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Volume 30, Number 3, February 2017
Exam links
Using this issue for Edexcel AS
and A-level geography
The table below shows the structure of the Edexcel AS and A-level geography courses
Topic 1 Tectonic processes and hazards
AS
Topic 2 Landscape systems, processes and change* (2A Glaciated landscapes
or 2B Coastal landscapes)
Topic 3 Globalisation
Topic 4 Shaping places* (4A Regenerating places or 4B Diverse places)
*AS assessed fieldwork
A-level
Topic 5 The water cycle and water insecurity
Topic 6 The carbon cycle and energy security
Topic 7 Superpowers
Topic 8 Global development and connections (8A Health, human rights and
intervention or 8B Migration, identity and sovereignty)
Independent investigation (coursework)
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This table shows the relevance of each of the articles and columns in this issue of GEOGRAPHY REVIEW
to the Edexcel specification
Article
Page numbers
Links to specification content
The global carbon budget: the carbon
cycle and global warming
2–5
Topic 6 Carbon cycle and energy
security
Question and answer Coastal systems
and landscapes
6–9
Topic 2 Landscape systems (2B
Coastal landscapes)
Is India a single place? Identity
development and culture
10–13
Topic 8 Global Development (8A
Health, Human Rights & Intervention)
Geographical ideas The concept of
place: meaning, representation and
conflict
14–16
Topic 4 Shaping Places
Geographical skills Investigating
landscapes
17–19
Topic 2 Landscape systems and
Independent investigation
Centrepiece The youngest glacier on
earth
20–21
Topic 2 Landscape systems (2A
Glaciated landscapes)
Governing the global commons:
Antarctica, the Arctic and outer space
compared
22–24
Topic 8 Global Development (8B
Migration, Identity and Sovereignty)
Everybody’s talking about…Wicked
problems
25–27
All topics
Accessibility to health services:
assessing population patterns
28–31
Topic 4 Shaping places
Development update Why do children
miss out on school?
32–33
Topic 8 Global Development (8A
Health, Human Rights & Intervention)
Everybody’s talking about… The
circular economy
34–36
Topic 3 Globalisation
The big picture Desalination and water
supply
42
Topic 5 Water cycle and water
insecurity
The global carbon budget: the carbon cycle and
global warming

This article can be used to support Topic 6 The carbon cycle
The article provides a useful introduction to one of the new, and potentially unfamiliar, topics on the
2016 A-level specification. The spec does make the link between the ‘natural’ carbon cycle, how
humans have altered this, and how this is likely to lead to climate change and planetary warming. The
article could be used to support work you do in class and would make useful pre-reading, so that
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students come to a lesson with some background and familiarity with key terms. Note in particular Box
2, which refers to some of the units used to measure carbon sinks, emissions and fluxes.
Question and answer Coastal landscapes and
systems

Use this article to promote exam skills within Topic 2B Coastal landscapes
This Q&A is from the AQA AS sample assessment materials, which are not a direct mirror of Edexcel
Paper 1. However, the questions are very similar i.e. a ramped sequence with increasing mark tariff.
The 20 mark question is different in terms of mark tariff compared to Edexcel, but the question format
is very similar. Therefore you could use these questions as a homework exercise and then use the
article in class to think about what makes a good answer. Make students aware of the corresponding
mark tariffs in their Paper 1 exam.
Is India a single place? Identity, development and
culture

This article can be used to support Topic 8A Health, human rights and intervention
This detailed consideration of social and identify differences across India fits best with Topic 8A in
terms of a national and regional study of differences in terms of development and identity. It also has
strong links to Topic 8B (8B.10) in terms of the idea of what constitutes a nation and concepts of
sovereignty and unity.
Geographical ideas The concept of place: meaning,
representation and conflict

This piece is useful for Topic 4 Shaping places* (4A Regenerating places or 4B Diverse
places)
All Edexcel geographers need to study specific places, from the perspective of what those places
mean to different groups of people, as well as how different concepts of place can lead to problems
and conflict between different players. This column is a useful starting point for understanding the
meaning of some unfamiliar key terminology within topic 4A or 4B. Figure 2 in particular can be
adapted and applied to almost any place as a starting point for understanding why people and players
hold different opinions about a place.
Geographical skills Investigating landscapes

Use this column in the context of teaching the Topic 2 options and/or as part of AS fieldwork
or the independent investigation (NEA).
All students, at some stage, will need to go out into the field and ‘measure something’ in physical
geography. This might be as part of AS fieldwork or the NEA. Some measurement can be done from
secondary data sources such as maps, but in most cases it can also be done in the field. Collecting
quantitative data in this way is important in the context of fully understanding processes, as well as
engaging fully with the fieldwork investigation process which all students will be tested on (by AS
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exams, or A-level NEA). It also yields data that can be analysed and manipulated mathematically and
statistically —a skill that is now a requirement. This article provides advice on how to start measuring.
So get your boots on!
Centrepiece The youngest glacier on earth

This piece supports Topic 2A Glaciated landscapes
This centrespread is a useful short piece to help students understand that ice masses can be very
dynamic — and indeed that they can accumulate as well as ablate. It also shows that glacial
processes don’t happen in a vacuum, and that other physical systems such as tectonics can interact
with them with unexpected results.
Governing the global commons: Antarctica, the
Arctic and outer space compared

Use this article to support Topic 8B Migration, Identity & Sovereignty
Antarctica and its management appears in the spec in section 8B.9, so this article can be used as a
case study to support that bit of the specification. These examples of global commons show that
management can be achieved between nations but it is not easy, and certainly not universal. All the
examples in the article serve to illustrate the fact that different players have very different attitudes to
towards the global commons and their future.
Everybody’s talking about… Wicked problems

This is a background column useful for all students
This piece links to many of the topics studied across Year 12 and Year 13. Many of these topics and
issues are inherently complex and students need to understand this. Solving one problem can in some
cases create others. Solutions inevitably please some groups but not others. In many ways, Paper 3
focuses on this element of inter-linkage and interdependence. Students will need to think about
contrasting solutions and outcomes but be aware that none will be perfect.
Accessibility to health services: assessing
population patterns

This article links to Topic 4 Shaping Places.
Health and health deprivation are part of both Topics 4A and 4B, albeit relatively small parts. Access
to healthcare is an important difference between some places and others, whether these are places
different in socioeconomic terms, ethnicity, or both. The success of regeneration and other
programmes to improve equality can be measured by health metrics as well as by education progress
and incomes. The UK census can be used to examine health issues and access to healthcare
services.
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Development update Why do children miss out on
school?

Use this column to support Topic 8A Health, human rights and intervention
This article, about access to education in the developing and emerging worlds, fits most closely with
Topic 8A, Enquiry question 1: What is human development and why do levels vary from place to
place? This EQ focuses on the meaning of development and how it can be measured, as well as the
reasons why development varies so much from place to place. As the article explains, education is a
key component of development but achieving access to it for all has proved a huge challenge.
Progress on improving primary enrolment is just the first step.
Everybody’s talking about… The circular economy

Use this piece to support Topic 3, Globalisation.
The concept of a ‘circular economy’ links most strongly to Topic 3 Enquiry question 3: What are the
consequences of globalisation for global development and the physical environment and how should
different players respond to its challenges? The type of economic system explained could be one
solution to the obvious problems of an every larger, more affluent global economy. However, in many
emerging economies this type of thinking is a long way off and it tends to be the preserve of highly
mature European economies such as those in Scandinavia. It is a useful case study of what might be
done to address the need for economic growth and the need for greater environmental sustainability.
Giant icebergs and the carbon cycle

This article can be used to support Topic 6 The carbon cycle
Students will need to have a detailed understanding of the carbon cycle, so it is definitely worthwhile
examining some parts of it in greater depth. This article explains how very large icebergs provide the
nutrients required by oceanic phytoplankton and how melting can stimulate growth of phytoplankton
which sequester carbon as they grow. The article goes on to explain the link between icebergs and
climate change both in terms of stimulating carbon sequestration into ocean sediments, and in terms
of albedo.
The big picture Desalination and water supply

This issue’s Big picture links to Topic 5 Water cycle and water Insecurity
Desalination has moved from an unusual, very expensive technology 30 years ago into the
mainstream of water supply in a wide range of countries (including the UK). Desalination is a very
obvious solution, but by no means an impact-free one. It is likely to continue to expand worldwide as
water demand rises.
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This resource is part of GEOGRAPHY REVIEW, a magazine written for A-level students by subject experts.
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