Topic title: Development
Year group: 8
When taught: September to November
What are we learning?
- What is development?
- How can we measure development?
- Where do billionaires live?
- Why are some regions poorer than others?
- What is trade?
- Blood diamonds
- Trans-National Corporation’s and Sweatshops
- The Sectors of Trade
- Fair Trade
Why is this important to know?
- Physical and Human Geography underpin every unit studied and are interconnected. It is important that students recognise the synopticity between them. In this unit it is important that students develop an understanding of how physical features can affect levels of development.
- It supports students’ locational knowledge with Sierra Leone, Bangladesh and Ghana being used as named examples.
- It helps students to recognise their own place and role within the world and as consumers of trade.
- It begins to challenge misconceptions created about poverty and Africa and asks students to question sources of information and perspectives.
- Introduces students to a fundamental key concept underpinning several units; inequality. This is studied at a range of scales; global, international, national, corporate.
- Geographical skills are developed through using data sets to find development indicators, choropleth mapping and creating and interpreting divided bars.
- SMSC – ethics discussed through learning about blood diamonds, sweatshops and fair trade.
Where does this link into our past and future learning?
- This links to prior work on Tropical Rainforests – opportunities for countries to use them for development as well as the challenges.
- Our next topic looks at climate change with development helping to explain countries with highest/lowest greenhouse gas emissions and potentially the most and least vulnerable to the impacts.
- Levels of development underpin most units in Year 8 and beyond. In the Year 9 unit on Tectonics an understanding of unequal development allows students to make connections between development and hazards i.e. why impacts and responses vary with level of development.
- An understanding of development, people and place is deepened in the Year 9 Population unit with students applying their understanding to identify where and why the fastest/slowest population growth rates are.
How will we be assessed on this topic?
- The end of unit assessment will contain short answer knowledge and understanding questions, skills questions and a question requiring an extended written response focusing on why some regions are less developed than others.
What makes a strong piece of work in this topic? What are teachers hoping to see?
- Correct use accurate use of key terminology, LIC, NEE, HIC, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
- Effective use of development indicator data.
- Giving balanced answers that look at different perspectives.
- Students recognising the complexity of the issues studied and an awareness there is no simple fix.
- Use of BLT for extended writing.
- Beginning to support points with specific evidence
- Accurate choropleth map and plotting of divided bar
What key words are there in this topic?
Quizlet: click here
What can I try if I want to stretch and challenge myself on this topic?
- Consider ways to raise awareness of what fair trade is – look out for Fair Trade fortnight.
What wider reading can be done on this topic?
