A disastrous week for Indonesia

This week has seen many geographical events and issues in the news very relevant to current topics being studied. Indonesia has experienced a volcanic eruption, an earthquake and (as a consequence) a tsunami. Year 11 have just completed their population unit and have looked at Indonesia as a case study for its methods of trying to tackle a rapid population growth rate. We can understand that the evacuation of the area around Mt Merapi will increase transmigration to other islands, however due to the tsunami, the island of Sumatra which was often used to relocate people to may also be unable to cater for it's population [despite being less densely populated than Java] due to the devastation caused by the tsunami. Links for various news articles:

The Guardian, BBC News, Volcanolive Blog.

Review of Year 11 Population Test (done on Wed 20th October)

First of all, I could tell by reading your papers that the majority of students had revised. However, there were some silly, fundamental errors where some of you lost marks. The definition at the start which asked for you to state the meaning of either birth rate (F) or natural increase (H) was generally poorly answered. Many gave a general idea but often there was insufficient detail to award the mark. For example, some of you answered that birth rate '...was the number of babies born over a period of time..' However it is 'the number of babies born, per year, per 1000 people'. On the higher paper many students refered to total population rather than the population growth rate. Also, the majority of students did not include examples in your answer even when specifically asked for, thereby limiting your answers to L2 marks rather than L3. Another common weak area was to use the evidence FULLY that you have been asked to refer to in your answers. e.g. when reading/interpreting graphs. You have another test - First lesson back on Wed 3rd November 2010.

HOMEWORK !!

Please make sure you check the KS4 subject tabs for up to date homework tasks and instructions.