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Scheme
of Work
PHYSICAL SYSTEMS, PROCESSES AND PATTERNS
MODULE
The module is examined in June of the Upper
Sixth.
UNIT 1: ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS
This unit is started in the Lower Sixth following the
Summer modular exams as an introduction to the A2 course. It is recommended that
the first week of the Autumn term in the Upper Sixth is spent revising this work
before aiming for completion by half-term. Fieldwork is undertaken to support
this unit in Snowdonia in mid-September. Assessment is by essay set at
fortnightly intervals.
- The Atmosphere as a Dynamic System (2
weeks)
Insolation, albedo and the earth’s heat
budget.Factors affecting global surface and upper air circulation; the
tri-cellular model: its application and limitations. Students should understand
in outline the ideas of Halley, Hadley, Ferrel and Rossby. Dish-pan experiments
and the implications of this for heat transfer. Rossby waves and upper
westerlies – relationship to surface weather phenomena
(cyclogenesis).
- Patterns of Pressure and Wind (1
week)
Reasons for global patterns of pressure and wind,
including the influence of the pressure gradient force, centripetal force and
Coriolis force. Sub- and super-geostrophic winds in areas of high and low
pressure. Relationship of pressure systems to the tri-cellular model. Influence
of oceanicity and continentality (including the monsoons of India and SE Asia).
Relationship of pressure patterns and winds to ocean currents (gyres) including
El Nino. Understand the feedback relationship between pressure patterns and El
Nino.
- Weather Systems (3 weeks)
Weather associated with different air masses
affecting the British Isles – emphasing the characteristics of the source region
and changes which occur along the line of track.
The importance of atmospheric moisture in determining
weather – concepts of dew point, saturation, relative and absolute humidity,
condensation level, saturated adiabatic lapse rates, dry adiabatic lapse rates,
states of stability and instability and mechanisms for cooling (uplift,
advection, radiation cooling). Orographic, convectional and frontal
rainfall.
Mid-latitude depressions – development and sequence
of weather associated with the passage of warm and cold fronts. Identification
of depression systems from synoptic charts and satellite images (Meteosat).
Research the impact of depression systems on human activity in the British Isles
using archived data available from the school’s weather station
(www.northantsweather.org.uk).
Comparison of depressions and anticyclones. The
weather associated with anticyclones during summer and winter.
- The Atmosphere at the Local Scale (2
weeks)
Mountain climates – anabatic and katabatic winds,
valley fog and the fohn effect. These aspects should be covered immediately
prior to the Snowdonia field course.
Urban climates – the impact of an urban area on
temperatures, wind speeds, visibility (smog) and rainfall patterns. If possible,
students should plan and undertake a data collection exercise to assess the
importance of Northampton in generating an urban ‘heat island’.
The causes and evidence of climate change
(emphasising time-scale – million years, 100 000 years, 10 000 years, 1 000
years & 100 years). The global warming potential of various greenhouse
gases. The depletion of the ozone layer. Man’s attempt at manipulating the
atmosphere through cloud seeding.
Causes and effects of drought, soil degradation and
desertification. Case study of the Aral Sea region.
UNIT 2: GLACIAL SYSTEMS
This unit is completed during the second half of the
Autumn term extending into the first half of the Spring term. Fieldwork to
support this unit will have already been conducted on the Isle of Arran, but
additional fieldwork in Snowdonia is completed during a long weekend in
mid-March. Assessment is by essay set at fortnightly intervals.
- Glaciers as Dynamic Systems (1
week)
Past and present distribution of ice including a
comparison of northern and southern hemispheres (Laurentian, Fennoscandinavian,
Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets).
The develop of simple glacial systems including
importance of altitude, aspect and the firn line. Nivation and the formation of
cirque/corrie glaciers from snowpacks. The corrie glacier as simple system –
accumulation and ablation and the impact on advance or retreat (mass balance).
- Glacial Movement (1 week)
How and why glaciers move (internal flow and basal
slip, regelation, extending and compressive flow); the difference between ‘cold’
(polar) and ‘warm’ (temperate) glaciers and rates of movement. Stress-strain
relationships in ice and types of crevasse (radial, marginal and longitudinal).
- Erosion and Tranport (2
weeks)
Processes of glacial erosion (plucking , abrasion,
and meltwater erosion), weathering (pressure release, transport and deposition.
Factors influencing the rate of erosion (ice thickness, topography, geology and
type of glacier).
The zones of glacial transport (supra-, en- and
sub-glacial). Moraine – lateral and medial.
The range, variety and location of erosional
landforms; their impact on human activity (including recognition of named
examples from Snowdonia and the Isle of Arran).
The range, variety and location of depositional
landforms; their impact on human activity (again including examples from
Snowdonia). Students should distinguish glacial and fluvio-glacial deposits and
the role of till fabris analyses in establishing the difference.
Field evidence to distinguish glacial landforms from
fluvio-glacial landforms, to include stratified and unstratified drift,
striations, varves, shape and size of material
The range, variety and location of fluvio-glacial
landforms, to include eskers, kames, overflow channels; their impact on human
activity (including gravel extraction and transport).
- Periglacial Processes and Landforms ( 1
week)
The range, variety and location of periglacial
landforms, to include patterned ground, pingos, solifluction sheets/lobes; their
impact on human activity. Evidence for past and present periglacial activity in
Britain – tors in the Peak District vs. Snowdonia.
Opportunities and challenges exist in upland areas
(either glaciated in the past and/or currently active) for tourism, energy
production, quarrying, transport, agriculture and settlement. The advantages and
disadvantages of Snowdonia for human activity should be considered.
Periglacial and permafrost environments present their
own challenges and opportunities.
UNIT 3: ECOSYSTEMS
This unit is completed during the remainder of the
Spring term. There is no direct fieldwork in support of this unit, although many
of the concepts will have been considered on the main fieldcourses in Snowdonia
(e.g. Llyn Idwal hydrosere) and on the Isle of Arran. Assessment is by essay set
at fortnightly intervals.
- Ecosystems as Dynamic Systems (2
weeks)
The components of ecosystems and their
interrelationships, to include energy flow, food web, food chain, trophic
levels, trophic pyramid, nutrient cycle. Concept of succession, to include
lithosere (Krakatoa) and hydrosere (Llyn Idwal). The concept of climax
communities and secondary succession.
Human and physical factors affecting spatial and
temporal variations in ecosystem/ biome productivity (net primary productivity
and biomass).
- Ecosystems at the Global Scale (2
weeks)
The influence of terrestrial, atmospheric and human
factors on the distribution, structure and functioning of ONE grassland and ONE
forest biome (including the case studies of tropical rainforest and temperate
grassland). Nutrient cycle differences between these biomes.
- The Influence of Human Activity (2
weeks)
Effects of human activity on the distribution of
tropical rainforest – direct and indirect effects.
The role of human activity in producing plagio-climax
communities. Factors include parent material, climate, topography, organisms,
time and human activity.
Soils (2 weeks)
- The zonal concept of soil classification. Processes
including weathering, humification, translocation, leaching, podsolisation,
gleying, capillary action. The influence of physical and human factors and
processes on soil profiles to include comparisons of podsols and brown earth
soils.
The management opportunities and challenges
associated with grassland and forest ecosystems.
The causes and management of soil erosion.
HUMAN SYSTEMS, PROCESSES AND PATTERNS
MODULE
The module is examined in June of the Upper
Sixth.
UNIT 1: ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
This unit is taught during the first half of the
Autumn term in tandem with the unit on Atmospheric Systems. Assessment is made
through regular essays and class presentations by individual
students.
- Classification and Location of Economic
Activities (3 weeks)
The classification and characteristics of economic
activity (primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary). The distinction between
basic manufacturing industries and consumer industries. The influence of
physical factors and the natural environment on industrial location. Case
studies of (a) iron and steel in the UK, and (b) hi-tech industrial development
in Cambridge (& M4 corridor).
Classical location theory (eg Weber) and its
weaknesses when applied to modern manufacturing industry. Smith's concept of
spatial margins.
Factors affecting present-day industrial location,
concepts of optimal and non-optimal locations, behaviouralist and structuralist
explanations. A number of case studies should be selected from examples of
industries in LEDC's and MEDC's with broad range of structures and
organisation.
- Changes in Economic Activities (3
weeks)
Changes in the employment structure within the UK
since 1945 and changes in the nature of employment. Rationalisation , the rise
of tertiary employment and demographic changes in employment structures.
Regional policies - central Scotland, NE England, S Wales and SE England.
Effects of industrial change on the coalfields (S Wales and NE
England).
The rise and decline of consumer industries in MEDCs.
The rise of manufacturing in NICs, and the environmental impact of that growth.
Industrial growth in Japan and SE Asia. Industrial growth in Eastern European
countries.
The emergence of a new international division of
labour.
- Globalisation and Glocalisation (2
weeks)
Transnationals and the globalisation of production,
and the concept of glocalisation (when applied to Japanese car assembly plants).
The impact of globalisation on employment structures throughout the world. The
negative effects should be illustrated in the context of Brazil.
Political processes influencing the location of
industry at both local and national level. The role of governments in
encouraging inward investment may be contrasted between member states of the
European Union. The impact of trading blocs such as the EU in reducing the
nation state and taking decision-making at the international level. This point
may be tackled as a class presentation/debate on the advantages and
disadvantages of trading blocs.
The interrelationships between the physical
environment and industrial location, and the management of environmental
impact.
The role of government in the control and
modification of the relationship between industry and the environment, and the
response to changing values and attitudes within society as a whole.
UNIT 2: RURAL-URBAN RELATIONSHIPS
This unit is taught during the second half of the
Autumn term and the start of the Spring term. Fieldwork in support of the unit
is conducting locally. Assessment is made through regular essays and class
presentations by individual students.
The location and distribution of the world’s major
urban areas. The explosion of million cities and comparisons between MEDC's and
LEDC's. Reasons for, and factors affecting, urbanisation as a process, from the
pre-industrial city to the post-industrial city (for example administration and
market in pre-industrial times and suburbanisation in post-industrial times).
Comparisons of contemporary growth in Los Angeles( LEDC) with Sao Paulo and Rio
de Janeiro (LEDC).
The economic and political processes in the
management of urban areas to include comparisons of issues in LEDC's (self-help
schemes, e.g. Kuala Lumpur) and MEDC's (urban renewal schemes, e.g. Hong
Kong).
- Rural Land Use and Agricultural Systems (3
weeks)
Recognition of rural land uses and the importance of
agriculture as the dominant land use globally.
A classification and description of agricultural
systems at a global scale. The physical constraints of agricultural systems and
both local and regional level. Comparisons of a wide range of farming systems,
e.g. wet rice cultivation in the Ganges valley (India), nomadic pastoralism in
West Africa and commercial farming in Eastern England.
Investigative work on the social, economic and
political factors influencing agricultural land use in rural Wales. The two
Snowdonia fieldcourses (September and March) should provide students with first
hand knowledge of some of the physical and economic restraints imposed on
farmers. These issues may then be followed up by further investigative work in
class.
The globalisation of food production and the politics
of that global production, e.g. the decline of family farms and the rise of
agribusiness in the UK. The impact of the Green Revolution in India.
- Urban-Rural Inter-relationships (2
weeks)
The changing resource base of the rural environment,
especially in MEDCs. The role of rural areas as a leisure and environmental
resource, including the establishment of National Parks (US and UK). Impact of
raw material extraction and the growth of conspicuous leisure activities, e.g.
golf courses and ski resorts.
The growth of commuting, the re-location of industry
and the blurring of the rural-urban fringe. Suburbanisation. In-migration,
second-home ownership and the growth of tourism and leisure. Students may
research the changing rural identity of parts of Northamptonshire or debate
these issues. Social stratification within and between villages. Examine the
results of this change on parts of rural Wales.
The nature of the urban-rural fringe in LEDC's by
comparison with MEDC's.
The management of waste in cities – the problems of
water and air quality control, and waste disposal.
The growth of the leisure and tourist industry, and
its social, cultural and economic impact on rural environments.
UNIT 3: DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES
This unit is taught during the remainder of the
Spring term. Assessment is made through regular essays and class presentations
by individual students.
- Global Inequalities (3
weeks)
Development can be understood on a number of levels,
including social, economic, cultural and political. Recognise the difficulties
in quantifying levels of economic development. Descriptors such as North-South,
Third World and MEDC/LEDC.
Investigative work to measure development using a
range of indicators, including composite measures such as the Human Development
Index. Students should use Spearman rank correlation to examine the relationship
between development indicators. The concept of sustainable development
(Brazil).
The complex relationship between natural resources
and development. Case study of the economic development of Brazil compared to
the historical industrial development of the UK.
- Regional Inequalities (3
weeks)
Regional variations in economic, social and political
development. Case study of regional disparities within the UK (MEDC) and Brazil
(LEDC). Reasons for and the impact of regional development policies including
the distinction betweenn direct interventionist measures and indirect measures.
Emphasis should be on the negative as well as positive impacts of regional
development policies.
Models of economic growth, eg Myrdal (cumulative
causation) and growth-pole theory – their applications and limitations. The
concept of core and periphery. Advantages and challenges of core and peripheral
regions, to include positive and negative multiplier effects, and spread and
backwash effects. These concepts should be studied in the context of the UK (S
Wales and NE England) and Brazil.
- Changing Nature of Development (2
weeks)
The economic, social, political and cultural factors
affecting the rate and nature of development. Case study of economic development
in South Korea. There are several videos which explore development issues in
several countries (Brazil) and these should be studied in the context of
Rostow’s model.
Positive and negative consequences of development,
including neo-colonialism in West Africa, dependency and the debt crisis.
Structural Adjustment Programmes.
The role of international links – aid, trade, and
lending institutions – in the development process.
The role of values and attitudes in determining the
type and rate of development.
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Left: The group photograph.