The Natural World
Leaving Certificate Geography
The Natural World is the most up-to-date and exam-focused package available for Leaving Certificate Higher and Ordinary Level Geography students.
The Natural World provides the toolkit to support students to develop the skills necessary to succeed at Leaving Certificate Geography.
The Natural World series includes:
- Student Pack A – Book 1 (Core Book – Units 1, 2 & 3) and New Book 2 (Economic Elective 4 and Option 7 Geoecology)
- Student Pack B – Book 1 (Core Book – Units 1, 2 & 3) and New Book 3 (Human Elective 5 and Option 7 Geoecology)
- Options 6, 8 and 9 accessible as e-books
- Free Digital Resources
'Improving the Structure of Lessons using The Natural World: Subcontinental Region - Brazil'
with the natural world author lee o'donnell
THE NATURAL WORLD CORE BOOK
- Delivers thorough and up-to-date coverage of the key concepts and themes for the
Leaving Certificate Geography course - Organised into clear and concise chapters and subdivided into topics, making it easy for students to find and review specific topics
- Each chapter develops the concepts, supports teacher planning and includes the
following to deliver ‘high-quality’ lessons:- Links to prior learning through retrieval practice
- Teacher modelled explanations
- Opportunities for students to check for understanding throughout learning
- Opportunities for guided student practice
- Opportunities for independent student practice
- Summative progress check
- Each chapter begins with a list of learning intentions and key terms, helping students to focus their studies and understand the main points they will be expected to know
- A wide range of questions are provided, catering clearly for both Higher and Ordinary
level. These include:- ‘Check your Understanding’ tiered questioning for every topic, to test students’ knowledge of the key concepts at three different levels: Basic, Developed and Advanced Knowledge
- Past exam questions at the end of each chapter
- Sample exam question answers serve as a reference point for students to complete their own work (available online)
- Each chapter contains a knowledge retrieval activity to help consolidate prior knowledge and provide connections to previous topics studied
- The ‘Write Like a Geographer’ sections provide an exam question along with a set of explicit success criteria, breaking the question into a series of manageable steps to help students maximise the marks
- A section on ‘How to improve geographic writing’ is included, as well as a suggested formula on ‘How to write SRP’s’
- Sample exam answers with common mistakes are highlighted to ensure students can identify and avoid these errors and structure a successful response
- A ‘Think Like an Examiner’ section at the end of the sample answers online helps students understand what is expected and required
- Important case studies are included in each chapter to help improve the analysis synthesis of information from multiple sources, including:
- Covid-19 Pandemic, Cost-of-Living Crisis, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Housing Crisis in Ireland
- Recent geographic disaster events such as the Hunga Tonga Volcanic Eruption and Climate Change related geographic events such as Mudslides in Brazil and Drought in Europe
- A variety of different data sets and graphs are also included throughout the text, providing students with an opportunity to develop the key geographical skill of interpreting a wide variety of data from a diverse set of graphs
- A wide range of full-colour and appealing maps, diagrams and photos to help illustrate complex concepts and bring the material to life
- Important diagrams in the book are drawn in a simple style that enables students to reproduce the diagram in an exam setting
- The most up-to-date and age-appropriate explanations on the evolving theories of plate tectonics
ELECTIVES AND OPTIONAL UNITS
- Cover both the Higher and Ordinary Level syllabuses, the Electives and Options offer a thorough and up-to-date overview of the key concepts and themes in Geography
- The Optional Units contain a specific discussion on how to improve geographic writing
- This section explicitly breaks down the Leaving Certificate Marking Scheme in a student friendly way to support student understanding of coherency for the Option questions
- Common past exam questions for both higher and ordinary level that have come up in recent years in Leaving Certificate exams are included
- Sample exam answers from one of the most common exam questions provided in each chapter
- Structured using the SRP writing formula that will enable students to maximize the marks they receive writing SRPs
- Provide students with a clear understanding of what is expected of them in the exam
- Also a key reference point for students to complete their own work
DIGITAL RESOURCES
Teachers and students can access The Natural World interactive e-books at www.edcolearning.ie, plus a bank of free digital resources, including:
- Solutions, editable planning documents and graphic organisers
- Chapter summary PowerPoints with key points and images for each chapter
- Engaging podcasts review key aspects of all topics and provide links to possible exam questions
- A wide range of videos, including interesting and informative topic-based news features and
documentaries, plus demonstrations of the key skills students need to master as part of the
Leaving Certificate Geography course - Unique and innovative chapter lesson plans are provided as editable PowerPoint presentations
for convenient and time-saving teacher planning. Each lesson plan includes retrieval activities,
concept explanations and modelling, and progress checks - Additional ‘Write Like a Geographer’ activities
- Supplementary material including key definitions, additional exam questions and sample answers, useful websites and much more
E-books and Digital Resources Available on
THE AUTHOR
Lee O’Donnell is a dedicated educator and specialises in the field of geography education. Lee has extensive experience teaching both Geography and History at Woodbrook College, Co. Wicklow. In addition, Lee also serves as a Geography Methodology Lecturer at UCD, where his work focuses on innovative approaches to student learning, including the use of technology and retrieval practice. Lee also hosts the popular Leaving Certificate revision podcast ‘Skin in the Game’, where he shares his extensive knowledge and experience with students preparing for their exams.