Independent Assignment : Geography in the News

1. Independent Assignment : Geography in the News

2. Challenge!Firstly, produce an annotated map of the World showing a range of current geographical news stories. Secondly, choose one story and write an ‘in-depth’ report about it. Geography in the News

3. Success Criteria • You must summarise six recent news stories that are geographical in content and show them correctly on a World map. • You should write an in-depthexplanation of one of these stories. • You could investigate the story further and evaluate how we in Britain are affected by this event.

4. Presentation • Your map must be annotated with six text boxes to briefly summarise each geographical story (2-3 sentences). • Your in-depth report (piece of writing) is about just ONE of these events. • The in-depth report must explain the story and must include accurate details. • Use formal language. • Make it attractive and easy to read. • The in-depth report must be at least two sides of A4 (but this can include pictures). • If you do additional research, you must not copy and paste from the internet. • You can use a computer if you choose.

5. Things to think about: • Click on the links below to find helpful hints and tips… • How to structure the in-depth report using the ‘Geography in the News’ guide. • ‘What is Geography?’ lesson notes. • How to summarise Remember you can find the news stories from a range of sources e.g. newspaper / TV/ radio/ magazine / internet.

6. I am stuck… Helpful websites to find news stories: • CBBC Newsround - world news stories • The Newspaper for Children – news story headlines. • Headliners – more news stories for children. • BBC Schools - Geography topics

7. I am still stuck… • Remember to get an outline map of the World from your teacher. Use an atlas to find the countries mentioned in the news stories. • Look back at the work done in lesson about ‘What is Geography?’ • Use the task sheet given out in the lesson to guide you further (‘Assignment 1b: Global Geography in the News’). • Remember, you also could write about how we in Britain may be affected by this event.

8. ‘Geography in the News’ guidance Find a news story (newspaper / TV/ radio/ magazine / internet) which is about a geographical issue. Use the following headings to report the issue: • Source – where is it from? Time? Date? Channel? • Issue – why is this story geographical? • Events – what happened? • Problems and solutions. • Groups of people and opinions – who is involved and what do they think? • Personal opinion – what do you think? Include any images of the event that you think are suitable. Return to previous slide

9. What is Geography? • Geography covers a wide and exciting range of topics. It has been studied for thousands of years. It can be divided into three parts: physical, human and environmental. • Physical geography is about the Earth’s natural processes, features and events. For example, mountains, beaches, erosion, weather and earthquakes. • Human geography is about how and where we live on the Earth, how we feed, clothe and shelter ourselves and how we earn our living. • Environmental geography concerns how we interact with our environment. For example, how we deal with scarce resources, waste and wildlife. Return to previous slide

10. Here is an example of a news story that has been summarised. Only the basic, key information is included. In this example: where? What happen? U.S.A California is braced for a massive cleanup after heavy rains triggered mudslides that killed at least nine and destroyed dozens of homes. Return to previous slide