#42: Defining Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a key word within the glossary of key terms that will no doubt form part of any set of resources for the new specification. Teachers and students will need to get to grips with the vocabulary around Natural History, where some words may have slightly different meanings or emphases compared to geography or science.

I have put together a list of suggestions for this already as part of the proposed resources that I am working on and compiling in Google Drive. It's already looking quite impressive.

Here's a suggested definition from the Natural History Museum.

One of the likely focuses for the draft specification is likely to be an exploration of global and local trends in biodiversity and in particular biodiversity loss (and protection).

Reports such as those from Dasgupta are showing worrying trends.

There are plenty of other useful resources.

The UN explores biodiversity myths and facts here.

#4: How are we defining Natural History?

An OCR Hub contribution which was added in April 2022 provided a definition of Natural History - there will be many different definitions of course, just as there are many definitions of geography.

It is important that all students have a clear understanding of the subject and what they will be learning about.

Definition of Natural History.

It's important to nail down what the people behind the GCSE in Natural History think that Natural History is, as definitions may vary from person to person.

Here's what is suggested in the initial documents that were released in April 2022. This may well change during the process of finalising the specification.

"Natural History focuses on understanding the rich and diverse natural world. Through observational study (generating systematic records of direct and indirect observations, often made over long periods of time) and investigation, natural history seeks to understand the diversity, complexities, and interconnectedness, of life on earth in contrasting habitats. Natural history explores how our natural world has been shaped, and how it continues to change, both by natural processes and through human intervention"

I have started work on a Powerpoint presentation to introduce this definition, which may be an early lesson to set the scene...

It will be available later in the year from the Facebook group which has been started for those interested in teaching the new specification. More on that page in a previous post.

There will also be further resources created nearer the time of launch.

Selected resources will be uploaded to the FILES section of the group page.