In order to equip yourself with the ability to address the main inquiry question 'Variable weather and changing climate - a continuing challenge?', let's take a look at the guiding questions for each Gateway of the chapter and understand the sequence of the content in your Geography textbook:

Gateway 1: Why do different places experience different weather and climate?
This Gateway explores the various elements of weather (factors affecting temperature at different locations, the formation of different types of rain, the formation of localised and regional wind systems), as well as the characteristics of primary climatic zones around the world. This section is important to allow you to form the foundational understanding of the Earth's weather and climate systems to help you make sense of the reason why different parts of the world experiences different weather and climatic conditions.

Gateway 2: What is happening to the Earth’s climate?
Recognising that the Earth's climate has been changing naturally according to geological timescales of millions of years, this gateway focuses on the climatic changes since the 1800s. This prompts the need to unpack the changes in the global temperatures in the past 150 years and understand the role of human activities in altering and disrupting the natural climate changes. This section is crucial as it allows you to have a deep understanding of the causes and impacts of the recent global warming phenomenon, as well as how countries are coming together to address this global concern.

Gateway 3: Is the weather becoming more extreme? (found in Core Geography syllabus)
This Gateway looks at a particular extreme weather event - tropical cyclones. The reason behind the increase in frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones is closely associated with global warming. As such, you will explore the factors that allow for the formation of tropical cyclones, the impact of such extreme weather event on coastal communities, as well as the measures taken by countries to cope with the onslaught of tropical cyclones. Through this, you can begin to analyse how countries of varying levels of development have different types of responses and measures put in place, as well as the limitations they face. With this, you can marry your understanding from Gateway 2 and 3 to justify and discuss your stand for the main inquiry question.

In order to equip yourself with the ability to address the main inquiry question 'Living with tectonic hazards - risk or opportunity?', let's take a look at the guiding questions for each Gateway of the chapter and understand the sequence of the content in your Geography textbook:

Gateway 1: Why are some areas more prone to tectonic hazards?
This Gateway explores the distribution and movement of plate boundaries, which may in turn affect the distribution of tectonic landforms and hazards. This section is important to allow you to form the foundational understanding of plate tectonics to help you make sense of the distribution the different types of tectonic landforms around the world. In turn, you will then be able to make sense of the distribution of tectonic hazards around the world.

Gateway 2: What landforms and associated tectonic phenomena are found at plate boundaries?
This Gateway focuses on the characteristics of the tectonic landforms, as well as the impact that tectonic hazards can bring. This section allows you to have a deep understanding of the characteristics of tectonic landforms such as volcanoes, which allows you to justify the possible implications of living in areas prone to tectonic hazards. However, at this point, you are still unable to fully address the main inquiry question as these impacts are general and not location-specific.

Gateway 3: How do people prepare for and respond to earthquakes?
This Gateway looks at the different responses of countries to the occurrence of earthquakes, as well as measures put in place to prepare for future earthquakes. Through this, you can begin to analyse how countries of varying levels of development have different types of responses and measures put in place, as well as the limitations they face. With this, you can marry your understanding from Gateway 2 and 3 to justify and discuss your stand for the main inquiry question.

BERNICE LOON

That Geography Teacher

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berniceloon
- May 26
- 2 min read

Stop trying to memorise facts and expect to score

Updated: May 27

As much as I have my reservations about the practicality of pen and paper examinations, they are here to stay (at least for the near future). So play the hand you're dealt and learn to avoid the mistakes that others have experienced. Here are my thoughts on the approach taken by many when it comes to the studying of Geography.

You see, it is easy to memorise information.

Before you start cursing at me, hear me out.

According to the Bloom's Taxonomy, pure information recall is a lower-order thinking skill. Just like how we used to play memory games when we were little, it is possible to memorise information without exhibiting any in-depth understanding of the context.

Therefore, should you be approaching the studying of Geography with the mentality that you can simply memorise and regurgitate chunks of explanation from the textbooks, you're assuming that the questions in your examinations are merely assessing your ability to recall information, rather than your ability to exhibit and apply your understanding to the geographical issues.

This short article is a call to get you to review your study approach.

While you are reading the explanations on your textbook, instead of memorising the entire set of explanation, try to:

- identify and highlight the key geographical terms (not sentences or paragraphs)

- make sense of these terms and their roles in the set of explanation

- watch YouTube videos to help you visualise the geographical processes

- do up a mindmap to help you unpack the overarching inquiry question of the chapter

Seek to understand instead of memorise. Only by doing this, you'll find meaning and clarity in all that you're studying.

Let me know what you think. Hit me up on my Instagram.

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