A blog providing ideas and resources for those teachers hoping to teach the new GCSE Specification, first announced in April 2022. Draft subject content released for consultation in June 2026 - for first teaching from 2028 or 2029.
'A Primrose from England' is a painting by Edward Hopley from around 1855.
One of the most likely places for teachers (particularly in London) to take students for the GCSE Natural History course will be the Natural History Museum.
I've blogged about it before and will do again numerous times I imagine.
Google has an Arts and Culture section. It is well worth exploring.
The main room in the museum is the Hintze Hall. This was previously home to 'Dippy the dinosaur' between 1905 and 2017 (if you want to see him, he's currently - at the time of blogging - in Coventry).
It is currently home to Hope, the Blue Whale.
Beyond the whale though is the amazing ceiling. The site explains its depiction of natural history and there is a hugely detailed photo that can be explored.
The soaring vault is a golden cover for a spectacular natural treasure trove, adorned with 162 illustrated panels showing plants from across the world.
A gleaming canopy has been created with paintings set against wood, glass and metal, fashioning a roof that complements the splendour of the specimens below.
Each panel tells a story - of emerging and fallen empires, prosperity and slavery, and explorers pushing the boundaries of the known world.
Alfred Waterhouse, who designed the Museum, almost certainly dreamt up the ceiling's concept and probably sketched the original designs.
Scroll down to find out a lot more about the ceiling.
Here's a picture of mine from 2014.
Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license.
This has all the makings of a superb weekend. I'm going to attend a few of the events all being well.
It's been running for a few years now.
The Festival features a whole range of events broadly on the theme of landscape, connected to North Norfolk. This includes art, literature, and field events.
They mostly take place in and around the Norfolk town of Wells next the Sea, including some boat trips on the marshes and a few events outside of the town.
Here's some of the events on Saturday
There is an exhibition of paintings including some from one of my favourite contemporary artists: Fred Ingrams, who frequently paints in the Fens. I have the catalogue of one of his exhibitions of Fenland paintings which has a great introduction and description of the landscape from Jonathan Meades.
Thanks to Michelle Graffagnino for the recommendation to this podcast on the Facebook group.
"As the Season Turns" has two new episodes each month - on the first of each month there is a post from Lia Leendertz, who was mentioned in the previous post.
Later in the month, Alice speaks to someone.
In the August edition she visits Jackie Morris.
Jackie Morris has worked with Robert MacFarlane on a series of projects.
She has also been involved in the creation of a few books of her work.
I have a copy of Angie's book 'Plants and Places' on my shelves, and other bits of her work.
I also own one of her limited edition etching prints.
It's one of her sea plant prints and sits on the wall in my lounge.
An organisation looking at the impact of our lives on the landscape and how it has been represented in art.
I like how they refer to "the potent fictional constructs we call maps..." - something I discuss with Year 6 students.
We've featured stamp issues connected with Natural History before, and there will undoubtedly be more in the years to come.. although you'll need a loan to afford them these days.
Art will hopefully keep its place in the draft specification.
I was sorry to hear this evening of the passing of Norman Ackroyd on Monday: one of our very greatest landscape artists.
He was a remarkable printmaker and artist. He shared the laborious process of making his etchings in several documentaries.
Listen to this programme with Robert MacFarlane.
RIP the great artist Norman Ackroyd (1938-16.09.24): etcher-magician who conjured weather & light from metal & acid; his work constitutes one of the great visual records of this archipelago’s edges.
— Robert Macfarlane (@RobGMacfarlane) September 18, 2024
We travelled together—& I made this programme with him: https://t.co/Y5licHxpcP pic.twitter.com/8bQDR95Fph
Here's the first part of a documentary on his method featuring some of his art...
Hopefully the final specification for the GCSE Natural History will follow up on the promise of the original draft thoughts of Mary Colwell and others. From the clues that I've seen at OCR Consultative Forum meetings and elsewhere, I'm not sure that all of the more interesting (to me) elements such as reference to art, literature and poetry will survive OFQUAL reviews.
One thing I hope stays is an exploration of how Natural History has been represented in art, and how that has changed - from prehistoric cave paintings to the iPad drawings of the Yorkshire Wolds through the seasons by David Hockney. Here's a really beautiful painting - I'll share more of these on the blog in the next year or so as things hopefully get back on track for an eventual launch.
As mentioned in previous blog posts, the possible specification that will emerge is likely to include some reference to early artworks which represent nature. The earliest of these that survive are rock carvings and cave paintings.
One proposed theme in the first iteration of the new specification is 'Life in the Early World'
This would include students exploring early representations of the natural world.
Cave paintings are the first examples of this.
The hand silhouettes in Cueva de las Manos (Cave of Hands) in Santa Cruz, Argentina, form part of an exceptional assemblage of cave art executed between 13,000 and 9,500 years ago. The site was granted @UNESCO World Heritage status in 1999 https://t.co/NEipFKHIRm ✋🖐🏾✋🏽🖐🏻✋🏿🤚🏼🤚✋🏽 pic.twitter.com/JpcEJlJvkA
— Prof Jamie Woodward (@Jamie_Woodward_) January 1, 2022
There are quite a few theories as to why people decided to decorate the walls of caves.
It's worth having a look at Jamie's book in the Very Short Introduction series: 'The Ice Age'.
Another related book here is 'Transcendence' by Gaia Vince, which explores the significance of this period in the development of language, which in turn led to storytelling. This will be appearing in the library / reading list posts as well.
In some associated posts, I have started to explore some of the possible places that students could be introduced to, which are perhaps a little closer to home. For those in the East Midlands there is a suggestion here:
In the UK, there is Cresswell Crags.
The website has plenty of information on the site.
Alongside the striking illustrations of the Ladybird Books illustrators I have previously blogged about, are those of Brian Cook Batsford.
Brian Cook Batsford was active in the 1940s and beyond. He was a politican and painter.
Here is one example of the illustrations that he produced for the series of books which were published.
I have a hardback book, which has gathered togther a whole series of covers from the publishers. They are distinctive and beautiful pieces of art.
Image: Copyright © 2022, Brian Cook Batsford Estate. All rights reserved.
Another reminder that you can join the dedicated Facebook group for GCSE Natural History here. We have over 750 members of the group now.
One element of the proposed specification is a look back at the early representations of wildlife found in caves and painted many thousands of years ago.
This delightful little red mammoth can be found in the Grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure near Burgundy. It was created by an ice age artist just before the last glacial maximum #IceAgeFrance 🎨 pic.twitter.com/WFZFoLS4s3
— Prof Jamie Woodward (@Jamie_Woodward_) May 1, 2022
I've been reading Max Leonard's 'A Cold Spell', and he mentions the cave at Cosquer near Marseille.
There was a long human occupation of the Cosquer Cave, from 33,000 BP to 19,000 BP, consisting of two major, almost uninterrupted, phases of human occupation. These dates have been obtained from around sixty Carbon-14 dating tests performed on forty-one samples collected between 1992 and 2012.
The Upper Palaeolithic Period was a period in prehistory that began in Europe when the first Homo sapiens emerged, around 45,000 years ago. The period was characterised by an intensely cold climate, and the fauna and flora adapted to the cold temperatures. The Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers developed various tools, hunting techniques, and dwellings to adapt to this environment. Around 10,000 years ago, the climate became warmer, which marked the end of the Palaeolithic Period.
The Gravettian culture was one of the major cultures of the Upper Palaeolithic Period in Europe. The culture developed from around 34,000-33,000 years ago to 23,000-22,000 BP. It was characterised by its very specific lithic industry, vestiges of which include, in particular, the projectile tips found in the cave at La Gravette, and very specific forms of artistic expression 'Venus’ figurines and negative handprints. The Gravettian geographical distribution was very wide, extending from the Iberian Peninsula to the Dnieper River Basin.
The Cosquer Cave, which was decorated with art at a time when the sea was several kilometres away, is now partially submerged due to climate change. The cave became inaccessible on foot around 9,000 years ago. The site, which has been protected from human intrusion for thousands of years, and which is now recognised as an archaeological heritage site, is therefore destined to disappear.
As with Lascaux, a replica cave system has been built to help protect the original from the impacts of visitors.
Image: Hay Tor - Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license
He has painted hundreds of colourful representations of The Fens over the years, and others of the Flowlands of Scotland, around Caithness.
The Fens is an area that I will certainly look to write about for any resources that emerge, as an example of a landscape with a particular natural history, which has been shaped in recent centuries by the actions of people.
He has now created a book called Flat Earth. Fred says:
I have been painting the Fens for over a decade, producing around 500 paintings in that period. In some ways I suppose this book can be considered a retrospective.
This is 'art' in numerous forms - paintings, photography, poetry, music etc.
This is an image from an exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia.
Hopefully those teaching the new specification will keep an eye out for relevant local art to direct students to (or perhaps make for themselves in collaborations with art departments).
It is a collaborative work by Heather Ackroyd and Daniel Harvey and is called 'Beuys' Acorn'
It is a C-type photographic print.
According to the artists, "It traces the germination of an acorn over time and symbolises nature's regeneration and evokes a senses of responsibility towards the natural world".
Image: Alan Parkinson - copyright resides with the artists.
David Hockney is a prolific artist and one of the most important living artists.
His recent exhibitions have been particularly impressive.
This is a reminder to look properly when we are out in nature.
Robert MacFarlane has finished work on “The World Tree”, the libretto for a long choral work originally inspired by the felling of the Syca...
