EDEXCEL: the new GCE Geography for 2008

Check out the EDEXCEL website for more details: go to NEW GCE SPECS - new documents and e-spec are now in schools, plus some additional materials. http://developments.edexcel.org.uk/gce2008/subjects/geography/ - a good page which has a full presentation with Cameron Dunn, a Chief Examiner for Edexcel. You can also download some SPECIMEN PAPERS...

Also check out the Summer 2008 edition of GA Magazine's WEBWATCH feature for an article I wrote

You can download the Specification, the Overview and some Sample Assessment material from the site. There are 4 units to the specification...

Course Content

Unit 1: Global Challenges (AS)

The meaning, causes, impacts and management of global challenges. How we can influence global challenges through our lives. There are two compulsory topics that form this unit.

Topic 1: WORLD AT RISK

Topic 2: GOING GLOBAL

Unit 2: Geographical Investigations (AS)

A closer look at how physical and human issues influence lives and can be managed. Students must choose two topics from the four offered in this unit, these must be one physical and one human topic...

Physical Topics

Topic 1: Extreme Weather: with its increasing ferocity and frequency fascinates some people and threatens many others

Topic 2: Crowded Coasts: reveal how increasing development is testing our ability to manage these valued environments

Human Topics

Topic 3: Unequal Spaces: explores how we can improve our own and other people's lives in rural and urban areas

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7368326.stm - interesting video on the divide between London and the rest of the UK

Topic 4: Rebranding Places: focuses on how we need to re-image and regenerate rural and urban places, using appropriate strategies

New REBRANDING page

Unit 3: Contested Planet (A2)

The use and management of resources is a key issue for Geography and today's world. Consumption patterns highlight stark inequalities between regions, countries and groups of people.

Many resources are finite, and rising consumption means that difficult decisions over the use of resources will have to be taken more frequently. There are six compulsory topics:

Topic 1: Energy Security

Topic 2: Water conflicts

Topic 3: Biodiversity under threat

Topic 4: Superpower geographies

Topic 5: Bridging the development gap

Topic 6: The technological fix ?

Unit 4: Geographical Research (A2)

Options range from those with a strong physical geography focus, to those concerned more with environmental, social and cultural geographies. Students must select and study one of the following research options:

Option 1: Tectonic Activity and Hazards

Option 2: Cold Environments: Landscapes and Change

Option 3: Life on the Margins - the food supply problem

Option 4: The world of cultural diversity

Option 5: Pollution and human health at risk

Option 6: Consuming the rural landscape - leisure and tourism

Thanks to SLN colleague Bob Lang for sending a disc full of material from an Edexcel day. This included some materials from

http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/publications/3398.pdf - thanks to Tom Biebrach for the link - this is not the Edexcel spec, but there are plenty of excellent LINKS in the document that would be relevant for a number of Edexcel units.