Head of Department: J J Hartley Board: OCR B
The new OCR GCSE Geography B specification is mostly built around popular existing qualifications and has been updated to reflect modern Geography.
Key Themes
There are four key themes within this specification:
Rivers and Coasts a. How do systems ideas help us to understand physical processes that operate in a river basin? b. How does river flooding illustrate the interaction between natural processes and human activity? c. What processes and factors are responsible for distinctive landforms within a river basin? d. What processes and factors are responsible for distinctive coastal landforms? e. Why is the management of coastlines important?
Population and Settlement a. How and why are there variations between the population structures of countries? b. What are the causes and consequences of natural population change over time? c. Why does migration occur and what are its effects? d. How is the pattern of land use within cities changing? e. What affects the provision of goods and retail services in rural and urban settlements?
Natural Hazards a. What is the global distribution of different types of natural hazard? b. What natural processes cause different types of natural hazards? c. How do natural hazards affect people and places in parts of the world with different levels of development? d. How can human activities affect the impact of natural hazards? e. How can people and places be protected from the impact of natural hazards?
Economic Development a. What is meant by "development"? b. How and why are there variations between the employment structures of different countries? c. What determines the location of different economic activities? d. How do multinational companies affect development? e. How can economic activity affect the physical environment on a variety of scales including global.
One of these themes will be assessed in the Sustainable Decision Making unit and the other three in the Key Geographical Themes unit. (see below). The Examination
The Examination consists of three units:
• Sustainable Decision Making (25% of final mark, externally assessed) This will be based on pre-released material linked to one of the four key themes and will develop real-life skills relevant to future decision making. Each year the themes will rotate and students will be aware of the targeted theme at the beginning of the course. The examination will make use of a pre-release booklet which will be available about 6 weeks before the examination.
• Geographical Enquiry (25% of final mark, internally assessed) This unit consists of two tasks, one is a fieldwork investigation of a hypothesis or question and the other is a geographical investigation linked to one of nine topics (Disease, Trade, Ecosystems, Sport, Fashion, Energy, New technologies, Crime and Tourism). Each candidate’s submission should be no more than about 2000 words in total (approximately 1200 words for ‘Fieldwork Focus’ and 800 words for ‘Geographical Investigation’). The work will take the form of a Controlled Assessment which will be carried out under the supervision of the class teacher.
• Key Geographical Themes (50% of final mark, externally assessed) The final unit requires an understanding of three of the four key themes assessed through a written examination. Why Choose Geography? Geography should encourage students to be inspired, motivated and challenged by following a broad, coherent, satisfying and worthwhile course of study and gain an insight into related sectors. The aims of this specification are for students to:
• Actively engage in the process of Geography to develop as effective and independent learners and as critical and reflective thinkers with enquiring minds. • Develop their knowledge and understanding of geographical concepts and appreciate the relevance of these concepts to our changing world. • Develop a framework of spatial awareness in which to appreciate the importance of the location of places and environments from local to global. • Appreciate the differences and similarities between people’s views of the world, its environments, societies and cultures. • Understand the significance of values and attitudes to the development and resolution of issues. • Develop their responsibilities as global citizens and recognise how they can contribute to a future that is sustainable and inclusive. • Develop and apply their learning to the real world through fieldwork and other out-of-classroom learning. • Use geographical skills, appropriate technologies, enquiry and analysis.