THE GEOGRAPHER ONLINE

NEW IB DP Geography Specification

  • Home
    • How to make a website: Tools and experiences
    • Maps and Regions
    • Travel Photographs and Videos
    • Live: Global Hazards and Disasters
    • Geography in the news
    • The Big Geography Challenge
  • New IB Geography 2017 onwards
    • IB Geography Introduction
    • Part 1: Geographical Themes >
      • Option B: Oceans and coastal margins >
        • 1. Ocean–atmosphere interactions
        • 2. Interactions between oceans and coastal places
        • 3. Managing coastal margins
        • 4. Ocean management futures
      • Option D: Geophysical Hazards >
        • 1. Geophysical systems
        • 2. Geophysical hazard risks
        • 3. Hazard risk and vulnerability
        • 4. Future resilience and adaptation
    • Part 2: Core Units (SL&HL) >
      • Unit 1: Changing Population >
        • 1. Population and economic development patterns
        • 2. Changing Populations and Places
        • 3. Challenges and opportunities
      • Unit 2: Global climate—vulnerability and resilience >
        • 1. Causes of global climate change
        • 2. Consequences of global climate change
        • 3. Responding to global climate change
      • Unit 3: Global resource consumption and security >
        • 1: Global trends in consumption
        • 2: Impacts of changing trends in resource consumption
        • 3: Resource stewardship
    • Part 3: HL Core Extensions >
      • Unit 4: Power, places and networks >
        • 1. Global interactions and global power
      • Unit 5: Human development and diversity
      • Unit 6: Global risks and resilience
    • Internal Assessment
    • Why should I study IB Geography?
  • IB Geography (Old Syllabus)
    • IB Core >
      • 1. Populations in Transition
      • 2. Disparities in Wealth and Development
      • 3. Patterns in Environmental Quality and Sustainability
      • 4. Patterns in Resource Consumption
    • Part 1: Geographical Themes >
      • Oceans and their Coastal Margins
      • Hazards and disasters - risk assessment and response
      • Freshwater - issues and conflicts
      • Urban Environments
    • Global Interactions - HL >
      • Measuring Global Interactions
      • Changing Space - The Shrinking world
      • Economic Interactions and Flows
      • Environmental Change
      • Sociocultural Exchanges
      • Political Outcomes
      • Global Interactions at the Local Level
    • IB Guidance >
      • Syllabus Guidance
      • IB Examination Guidance
    • Extended Essay
  • IGCSE Geography
    • Theme 1: Population and settlement >
      • Population Dynamics
      • Migration
      • Settlements
      • Urban Settlements
      • Urbanisation
    • Theme 2: The natural environment >
      • Plate Tectonics
      • Coasts
      • Rivers
      • Weather and Climate
      • Climate and Ecosystems
    • Theme 3: Economic development >
      • Development
      • Food Production
      • Industry
      • Energy
      • Tourism
      • Water
      • Environmental Risks of Economic development
    • GCSE Key Terms
    • GCSE Coursework
    • Alternative to Coursework
    • IGCSE Geography Examination Advice
    • IGCSE Revision Games
  • Key Stage 3
    • Year 6 >
      • My Place
      • Rivers
      • Brazil
    • Year 7 >
      • Maps and the world
      • Rocky Landscapes
      • Settlement
      • Weather & Climate
    • Year 8 >
      • Maps Introduction
      • Plate Tectonics
      • Economic Activity
      • Biomes
    • Year 9 >
      • Map Skills - review
      • Development
      • Coasts
      • Tourism
      • Paradise lost - Tourism in Thailand
  • AS Level Geography
    • World at Risk
    • Crowded Coasts
  • Geography Skills
  • Donations & Contact
  • YouTube Channel
  • Essential computer programs

Introduction 

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The difference between SL and HL in Geography:
  • SL students study two optional themes; HL students study three optional themes, providing further breadth.
  • Both SL and HL students study the core geographic perspectives—global change.
  • HL students study the HL extension geographic perspectives—global interactions, and further examine, evaluate and synthesize the prescribed concepts, which by their nature are complex, contestable, interlinked and require holistic treatment. This provides further depth at HL.
  • Both SL and HL students complete a fieldwork study for the internal assessment.

Syllabus outline

Diploma Programme Geography
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How does Geography fit in the IB as a whole?

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There are a variety of ways of gaining knowledge in geography —for example, archival evidence, data collection, experimentation, observation, and inductive and deductive reasoning. Geography students also explore and think critically about the interactions between people and their environment in time and place. All of these elements can be used to help explain patterns of behaviour and contribute to an examination of how we know what we claim to know.
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During the Diploma Programme geography course, a number of opportunities will arise that can be used to highlight the relationship and common goals between TOK and geography. Some of the knowledge questions and claims that might be considered during the geography course are identified below.
  • Who decides how we classify knowledge? Why might it be useful to classify knowledge?
  • To what extent are the methods of the human sciences scientific?
  • How is statistical data used differently in different areas of knowledge?
  • How reliable are the methods available for gathering demographic data on hundreds of millions of people?
  • How has ready access to vast amounts of information, and the way in which the internet has contributed to our shrinking world, changed our understanding of knowledge?
  • Does language simply describe knowledge, or is it part of the knowledge itself?
  • To what extent do maps reflect reality? What are the hidden messages in maps and the stories behind the way maps are presented?
  • Some geographical topics, such as climate change, are controversial. How does the scientific method attempt to address them? Are such topics always within the scope of the scientific method?
  • What scientific or social factors might influence the study of a complex phenomenon such as global warming?
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An extended essay in geography is not an extension of the internal assessment task for the subject. Students must ensure that they understand the clear distinction between the internal assessment and the extended essay. While there is inevitably an overlap in the skills being developed, there are clear distinctions between the tasks and a different emphasis in terms of the sources and types of data used.
An extended essay in geography provides the student with an opportunity to apply a range of geographic skills to complete an independent and in-depth research investigation using geographic concepts, methodologies, theories, and sources with a clear spatial emphasis.
It is important that the topic of the essay is geographic and gives a clear indication of the nature of the research. The essay topic may relate to an area of the Diploma Programme geography course, but this is not a requirement and other areas of the wider subject may be explored.
The scope of the essay should not be too broad, as such essays are rarely successful. The research question should be single and focused, clearly stated and must be framed in question form. It is the task of the supervisor to ensure that the research question is relevant to the subject, leads the student along a path that utilizes appropriate geographic sources, and encourages the application of relevant subject concepts, theories or ideas.
It is important that the geographic and theoretical context is well established early in the essay. Investigations carried out at a local scale usually meet the expectations of the higher bands of the markscheme. This narrow focus discourages an over-reliance on published materials and encourages original research. It is rare for an essay that is based entirely on published texts to score highly. Investigations conducted in a location that is familiar and accessible to the student have a much greater chance of achieving success through more personal involvement, which in turn encourages greater in-depth research.
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An important characteristic of the geography course is that students examine spatial interactions, possibilities and change in a contextual way. Due to the interconnectedness of our contemporary world, many global challenges may present themselves in students’ local or otherwise significant communities as inspiring springboards for CAS experiences. As a result of the knowledge and understanding students develop about issues through a geographic lens, they might be able to investigate, plan, act, reflect on and demonstrate CAS experiences in a more informed and meaningful way. Similarly, CAS experiences can ignite students’ passions for addressing a particular global matter.
The challenge and enjoyment of CAS experiences can often have a profound effect on geography students, who might choose, for example, to engage with CAS in the following ways.
  • Plan, participate and implement an activity to help educate selected members of a community about the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals regarding habitation and inequality, with virtual reality screenings that increase awareness of the reality of refugee migration.
  • Take lessons in surfing, or another physical pursuit, while completing internal assessment fieldwork. This could be accomplished as a single experience or through a series of sessions, or by encouraging others to participate in—or perhaps extend—the experience by creating a community environmental group.
  • Explore perspectives on regional access to employment, demonstrating an ongoing interest through the mediums of storytelling and craftivism that advocate awareness of a particular gender’s position.

www.thegeographeronline.net
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The Geographer Online is an educational website aimed at providing geography teaching resources for all levels. 
Created and Developed by: Steven Heath

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  • Home
    • How to make a website: Tools and experiences
    • Maps and Regions
    • Travel Photographs and Videos
    • Live: Global Hazards and Disasters
    • Geography in the news
    • The Big Geography Challenge
  • New IB Geography 2017 onwards
    • IB Geography Introduction
    • Part 1: Geographical Themes >
      • Option B: Oceans and coastal margins >
        • 1. Ocean–atmosphere interactions
        • 2. Interactions between oceans and coastal places
        • 3. Managing coastal margins
        • 4. Ocean management futures
      • Option D: Geophysical Hazards >
        • 1. Geophysical systems
        • 2. Geophysical hazard risks
        • 3. Hazard risk and vulnerability
        • 4. Future resilience and adaptation
    • Part 2: Core Units (SL&HL) >
      • Unit 1: Changing Population >
        • 1. Population and economic development patterns
        • 2. Changing Populations and Places
        • 3. Challenges and opportunities
      • Unit 2: Global climate—vulnerability and resilience >
        • 1. Causes of global climate change
        • 2. Consequences of global climate change
        • 3. Responding to global climate change
      • Unit 3: Global resource consumption and security >
        • 1: Global trends in consumption
        • 2: Impacts of changing trends in resource consumption
        • 3: Resource stewardship
    • Part 3: HL Core Extensions >
      • Unit 4: Power, places and networks >
        • 1. Global interactions and global power
      • Unit 5: Human development and diversity
      • Unit 6: Global risks and resilience
    • Internal Assessment
    • Why should I study IB Geography?
  • IB Geography (Old Syllabus)
    • IB Core >
      • 1. Populations in Transition
      • 2. Disparities in Wealth and Development
      • 3. Patterns in Environmental Quality and Sustainability
      • 4. Patterns in Resource Consumption
    • Part 1: Geographical Themes >
      • Oceans and their Coastal Margins
      • Hazards and disasters - risk assessment and response
      • Freshwater - issues and conflicts
      • Urban Environments
    • Global Interactions - HL >
      • Measuring Global Interactions
      • Changing Space - The Shrinking world
      • Economic Interactions and Flows
      • Environmental Change
      • Sociocultural Exchanges
      • Political Outcomes
      • Global Interactions at the Local Level
    • IB Guidance >
      • Syllabus Guidance
      • IB Examination Guidance
    • Extended Essay
  • IGCSE Geography
    • Theme 1: Population and settlement >
      • Population Dynamics
      • Migration
      • Settlements
      • Urban Settlements
      • Urbanisation
    • Theme 2: The natural environment >
      • Plate Tectonics
      • Coasts
      • Rivers
      • Weather and Climate
      • Climate and Ecosystems
    • Theme 3: Economic development >
      • Development
      • Food Production
      • Industry
      • Energy
      • Tourism
      • Water
      • Environmental Risks of Economic development
    • GCSE Key Terms
    • GCSE Coursework
    • Alternative to Coursework
    • IGCSE Geography Examination Advice
    • IGCSE Revision Games
  • Key Stage 3
    • Year 6 >
      • My Place
      • Rivers
      • Brazil
    • Year 7 >
      • Maps and the world
      • Rocky Landscapes
      • Settlement
      • Weather & Climate
    • Year 8 >
      • Maps Introduction
      • Plate Tectonics
      • Economic Activity
      • Biomes
    • Year 9 >
      • Map Skills - review
      • Development
      • Coasts
      • Tourism
      • Paradise lost - Tourism in Thailand
  • AS Level Geography
    • World at Risk
    • Crowded Coasts
  • Geography Skills
  • Donations & Contact
  • YouTube Channel
  • Essential computer programs