Chinese use fertility drugs to get round the One Child Policy

Some Chinese in rural areas have been using fertility drugs to ensure they have twins or other multiple births, the try to get round the One Child Policy. Families who have more than one child can expect fines, but multiple births are exempt from this rule. Read more about it here from the BBC.

Coursework

The documents below should help you collect information on the coursework day in Guildford. Ideally you should design your own sheets for data collection but if you are short on time these will help. You can download them and print them out by clicking on the writing at the bottom of the document. Don't forget to look further down the page for some suggestions to help you write your questionnaires!

Coursework questionnaires

Year 10 Geographers are in the process of writing their questionnaires for part of their coursework investigation. As quite a number have missed the class discussions because they are on the Spanish trip the following might help. It is a list of SOME of the sorts of questions you might want to include. They aren’t necessarily in the best order. I’m not suggesting you include them all and remember what we talked about with regards to using categories for answers etc.

TOURISM:
Gender (not a question)
Age
Where do you live?
What is your reason for being in Guildford today?
What do you consider to be Guildford’s attractions for tourists?
Which of the following do you consider to be most important for tourists? (list)
What do you consider to be the main benefits of tourists visiting Guildford?
What do you consider to be the problems associated with tourists?

TRAFFIC:
Gender (not a question)
Age
Where do you live?
What type of transport did you use to travel to Guildford today? / How do you usually travel to Guildford?
What are your reasons for visiting Guildford today?
How often do you visit Guildford?
How often do you use public transport in and around Guildford?
Can you rate Guildford’s public transport on a scale of….
Question about congestion (rate it as a problem or where worst?)
Questions about the park and ride scheme (e.g. Do you use it? How often? Can you rate it on a scale of…..)
How do you think transport in Guildford could be improved? (give suggestions as categories)

REMEMBER to look at your hypotheses and sub-hypotheses when designing your questionnaire!

Young People's Trust for the Environment

Use this link to a useful website about the environment and problems created by people. This is good for Year 9 pupils studying "Can the earth cope" this term.

http://www.yptenc.org.uk/

The site says "The Young People's Trust for the Environment is a charity which aims to encourage young people's understanding of the environment and the need for sustainability."

Happy reading!

Were you our 1000th visitor?

If you visited us over the weekend of 12th / 13th May you may have been our 1000th visitor! 1000 visitors in 7 weeks.

We've had visitors from six continents since we first started this blog on 25th March 2007. We hope you have found something useful / informative / interesting, or just something to make you think!

List of case studies for AS Human Geography

The document below is a list of suggested case studies for AS Human Geography. You can view the document online or, if you want to print it off, click on the bottom left where you can then download as a pdf or a word document. Don't forget to use the revision stuff given to you on disc. Good luck in your exams! Mrs Nurton

Missouri river floods

The Missouri River has flooded, meaning thousands of people have had to leave their homes. See more pictures here from the BBC

Queen carbon off-sets

The Queen's current visit to the USA will be the first one where she 'carbon off-sets'. Details and map below from the BBC website.

"The tour is the Queen's first carbon-offset state visit, where a donation is made to an environmental charity to offset the plane journeys made by the royal party. "

Total air miles - 13,317 km or 8,275 milesAmount of CO2 emitted based on scheduled flights - 1. 5 tonnesEstimated offset cost per person - £13.20 to £14.18 ($26.22-$28.17) depending on type of offset package
Source: The Carbon Neutral Company carbon calculator

How to revise!

This simple powerpoint shows a few ways to revise - try something different! Good luck!

Tornado wipes out 95% of town!

A tornado has hit the town of Greensburg in Kansas, USA, wiping out 95% of the buildings, killing at least 9 people and injuring 60 others.

Look at the links below for more information and images / video.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/2007-05-05-kansas_N.htm This includes a flash animation of 'how tornadoes form'. The videos are definately worth a look.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6628613.stm

GCSE Past Papers

Special message for Year 11 students! Here's the link for the past exam papers on the AQA website. Look at the papers (you can choose Higher or Foundation as appropriate), and look at the mark schemes too.

http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gcse/geo_c_assess.php

Remember, Paper 1 is the Decision Making Paper, and Paper 2 is the one which tests your knowledge of the topics we have covered in the last two years.

The topic for Paper 1 this year is as follows:

“Paper 1 will consider different indicators used to compare
economic development and how levels of development reflect
general quality of life and employment opportunities. It will
then look at the issues associated with the development of
tourism in LEDCs and examine a specific example. It will also
consider the issue of managing tourism developments in
sensitive areas.”

Happy revising!

Italy and volcanoes!

How topical! Year 7 were looking at Italy and we found that Mount Etna had been erupting today. Click here to go to a BBC webpage where you can click on a video of today's eruption.

We then got talking about Mount Vesuvius and I promised some more information so here goes.....

Find out what happened to these people by using the links below:

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/pompeii/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/pompeii_portents_01.shtml



http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/pompeii.html not only tells you what happened, but there is a quiz and you can build your own virtual volcano.

Minature earth

Year 9 are currently looking at Ecosystems, population and resources.
Have a look at the video below from YouTube which shows what the world would look like as 100 people......(put the sound on too!)

Earthquake hits Kent!

An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale has hit Kent today (Saturday 28th April 2007) at 8.19 this morning. The map (from BBC News) shows that experts believe the epicentre to have been a few miles off the coast in the English Channel. The USGS (United States Geological Survey) measured the quake at 4.7, although the BBC news website states it measured 4.3 on the Richter scale.

Look at the following links for more information:
Earthquake strikes part of Kent from BBC News
Eyewitness accounts on the BBC News website
Lots of pictures and more details of the damage here

A huge crack in cliffs at Barton-on Sea which could cause a massive landslide could be linked to the earthquake. Read about it here.

Tour the EU in a minute!

Year 7 have just started looking at Italy. Click to Tour the EU in a minute !

Warning of bad hurricane season

The BBC reports that experts are again predicting a busy Atlantic hurricane season, with up to 17 named tropical storms forming - nine of which could become hurricanes. read the full article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6524017.stm

Go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4588149.stm for an aminated guide on the formation of hurricanes and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/americas/2005/hurricane_katrina/default.stm has a whole section on Hurricane Katrina, which year 10 wll find particularly useful!

Revision guidance

You can download a revision booklet (not specifically Geography - EVERYTHING revision related from
http://www.4shared.com/file/14482513/ee2ec5b4/Tips_revision_guidance_FINAL_BOOKLET.html

Landslides

A2 students are looking at mass movements as part of their Geomorphological Hazards and Processes unit. This video shows you about recent landslides in Newfoundland, Canada - not a good place to be!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news/science_nature/video/89000/bb/89981_16x9_bb.asx

(Photo above from CBC News)

Globalisation of the car industry

Watch this video which explains the globalisation of the car industry



You might also want to look at the link in the earlier post (choose 'Globalisation' from the menu on the right)

A little bit of help for year 8 with their homework....

Year 8 need to do some research for their title page homework. The following links might help you....

http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate.htm is more information about plate tectonics

The map here http://www.iris.edu/seismon/ will show you where all the recent earthquakes have occurred. This one will too: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/

Information about the 10 biggest earthquakes on the Guardian site at http://www.guardian.co.uk/tsunami/story/0,15671,1380312,00.html

Volcano world at http://volcano.und.edu/ has lots of information!

Ecological footprints

Year 9 are starting 'Ecosystems, Population and Resources: Can the earth cope?' this half term.
First watch the short film which explains what an 'ecological footprint is.



Then use one of the following sites to find out what your own ecological footprint is:
http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp#

http://www.bestfootforward.com/carbonlife.htm

Or try this one...

Effects of climate change

The BBC has an excellent 'clickable map' to show the effects of climate change.

Go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/6528979.stm

Hurricanes

Year 10 will shortly be studying the effects of hurricanes in LEDCs and MEDCs. Have a look at the video below from YouTube to show two such hurricanes

Geography Games

If you are going to play games, make them Geographical ones!

Darfur is Dying at http://www.darfurisdying.com/index.html

McDonalds game at http://www.mcdonaldsvideogame.com/

Stop Disasters at http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/

Sims Sweatshop at http://www.simsweatshop.com/game/

If you find another good Geographical game let me know!

Plate tectonics

Year 8 are starting 'The Restless Earth' as a topic in the Summer Term.

Click on the link below for a lesson on plate tectonics and different plate boundaries.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/learnpremium/tectonic/Learningobjectives/Default.htm

Click on http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/kids.php for lots of information and activities.

Tsunami strikes Solomon Islands

An earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale has caused a tsunami on the Solomon Islands where at least 12 people have died. The following is taken from BBC news:

"The Solomon Islands has a population of about 500,000 people - many of them living on remote and widely scattered islands. Many people live in houses made of palm and bamboo on the islands' beaches.

Reports coming in of damage on outlying islands include:

• 300 houses destroyed in Sasamungga village on Choiseul island
• four people missing on Mono island
• waves seen 200 metres inland on Simbo island
• Ranunga island also hit
• bodies seen floating in the sea

Witnesses described the water reaching 50-70 metres (164-230 feet) inland on Ghizo.

Go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6516759.stm for the full story.

Powerful tornados strike USA

A series of powerful tornados have hit America today. Click ont he link below for more pictures from the BBC like the one above

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6510000/newsid_6511100/6511159.stm

AS Economic Activity: Impact of industrial development in China and India

The following article from the Guardian (26/3/07) outlines some of the problems associated with the rapid development in India and China.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2042942,00.html

it is worth reading the full article but some of the main points are below:

• The city of Linfen, China lies at the heart of a 12-mile industrial belt
• For the past 5 years this city of 3.5 million people has been the most polluted place on the planet, bottom of the World Bank's air quality rankings. The New York-based Blacksmith Institute puts it alongside Chernobyl on a list of the planet's 10 most contaminated places.
• Linfen symbolises is the cost of development in China. Its economyis growing explosively, leading to a rapid expansion of the middle classes. This in turn has seen a growing appetite for power - leading to coal fired power stations on a vast scale.
• By 2009 China is predicted to overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
• Seventy percent of China'srivers are contaminated.
• In the southern Himalayas, ancient glaciers are melting.
• Further north, encroaching deserts threaten the livelihoods of 400 million people.
• Linfen is trying to clean up. By the end of this year, the city aims to close 160 of 196 iron foundries, and 57 of 153 coking plants.
• By replacing small, dirty and dangerous plants with large, cleaner and more carefully regulated facilities, the local government in Linfen plans to drastically reduce emissions. Central heating will be provided by gas instead of coal.

Read the full article to find out some of the effects of industrial growth and development in India!

AS Economic Activity: MG Rover

MG Rover's Chinese reincarnation

We have recently looked at the decline of UK manufacturing. Look at the link below for an update on MG Rover

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/6484337.stm

You may also want to look at the link below for more details on the Rover collapse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/business/2005/mg_rover/default.stm

Exam hints

You should have had access to the Revision Guidance booklet for year 11 which is a comprehensive guide.
Why not check out the following advice from Mr Raven-Ellison, a Head of Geography near Reading.