Welcome to the OCR A level Geography page. Here you will find information on the course as well as links to suggested further reading. If you require further information please contact Mr Cook or Mr Monteith.
We follow the OCR Geography A Level course at Gordonstoun. It is worth taking the time to look through the topics you will be studying this year, such as Glaciation and Changing Spaces, as well as future topics such as Global Connections and the Independent Investigation topic. More specific details of the topics that we study can be found here.
For each of the topics below links have been included to lesson resources and extra reading. These should be used in conjunction with the text book and material discussed in class.
World map showing ACs, EDCs and LIDCs

OCR AS Webinar + Slides
Lower Sixth Revision
Guidance on writing essays in Geography ; AO1 / AO2 guidance
How to make notes in Geography!
Disease Dilemmas
1 – COVID-19: Johns Hopkins dashboard; Global air pollution falls; COVID-19 and social inequality; COVID-19 and ethnic minorities; COVID-19 and race; COVID-19 and place; September 2020 COVID update; Extinction: the facts – link not available but search on BBC iPlayer!

Health map; Global cause of death; Global health: diseases; Climatic influences ; Burden of disease
WHO: Factors influencing the control of Infectious Disease
Interactive mapmaker; Comparing diseases (GBD)
2 – Scheme of Work
3 – Classification and distribution of disease
4 – Hagerstrand’s Model’s model: Disease diffusion ; Ebola diffusion
5 – Physical factors effecting diseases:
CDC Malaria; Climate change in drylands; BMJ: Climate change and disease; Dengue Fever; Malaria (BBC); El Nino; Climate change; Drivers of zoonotic diseases; Climate change and disease in Africa; ENSO and Disease ; 2015/16 El Nino and disease, Resurgence of Malaria (BBC); CDC: Disease and Drought; Emerging infectious diseases; Climate change and disease ; Monsoons and disease; Notes
6 – Pakistan floods 2022 CASE STUDY: WHO: Flooding and communicable disease; Causes and consequences ; Diarrhoea incidence ; Disease outbreak ; Report on the floods (UNICEF) ; UNICEF flood summary; Diseases following disasters; Using GIS to mitigate effects of disasters; Elimination of post-flood disease deaths; Strategies to manage disease after a natural hazard; 2020 flooding in SE Asia: disease; Pakistan floods: causes and effects; Pakistan floods 2022: disease aftermath; Water borne diseases; Malaria incidence following Pakistan floods
7 – Epidemiological transition; Health transition in Africa (WHO) ; DoA found in LIDCs ; Economist article: ‘The shifting burden’ –Epidemics following disasters ; Uganda’s burden at a glance; Lecture on Uganda’s health transition; WHO: Uganda
8 – Air pollution in India and Cancer: Article on Indian air pollution; Real time map of Indian air pollution; Comparing India’s pollution and regulation; Economic consequences of air pollution; Diwali air pollution spike ; BBC air pollution article (causes 1:6 deaths) ; TED: Air pollution in China; What is PM2.5?; Causes of Air pollution in Delhi; India’s burden of disease due to air pollution (DALYs) ; Journey around Delhi (pollution video) ; Rickshaw journey pollution video ; Economic impact on India’s air pollution ; Video: Delhi air pollution
Diseases of Poverty: ‘the 10/90 gap’ ; Managing Infant mortality in Mali
9 – Communicable Disease: How malaria parasite infects; Parasite life cycle; MALARIA; WHO – Malaria site; Malaria incidence ; Malaria Prevalence in Ethiopia ;Malaria control in Ethiopia ; Changes to malaria incidence; Mutant mosquitoes!; WHO Malaria in Ethiopia ; Malaria control (including IVM) ; World Vision: a NGO initiative ; Shrinking malaria map ; PMI ; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ; Malaria vaccine; RTS,S Vaccine; Malaria from monkeys; A3 sheet ; Disease mitigation essay plan ; Uganda 1 ; Uganda 2
10 – Non-Communicable Disease: Cancer in the UK; The Glasgow effect; UK Cancer statistics; UK Cancer e-map ; Cancer Atlas: disease burden ; Rising UK mortality rates January 2018 ; Child obesity; A3 Cancer sheet; Causes of cancer; Cancer vaccine
11 – The World Health Organisation: WHO resources; WHO website; Who is WHO?; eHealth at WHO; Global strategy on diet, inactivity and health; Strategy to reduce alcohol abuse; Strategy to reduce NCDs; Global strategies for reduction of disease; Management of H1N1 2009 ;H1N1 patterns ; WHO strategies
12 – The British Red Cross and the Haiti cholera epidemic ; Red Cross in Haiti ; Red Cross black hole
13 – Barriers to disease and mitigation; The Global Fund: AIDS; $75 ARVs per person/yr in South Africa (2017) ; 90 90 90 ; Predicting Cholera using remote sensing; COVID – WHO; COVID: comparing countries mitigation strategies
14 – Disease eradication; GSK; Discovery of asprin ; Is it possible to eradicate all diseases? ; Eradicating diseases (economist) ; Small pox eradication ; Polio in Nigeria; WHO: Polio; 7 diseases on the cusp of eradication
Ebola outbreak: DRC (May 2018) ; Ebola: preparation?
Global Transport Networks and Infectious Disease Spread
Disease dilemmas revision
Disease Dilemmas; Disease synoptic 16 mark questions
REVISION ; Sample Debates paper ; Sample Synoptic Questions (16 Marks AO1: 8; AO2: 8) ; Disease knowledge test
EXAMPLE ANSWERS / DISEASE ESSAYS;
Hazardous Earth
1- Structure of the Earth, continental drift and plate tectonics evidence
1b – What is the difference between the crust and Lithosphere.
2 – Plate boundaries. Excellent video on plate tectonic processes.
2.1 – Plate boundaries booklet with links to complete
3 – Volcanoes 3.1 – Types of volcanoes worksheets
3.2 – Hot spot volcanism 3.21 – La Palma 2021 eruption GIS resources
3.4 – Volcanic hazards 3.5- What was it like in Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted? 3.6 Standard deviation volcano task
4. – Seismicity 4.1 – Landforms and landscapes associated with earthquakes
4.2 – Types of hazards caused by earthquakes
5 – Impacts of volcanic eruptions: Mount Ontake, Japan case study
5.1 – Impacts of volcanic eruptions: Merapi, Indonesia case study
6 – Strategies to manage volcanic eruptions – Japan and Indonesia case study 6.1 Mt Merapi GIS hazard mapping, Digital Surface Model of Japan Volcano,
6.2 Japan and Indonesia management internet links to follow
7- Impacts and management of an earthquake in an AC – Tohoku, Japan earthquake, 2011 7.1 – Case study to complete 7.2 – Links about how Japan mitigates and manages earthquakes. Reducing vulnerability, increasing resilience. 7.3 A.Hamill Japan GIS task
8 – Impacts and management of an earthquake in an LIDC – Nepal Gorkha earthquake 2015
9 – Disaster risk equation and Park’s model of disaster recovery.
9.1 – 2017 update to volcano fatality database
10. Response to future tectonic activity 10.1Are risks from hazards increasing – Prof Dave Petley lecture notes? 10.2 Articles to read
11. Clive Oppenheimer lecture – Volcanic hazards and managing uncertainty
Revision for Hazardous Earth
SENECA online questions and quizs – courses linked to Hazardous Earth section
Popular Volcanics Podcasts – Episode 1 covers the types and characteristics of volcanoes.
Completed case studies and A3 Key processes revision sheet
ARCgis storymaps on tectonic processes
Structure scripts to help plan out an essay.
Practice 33 markers and short tariff questions
Practice Synoptic questions – 12 marks
Video revision:
2. Effusive and explosive eruptions
Online Quizlets:
Whole Course quizlet 2
Changing Spaces; Making Places.
Syllabus
1 – Introduction to Space and Place
2 – How and why do people perceive places differently?
3 – How does emotion affect people’s attitude to places?
4 – Globalisation and time space compression 4.1 The Economist Boston article. 4.2 Extra globalisation reading
5 – Formal and Informal representations of place
6 – Social inequality. 6.1 – READ THIS FIRST – Story map of Index of Multiple deprivation. IMD 2019 vs 2015 6.2 Task Investigating Census and IMD data with ARCGIS.. 6.3 Guardian article on how pollution impacts deprived areas more.
6.3 – Spatial patterns of deprivation across England interactive 6.4 Spatial patterns of social inequality task 6.5 World bank country profile for researching WHY variation in inequality between countries 6.4 – Financial Times lesson on Blackpool article: Health and deprivation
6.5 SIMD 2020 – How has SPATIAL inequality changed around Moray and Scotland
7- Government attempts to tackle inequality. 7.2- Professor Green documentary on poverty in the UK 7.3 Social Mobility Commission report on Government failure to tackle inequality7.4 – Social mobility report questions
8- Inverness vs -Lympstone revision comparison main source. 8.2 Completed case study
9 – Global shift
10 – Comparison case study of Inequality: Jembatan Basi, Jakarta with Middlesbrough, NE England
11- Booms and Recessions. 11.1 Economist article on the North/ South divide in the UK 1.2 How the pandemic has increased inequality 1.3 FT data tool 2022: How the UK high street was hit by the pandemic, compare areas!
12.1 – Structural economic change
12.2 – Birmingham region case study – Structural economic change impacting a region. 12.3 April 2021 FT article – Rise of Birmingham as alternative to London
13- Key Players in driving economic change
13.2 – UK government and McDonald’s as key players in driving economic change
14- Government and place making. 14.1 EXT: The death of the high street post Covid?
15- Planner, architects and place making.15.1 Article on London as a 24hr city – FT. 15.2 BBC podcast on London as a 24hr city. 15.3 A great recap film of how architecture affects place
16 –Community groups and place making
17 – Rebranding and Regeneration 17.1 Players involved in the rebranding process questions
18 – Middesbough regeneration case study 18.1 Life in Middlesbrough clip
19 – Link to Inverness fieldwork folder. 19.1 – Pre-trip preparation work on SIMD 19.2 Post trip ArcGIS guide to putting data onto a map
20 – Section C skills and fieldwork questions
Revision material
20 – Keywords and definition for the Changing Spaces topic
21 – Course content tick list – Start here!
22- Revision mind maps based on the syllabus – Great for content revision!
23 – Practice Exam questions – Put your learning into practice!
Glaciated Landscapes
Scheme of work ; SOW in detail
UK Glaciation map (GIS) ; Glaciers online
1 – Glacial Processes ; Glacier formation and processes (BBC) ; Last 4 glacial’s animation; Power of the planet: Ice
2 – Glacial Landscape and corrie formation; Glacial Erosion ; Landform summary ; Coire an t-Sneachda ; Corrie formation
4 – Cairngorm summary ; Cairngorm ; Cairngorm landscape ; Geological history of the Cairngorm ; Map of the Cairngorm; Dulnain Bridge Roche Moutonnees
5 – Minnesota
7 – Periglacial Landforms ; Permafrost introduction video
8 – How human activity changes periglacial landscape systems:
- Alaska ; Man vs Wild: Alaska
- Alaska A3 Sheet
- Link to ‘All about frozen ground’ detail on formation of permafrost, landforms and the effects of human activity
9. – Grande Dixence Project ; Grande Dixence.ch ; Grande Dixence Quizlet
10- GLACIATION REVISION; Geofiles – Maths and Physics tutor ; Glaciation knowledge test
Coastal Landscapes
3. Physical influences; Wave types and beach morphology
6. Erosional Processes and Landforms
10. Sea level change and associated landforms