a possible future.
• Present interconnected / linked ideas.

AO 2: APPLICATION, INTERPRETATION AND VALUES

• Make your interpretation of the future detailed.
• Develop and show the complexity of your personal view, including how it will affect you
• Justify your personal view.

AO 3: SKILLS AND ANALYSIS

• Develop an appropriate technique to present your ideas.
• Use particular skills to communicate your findings
• Focus on clear communication to your intended audience.
• Make sure that you communicate appropriate information

Remember that there are marks for the quality of your written communication. These are obtained by:

• Presenting relevant information in a form that suits its purpose
• Ensuring text is legible
• Using a suitable structure and style of writing appropriate to the task

And here is the cover sheet which we shall put onto the work...

PILOT GCSE GEOGRAPHY (1949) : COURSEWORK COVER SHEET

NAME: FORM: CAND NO:

TOPIC: EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS

TASK A: Concept map of Environmental Change on Svalbard

TASK B: Global Warming on Svalbard

Futures: possible ideas in the context of Svalbard		Applying understanding to particular context of Svalbard		Expressing personal views of the issue which is being explored
Basic – one option	1 mark	Lacks confidence in applying what they know to Svalbard	1 mark	Limited personal comment	1 mark
Sound – at least two options	2 marks	Can apply what they know to Svalbard	2 marks	Expresses own views	2 marks
Detailed – more than 2 options, and options compared	3 marks	Shows the way in which Svalbard is linked to other places	3 marks	Complex and linked views	3 marks

Total (12)

Comment

There is also an ICT section to add:

Using ICT for clarity in presentation and to aid analysis
ICT used for presentation only	1 mark
ICT to support analysis and presentation	2 marks
ICT used appropriately and sources quoted	3 marks

Here are some possible websites to get you started on the Global Warming task:

http://www.svalbard-images.com/spitzbergen/climate-change-a.php - some images from Greenpeace showing coastal retreat - note that these are copyright images. You should always check whether you have permission to use images and ideas...

In August 2002, Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior travelled to Svalbard to study glacier's decline.

Greenpeace took photos of Blomstrandbreen, a glacier in the King's Bay area (Kongsfjorden) to illustrate a retreat of the glacier of approximately 2 km in the past 80 years.

The glacier was connected to the peninsula Blomstrandhalvøya (halvøya means peninsula) until 1992 but now there is a passage of nearly 1km between Blomstrandhalvøya, which is now an island, and the glacier's front

Since 1960, the average retreat of that glacier has been about 35 m a year, accelerating in the last ten years. Greenpeace says other glaciers in the area are showing an overall retreat.

British Aisles

A nice headline for an article in G2 today.
The article is about British food being exported to other places. Useful for "My Place" and the Cultural aspects of the UK. It looks at products such as tea, beer, breakfast cereal (including my favourite Dorset cereals), and chocolate.
For example, we export Indian food to India...
One particular success story here is the firm Patak's.They also have a very useful website which would be a useful stop off for those studying India.
It has a section looking at the INTERNATIONAL nature of the company: it now exports to over 40 countries around the world.
There is a website aimed at KS2 called JOURNEY THROUGH INDIA.
This might also be appropriate for KS3 students.

Patak's products include Indian cooking sauces, curry pastes, chutney, pickles, ready meals, snacks and breads. It uses distributors to sell in more than 40 countries worldwide, from Australia to Canada. As well as selling through major retailers, it also manufactures own-brand products for supermarkets including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Morrisons. Patak's employs some 650 staff, just over half at its factory near Wigan.

The company was started in 1957 by Kirit Pathak's father Laxmishanker shortly after arriving in England from Kenya with just five pounds in his pocket - he dropped the "h" from the company name to make it easier to pronounce. Spotting the need for Indian food in London, he started producing samosas in a tiny kitchen in north London. Kirit began making deliveries aged just six and joined the business full-time when he was 17.

Could be a good industry start-up case study too...

Crumbs of comfort..

Below is a picture taken of Captain Scott's Antarctic Party. Between November 1911 and March 1912 the sledging party made its way to the South Pole, and then tragically failed to make it back to a supply cache of food.Those doing Antarctica as their extreme environment will probably have referred to the extreme nature of the climate in that year, and the preparations that Scott made. They will also have compared the equipment and support available to today's visitors to the Polar regions which can make things easier (but not completely remove the risk). The book "The Coldest March" by Susan Solomon has an interesting (I believe the term is 'revisionist') approach which suggests that the temperatures were unseasonably low, which meant that the weight of the sledges was unable to melt the ice beneath the blades, and the men had to drag the sledges expending more energy and slowing their progress.

Scott's diaries were recently put on display in the British library.

The other day in my friendly local supermarket, I came across Huntley and Palmer's Captain Scott's Expedition Biscuits.
These are a replica of the biscuits that Captain Scott used, but the recipe has been changed to replace lard with vegetable oil.
I can report that they are delicious with a crumbly manchego and some grapes...

Year 11 A chance to improve...

Starting in a week or so will be a chance to improve Year 10 coursework, and we will then re-enter the portfolio.
This will be up to you to do the work and take the initiative here...

THIS POST is a reminder of the coursework.
More to come...

Year 11 Coursework Aims

Specially for Michael, here's a link to the COURSEWORK AIMS for Sustainable Transport.