Year 12 - 13 Transition Task for 2007-8

Thanks to Dr. Stuart Hitch for the original inspiration for switching to this task. Feel free to adapt further in your own school / situation and adapt the issues that suit your specification. This avoids the usual problems of missing students due to University open days, student conferences and work experience as they work on a series of tasks which develop their confidence in using a range of resources, and particularly develop their A2 Essay skills. This is likely to be adapted in Summer 2009 with the new specification.

The idea is that students think about the key enquiry questions - they need to have access to ICT / library resources as well as a range of presentation techniques. It's also worth assembling a folder of current and past newspaper resources as well as other online sources. A list of useful websites will be added to this page by the time the section starts.

Date	Topic	Reporting Style / Outcome
June 9th - 13th	The Olympics 2012 Good for London ? Good for the country ?	Investigative reporting presented in the form of a Powerpoint (a maximum of 8-10 slides) or another presentation media e.g. WMV, Photo Story, Photo Jam, Podcast - choose your media and we will provide the rest of the resources. Students will have access to an ICT room for each lesson this week.
Possible Questions	What will be the social / economic and environmental challenges and opportunities provided by the games ? What will the legacy of the game be ? - how successful have other games been ? Enquiry questions go here...	Data required: Bid Movie - Agitate Films plus Videos from official site (can be downloaded) Excellent site of LONDON 2012 Folder of images of site and plans News archive: articles / BizEd site Printouts of material Comparisons with the current plans for Beijing 2008 LONDON 2012 page of the website
June 16th - 20th	Climate Change: Feeling hot ?	A2 Poster complete with illustrations and sources quoted for any information. Needs to be based on principles of discursive writing: trying to put across an argument. Remember what we are able to say about Global Warming... Suitable for display in the Geography department at start of next year.
Possible Questions	What is the evidence for global warming ? What are the arguments for holding the view that global warming is not caused by human activity ?	DVD: An Inconvenient Truth Teachers materials from the Teachernet site, written by Simon Oakes. Guidance for the use of the film. Also a copy of the 11th HOUR (Leonardo di Caprio film which was shown in May 2008) Global Warming page of website. Great Global Warming Swindle website London Site: effect of Global Warming Phenology: signs of changing climates
June 23rd - 27th	The issues facing an Ageing Population “When I’m 64” or 68 ?	Newspaper Supplement (Broadsheet or Tabloid) - need to discuss the approach used by different newspapers in terms of layout, reading ages etc.
Possible Questions	What are the issues facing the present population ? The Pensions Crisis Enquiry questions go here... "If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken more care of myself" Eubie Blake, Musician - when he reached the age of 100	Data required: Mr. Bilbie's excellent booklet Tony Cassidy's WMV Trevor McDonald "When I'm 64" - surviving on a pension News archive / articles Using the NEWSEUM site, you can browse through the front pages of newspapers around the world. Consider some other issues: Viagra sales Medication sales Medical insurance Loneliness Ageism Winter Fuel Allowance Eusthanasia Employment - Asda / B&Q Japan - sending elderly out of the country
June 30th - July 4th	Cyclone Nargis: Burma - May 2008 A natural or man-made disaster ?	IWB activity - can be completed using Smart Notebook software, or PPT (along with worksheets) or other resources ready for presentation.
Possible Questions	How was Burma Enquiry questions go here...	Data required: Pack of resources produced and shared via SLN by News archive / articles Websites - relating to naming of cyclones and tracking. Need to have a PEER ASSESSMENT sheet, and set aside a lesson for presenting the resources.
July 7th - 11th	GOOGLE EARTH CASE STUDY TASK	More to come later...
Possible Questions

Level	Grade	%	Mark	Criteria
1	-	0	0 1 2 3	Very little accurate description or factual content. Many errors and significant gaps in knowledge. Relevance to the question is tenuous. Limited length and/or quality of English make it difficult to assess. Errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling may be intrusive.
2	- N	20 30	4 5 6 7	Mainly descriptive account. Most points are generalised and supported by only a few generalised examples. Some simplistic cause and effect understanding but only partial coverage of the topic. Weak presentation of argument and text lacks fluency. May be errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling.
3	E D	40 50	8 9 10 11	Effective description and some accurate examination of main aspects of question. Appreciation of cause and effect but the ideas are limited in range and depth. May reach sensible but simple conclusion. Has basic descriptive knowledge of some conceptual ideas. Partial exemplification by location, diagram or data. Linked sentences and paragraphs, though occasional lapses in grammar and punctuation.
4	C B	60 70	12 13 14 15	Accurate knowledge and sound understanding of most aspects of the question. Clear and relevant explanation and analysis supported by a range of appropriate and detailed exemplifications. Integrates diagrams and maps into discussion. Has confident grasp of relevant concepts and can categorize information and draw conclusions. Quality of English is consistently sound and the work well structured.
5	A	80	16 17 18 19 20	Wide ranging and accurate descriptive knowledge. Thorough explanation and balanced discussion of all dimensions of the question. Concepts are understood and used to support the arguments. Exemplification is detailed, together with a range of diagrams, maps and data used appropriately. Comparisons of scale, in space and time, support the discussion. English is fluent expressing complex ideas clearly and few, if any, errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling.

2. Organise your Year 12 notes, you WILL need the Synoptic sections from these in Year 13, as well as some of the case studies that we covered this year.

3. The Royal Geographical Society’s GEOGRAPHY IN THE NEWS site contains a range of resources written by Simon Oakes, the chief Human Geography examiner for Edexcel ‘A’ – ask us for the User name and password for free access

4. Check out the NEW INTERNATIONALIST magazine: http://www.newint.org – another magazine which has a lot of geographical content, as well as the regular sweep of the broadsheet newspaper websites: