A level of Geography at The Henry Box School enables students to engage critically with real-world issues and places, apply their geographical knowledge, understanding, and skills to make sense of the world around them and help prepare them to succeed in their chosen pathway. It offers an issues-based approach to studying geography, enabling students to explore and evaluate contemporary geographical questions and issues such as the consequences of globalization, responses to hazards, water insecurity, and climate change. A level of Geography allows students to develop an in-depth understanding of physical and human geography, the complexity of people and environment questions and issues, and to become critical, reflective and independent learners. There are four equally weighted content areas of study, offering both compulsory and optional content assessed through three external assessments and one piece of nonexamination assessment. Content is framed by inquiry questions that encourage an investigative and evaluative approach to learning with geographical skills and fieldwork. This specification will encourage students to make links between different geographical themes, ideas, and concepts through synoptic themes embedded in the compulsory content. Unit 1: Dynamic Landscapes 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 by physical processes and human activities, and there is a need for holistic and sustainable management of these areas on all the world’s coasts. The study must include examples of landscapes from inside and outside the UK. Unit 2: Dynamic Places Globalization - Globalization 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. 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 marginalized. This creates and exacerbates considerable economic and social inequalities both between and within local areas. Urban and rural regeneration programs involving a range of players involve both place-making (regeneration) and place-marketing (rebranding). Regeneration programs impact various 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. Unit 4: Human Systems and Geopolitics Superpowers Superpowers can be developed by several 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. Health, Human Rights, and Intervention Traditional definitions of development are based largely on economic measures but have been increasingly challenged by broader definitions based on environmental, social, and political quality of life with many new measures used to record progress at all scales in human rights and human welfare. There are variations in the norms and laws of both national and global institutions that impact decisions made at all scales, from local to global. These decisions lead to a wide range of geopolitical interventions via international and national policies, from development aid through to military campaigns. Unit 3: Physical Systems and Sustainability 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 in 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 Security - 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 in carbon stores and contributed to climate change resulting from anthropogenic carbon emissions. Fieldwork and Independent Investigation The purpose of this non-examination assessment is to test students’ skills in independent investigation. Students are required to undertake an independent investigation that involves (but which need not be restricted to) fieldwork. The focus of the investigation must be derived from the specification the student is studying. The guidance for word length is 3000-4000 words. The student defines a question or issue relating to the compulsory or optional content. The student’s investigation will incorporate fieldwork data (collected individually or as part of a group) and own research and/or secondary data. The student’s report will evidence independent analysis and evaluation of data, presentation of data findings, and extended writing.