Why is the Middle East an important region?

Year 9 Geographers have been studying the physical and human features of the Middle East region including, climate, topography, population, religion and economic development.

Throughout the topic, pupils were given the opportunity to reflect on questions they might like to ask to further their learning beyond the classroom. This would form the basis of the enquiry task later on. Groups were then tasked with creating a 5-minute presentation on an enquiry question of their choice to allow pupils to lean into their own areas of interest and produce something they are proud of from scratch.

Some of their questions included: ‘Why is the Middle East prone to earthquakes?’, ‘How does water scarcity affect the region?’, ‘What effect does oil have on the Middle East?’, and ‘How has religion spread across the Middle East?’.

Pupils had to work in teams during lessons to complete their own research, find data and evidence, and put together a PowerPoint to show to their peers. They then presented their findings to their peers, confidently and professionally, who gave them valuable feedback afterwards.

Year 9 will be given another opportunity at the end of the summer term to produce more of their own research related to the Geography of crime.