Geography | Pearson Edexcel

Geography A Level is a 2 year academic course which covers a wide range of contemporary topics. Students will learn through a variety of methods including an independent investigation led by a fieldwork research question.

The course studied builds on a variety of skills and is an excellent route to further education and employment. Geography is synoptic and draws upon themes and ideas from a variety of disciplines. Students will look at the players who are involved, attitudes and actions from these players and futures and uncertainties.

Areas of Study

Tectonic Processes and Hazards and Coastal Landscapes and Change:

Tectonic Processes and Hazards: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and secondary hazards such as tsunamis – represent a significant risk in some parts of the world. This is especially the case where active tectonic plate boundaries interact with areas of high population density and low levels of development. Resilience in these places can be low, and the interaction of physical systems with vulnerable populations can result in major disasters. An in-depth understanding of the causes of tectonic hazards is key to both increasing the degree to which they can be managed, and putting in place successful responses that can mitigate social and economic impacts and allow humans to adapt to hazard occurrence.

Coastal Landscapes and Change: Coastal landscapes develop due to the interaction of winds, waves and currents, as well as through the contribution of both terrestrial and offshore sources of sediment. These flows of energy and variations in sediment budgets interact with the prevailing geological and lithological characteristics of the coast to operate as coastal systems and produce distinctive coastal landscapes, including those in rocky, sandy and estuarine coastlines. These landscapes are increasingly threatened from physical processes and human activities, and there is a need for holistic and sustainable management of these areas in all the world’s coasts. Study must include examples of landscapes from inside and outside the UK.

Dynamic Places:

Globalisation: Globalisation and global interdependence continue to accelerate, resulting in changing opportunities for businesses and people. Inequalities are caused within and between countries as shifts in patterns of wealth occur. Cultural impacts on the identity of communities increase as flows of ideas, people and goods take place. Recognising that both tensions in communities and pressures on environments are likely, will help players implement sustainable solutions.

Shaping Places: Regenerating places: Local places vary economically and socially with change driven by local, national and global processes. These processes include movements of people, capital, information and resources, making some places economically dynamic while other places appear to be marginalised. This creates and exacerbates considerable economic and social inequalities both between and within local areas. Urban and rural regeneration programmes involving a range of players involve both place making (regeneration) and place marketing (rebranding). Regeneration programmes impact variably on people both in terms of their lived experience of change and their perception and attachment to places. The relative success of regeneration and rebranding for individuals and groups depends on the extent to which lived experience, perceptions, and attachments to places are changed. Students begin by studying the place in which they live.

The Water Cycle and Water Insecurity & the Carbon Cycle and Energy Security:

The Water Cycle and Water Insecurity: Water plays a key role in supporting life on earth. The water cycle operates at a variety of spatial scales and also at short- and long-term timescales, from global to local. Physical processes control the circulation of water between the stores on land, in the oceans, in the cryosphere, and the atmosphere. Changes to the most important stores of water are a result of both physical and human processes. Water insecurity is becoming a global issue with serious consequences and there is a range of different approaches to managing water supply.

The Carbon Cycle and Energy: A balanced carbon cycle is important in maintaining planetary health. The carbon cycle operates at a range of spatial scales and timescales, from seconds to millions of years. Physical processes control the movement of carbon between stores on land, the oceans and the atmosphere. Changes to the most important stores of carbon and carbon fluxes are a result of physical and human processes. Reliance on fossil fuels has caused significant changes to carbon stores and contributed to climate change resulting from anthropogenic carbon emissions. The water and carbon cycles and the role of feedbacks in and between the two cycles, provide a context for developing an understanding of climate change.

Anthropogenic climate change poses a serious threat to the health of the planet. There is a range of adaptation and mitigation strategies that could be used, but for them to be successful they require global agreements as well as national actions.

Human Systems and Geopolitics:

Superpowers: Superpowers can be developed by a number of characteristics. The pattern of dominance has changed over time. Superpowers and emerging superpowers have a very significant impact on the global economy, global politics and the environment. The spheres of influence between these powers are frequently contested, resulting in geopolitical implications.

Global Development and Connections: Migration Identity and Sovereignty: involves movements of capital, goods and people. Tensions can result between the logic of globalisation, with its growing levels of environmental, social and economic interdependence among people, economies and nation states and the traditional definitions of national sovereignty and territorial integrity. International migration not only changes the ethnic composition of populations but also changes attitudes to national identity. At the same time, nationalist movements have grown in some places challenging dominant models of economic change and redefining ideas of national identity. Global governance has developed to manage a number of common global issues (environmental, social, political and economic) and has a mixed record in its success in dealing with them. It has promoted growth and political stability for some people in some places whilst not benefiting others. Unequal power relations have tended to lead to unequal environmental, social and economic outcomes.

Synoptic Themes: assessment of geographical skills, knowledge and understanding within a place based context linking players, attitudes and actions, and futures and uncertainties.

Independent Investigation:The student will undertake an independent investigation, producing a written report of 3000–4000 words.
The student will define a question or issue relating to the compulsory or optional content which they have studied.
The student’s investigation will incorporate fieldwork data (collected individually or as part of a group) and own research and/or secondary data.
The report will evidence independent analysis and evaluation of data, presentation of data findings and extended writing.
The report is internally assessed and externally moderated.
It is worth 20% of the student’s final grade.
Students will need to partake in fieldwork, in order to complete this requirement of the course.

Assessment

Paper 1: Written examination 2 hrs 15 mins (30%)
Paper 2: Written examination 2 hrs 15 mins (30%)
Paper 3: Written examination 2 hrs 15 mins (20%)

Non-examined assessment: Independent fieldwork investigation (20%)

Progression Routes

Geography is a facilitating subject. This means that the skills learnt during the study of geography open up a wealth of opportunities. Geographers will develop skills in numeracy and literacy as well as critical evaluation, developing reasoned arguments, decision making, problem solving, research, teamwork, communication, IT, time-management, creativity and self-motivation. Due to these skills alongside a deep understanding of the way the world works, geographers are amongst the most employable graduates.

An A level in geography opens up any career path including:

• Law
• Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care
• Construction, Planning and Built Environment
• Education and Training
• Journalism and publishing
• Leisure, Travel and Tourism, Social Sciences
• Business and Administration
• Government and politics
• Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies

Additional Information

Students will participate in one residential field visit as part of the Independent investigation. Attendance to this fieldwork is compulsory due to the exam board requirement to complete an Independent fieldwork investigation worth 20%. Students will go on their fieldwork to Dorset for 4 days. An approximate cost for this trip is £100 which is heavily subsidised by the school. However, this could change dependent upon the cost set by the FSC (Field Studies Council).