Endorsements/recommendations
Endorsed for Edexcel Geography GCSE B (2016) and Edexcel Geography GCE (2016) specifications
View Edexcel endorsement statement
This material is recommended by Cambridge International Examinations to support the Cambridge IGCSE Geography syllabus and the Cambridge AS and A level Geography syllabus
Testimonials
"The tectonics series is superb."
Mark Ollis,
Head of Geography, St Bees School
"I wish I had had this film when I was teaching. They are the most effective resource for classroom use, both for stimulating interest and for supporting the teacher in developing student's deeper conceptual understanding."
John Lyon,
Programme Manager, Geographical Association
"The DVD offers not only a video of 45 minutes, but excellent script, teacher guidance, PDF and Word resources and suggested websites, totalling over 25 pages in each. The most appealing aspect of the DVD is the holistic approach to case study development. Students are able to piece together a series of geographical concepts and skills to build a synoptic and deep understanding through watching and completing tasks.”
Beth Harries,
Head of Geography, Penryn College, Cornwall and member of the GA's Secondary Phase Committee.
The DVD has clear menus with regards to playing or selecting chapters. In the classroom this was particularly useful for identifying short 4-5 minute clips on causes, impacts, medium and long-term responses. There seemed to be some overlap between short, medium and long-term impacts, which may be more challenging for some students to differentiate between. The analytical content is aimed at KS4-5, but was equally accessible to more able Year 9 students, with clear subtitles.
The cultural elements of life in Haiti are successfully addressed, linking the physical geography to social and economic concepts: ideal for KS5 synoptic understanding. For example the DVD also includes a section on life today and the ongoing battle with cholera as a secondary effect of the earthquake, bringing in health geographies subtly. The viewing grids allow for active engagement with the content.
The resources beyond the DVD are detailed and build on skills through each task. I particularly like the well planned guided group activities with thinking questions and suggested sources of information. Other tasks require the recall of factual specific information, key exam skills such as annotation of photographs and maps, conflict identification between different groups and completion of flow charts.
Some exam questions were identified as GCSE, it may have been beneficial for all questions to be labelled in order to assist planning. The DVD would be beneficial additions to GCSE or A Level geography departments.
Beth Harries,
Review in Teaching Geography, Spring 2014, Penryn College, Cornwall and member of the GA's Secondary Phase Committee.
Suggested exam board specification links
AQA GCSE |
Unit 3.1 |
Living with the physical environment |
3.1.1 |
The challenge of natural hazards |
Tectonic hazards |
3.1.1.2 |
AQA iGCSE |
Unit 1 |
Dynamic Physical World |
Tectonic Activity and Hazards |
Cambridge iGCSE |
Theme 2 |
The natural environment |
2.1 |
Earthquakes and volcanoes |
Edexcel GCE |
Area 1 |
Dynamic Landscapes |
Topic 1 |
Tectonic Processes and Hazards |
1.4, 1.6, 1.9 |
Edexcel GCSE B |
Component 1 |
Global Geographical Issues |
Topic 1 |
Hazardous Earth |
1.9 |
OCR GCE |
Component 3 |
Geographical Debates |
3.5 |
Hazardous Earth |
3.5.4b, 3.5.5b |
OCR GCSE B |
Component 1 |
Content of Our Natural World |
1.2 |
Global Hazards |
How do plate tectonics shape our world? |
1.2.b |