AQA A-Level Case Study Checklist

Where are the case studies?

Teachers ask 'Where's the place-based bit of AO1' or 'What and where are the places I need to teach about at A-level?'. Students will ask you 'Where are the case studies?' which begs another question: 'What constitutes a case study?'. Our answer is 'really specific and detailed located-knowledge', and by 'located' we mean either located in space or time.

This checklist does not represent all of the AO1 students need to be able to recall - there are also processes and models aplenty at A-level.

This list, equally, does not represent a complete summary of all of the locational knowledge students require, as an understanding and recall of global phenomena and patterns e.g. stores of water and carbon around the world, global trading patterns etc are still key and are not included in our case study checklist.

But mapping out the case studies at A-level is of use to the revising student, no doubt.

In your classroom, you may go beyond this case study checklist, teaching alternative distant place studies, for example, or place-based illustrations of different geographical phenomena. The aim is simply to give students a summary of all of the places, events and/or 'really specific and detailed located-knowledge' AQA needs them to know.

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