Maths Maps

An excellent idea by Tom Barrett

Maths Maps uses the GOOGLE EARTH interface to identify opportunities for counting, measuring or otherwise developing numeracy skills....

Also develops an awareness of MAPPING at the same time of course, and a chance to explore familiar and/or unfamiliar places...

Check out the MATHS MAPS page for more...

Update: well done to Tom on his new post...

Countdown to Copenhagen 2

The Met Office announced today that they would be releasing a huge data set from hundreds of locations around the world.

There has been a lot in the news on the leak of e-mails relating to climate change data from the CRU at the University of East Anglia.

This weekend was also marked by a major climate change called the WAVE. Apparently around 50 000 people marched through London earlier today.

Wonder what the carbon footprint of a delegate is ?

Teachmeet BETT 2010

Am going to be down at BETT again this year, for the 6th year running.

I will be on the Geographical Association's Stand in the Subject Association area, along with David Rayner (to be confirmed) on Friday the 15th of January.

Once the show closes, I will then be making my way to Teachmeet at BETT

Update: there's also going to be a Yorkshire and Humberside Teachmeet in March 2010

Christmas Reading

Christmas is going to be my first extended break of more than 3 days since the middle of August.

I plan to work on a few projects that are related to geography (of course), but also take the time to catch up with a bit of reading. This is the book I plan to read first: Sara Wheeler's "The Magnetic North".

Already sneaked the first chapter in, and some great passages on Chukotka, and the ecological impacts being felt in this hugely remote area.

What is your Christmas reading ??

At the Suffolk Geography Conference this week, I asked the delegates "what book would you buy the Geography teacher in your life for Christmas ?"

Here are some of the suggestions that I received...

"The Lore of the Land" - English legends by county

The Suffolk Magazine

"Shackleton" by Roland Huntford

A Thousand Splendid Suns

"Life" Box Set DVD

Wild China

Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness

Uneasy Rider

Good Beer Guide 2010

Iceland: its scenes and Sagas - Sabine Baring Gould

The Shipping Forecast

The Crofter's Trail

'Mountain' - Griff Rhys Jones

World Cup 2010 Draw

Many schools have introduced a GEOGRAPHY OF SPORT unit into their KS3 schemes.

The draw has been held for the WORLD CUP 2010 in South Africa.

Resources are starting to appear in various places, and there are bound to be many more as the tournament gets closer. I remember using the Africa Cup of Nations a while back (the resources are still on my Slideshare area)

The BBC NEWS site includes a useful INTERACTIVE MAP of the venues.

The FIFA site is now live too.

A report in The Times (and many other newspapers no doubt) talked about the economic benefits of England qualifying, and suggested that it would give a boost to the economy, and also have a positive impact in particular sectors:

• merchandise (those daft car flags will presumably be back soon....)
• flags
• beer
• pubs
• flat screen TVs (particularly HD equipment...)

For previous resources on SPORT, check out the GA's PLANET SPORT resource area on the website.

Posterous

I have used Posterous for a couple of years now as a great way to quickly get content online. All you need is an e-mail address, and you can begin to create a "blog" like site...

Send an e-mail containing what you want to upload to post@posterous.com and you can start a new online presence...

A recent CPD session on GIS was side-tracked for a while into a description of the benefits of this tool for sharing content...

A great recent example of how POSTEROUS can be used to create a compelling resource is over at the URBANITY blog, describing a "psychogeographical" series of expeditions.

Changing Landscapes

William Least Heat Moon is the author of a number of travel books. One of those: Prairyerth is described as a "deep geography", and is a resource I've used many times.

This CNN INTERVIEW provides a range of nice insights on how the landscape of the United States has changed during the time that he has been travelling.

I have ordered his latest book as part of my Christmas treat.

Owning the Weather

Thanks to @bldgblog on Twitter for this tip off....

OWNING THE WEATHER is a new film on Weather Modification

The trailer is well worth watching....

Countdown to Copenhagen 1

The BBC have added a nice interactive page, with audio commentary which sums up the Earth's Climate History (well, some of it anyway) in advance of Copenhagen Climate Conference.

Thanks Paul Cornish for tip-off

Paul also led me to a range of BBC videos on the ROCKHOPPER TV website. This has a series called HOT CITIES, which can be embedded into blogs (as below)

My name is... My name is....

This story gave me something to think about. It was featured in the Telegraph today...

It's about a man who was called Chris Hunt.

Now he's called Mr. Monster Munch after his favourite snack: Quavers... no, not really...

If you could change your name to a geographical favourite what would it be ?

What do you think of it so far ?

Rubbish... as Eric Morecambe used to say...

Have been preparing a session on ASSESSMENT at KS3 for a CfBT event in Norfolk Heritage Park in Sheffield.

A timely report in the newspapers laments the "poor quality of exams" in the UK compared to other locations. At least at KS3, students should be having a more positive experience, so that they don't equate assessments with 'TESTS' and lots of writing...

The Telegraph article has more detail...

Below is an edited version of the presentation I am using..

Creative Assessments for KS3

View more presentations from GeoBlogs.

Update: Many thanks to John Lyon for stepping in to run the session for me at the last minute

Joe Blogs.... this makes Joe a better writer...

A report by the National Literacy Trust has been making the news today.

As reported on the BBC NEWS website, technology helps to make the children who use it "better writers"..

This is perhaps because they spend longer actually writing, and thinking about audience and purpose.

When I was younger, I used to keep a daily diary, and kept it up for years. If I'd had blogs back then I would certainly have used them. This meant that I had a daily opportunity to write a few hundred carefully chosen words, and construct narratives, select which of the day's events to record, and how; I even had the text version of "widgets" - I used to record additional detail some years, such as what I'd eaten, favourite songs, lessons I'd had at school. I wrote and read voraciously and still try to do that now. I'm sure that means that I find writing relatively easy, and (hopefully) produce text that is easy to read and understand, as well as being sophisticated when I need to be...

The report featured in the article was based on consultations with over 3000 children.

Urban Story: West Midlands

Image from the Manchester Urban Earth Walk 2009 by Phil D Thomas

URBAN STORY walks follow a social, economic or environmental issue that can seen easily on mapping but is often subtle in the urban landscape such as levels of crime or a specific aspect of health.

The next Urban Story walk will be in May 2010, and will be a 2 day walk across the West Midlands, led by Daniel Raven Ellison.

Want to join us ?

Sign up here on the DOODLE POLL to say which weekends you are available.

For more see the URBAN EARTH NING.

GA Annual Report 2008-9

The latest report is now available to download from the GA WEBSITE.

Coronation Street: new on Street View

Coronation Street has been added to Google Street View.

View Larger Map

Could be a useful place to visit with students, perhaps for a literacy task ?

Are there any other soap opera locations in Street View ?

Via Twitter.

Wettest November on record

It will come as no surprise to people living in quite a few locations around the country that last month was rather wet, and it has now been confirmed as the wettest November on record. The previous record was smashed...

184% of normal UK rainfall fell across the UK

My family live in York, and there have been duckboards and temporary bridges in place for quite a few days now because of the level of water in the River Ouse.

Why not "mark" the height on the classroom wall ?

Royal Geographical Society

Got my latest RGS-IBG newsletter today, which included a series of documents relating to a consultation on how the RGS-IBG advances geographical knowledge through research and scientific expeditions.

All submissions must be received by the 23rd December 2009

If you are a fellow, make sure you have your say in the role of research in the RGS's educational work.

The consultation is available in a digital version HERE

Salford

Image by Flickr user francisco_osorio made available under Creative Commons license

Over to Salford, Greater Manchester for a session for past GA president Sue Lomas and her Manchester network colleagues. Spent the night in the Travelodge next to the indoor ski slope at the Trafford Centre: Chill Factor e: everything lit up for Christmas. Some great views across the city from the M60 but sadly was too busy driving to take a picture...

It was a school closure day, and a good number of teachers turned out for a GIS session. This included a demonstration of 3 tools for creating maps with the purpose of asking and answering questions and/or telling stories.

a) Google Earth

b) uMapper

c) Many Eyes

I also provided an activity presentation: my very own "GI DIET"... where the GI was Geographical Information.

There was plenty of interest, particularly in things like Gavin Brock's wonderful OS Layer overlay for Google Earth, 'Where's the Path' and various Juicy Geography contents.

GI Diet - some free and low cost options for developing GIS skills

View more presentations or Upload your own.

One of the additional "channels" for the session was TWITTER.

I asked my network to tweet where they were, and what their favourite OS Map sheets were:

Here are the results as promised...

First is location, then the favourite map (and scale in some cases) - thanks to all those who replied...

East Lothian – Landranger Sheet 15 – Loch Assynt

Aldermaston Wharf – Sheets 353 & 353 – Islay

Ingatestone Essex – Explorer Sheet 175

Portsmouth – Landranger 115 Yr Wyddfa

Leigh on Sea, Essex – No favourite sheet

TN23 – New Forest Landranger

Sheffield – Dark Peak 1: 25 000

Huddersfield – Sheet 110

Newcastle – Landranger 89 – West Cumbria

Biggleswade Beds – Irish OS Sheet 6

Derbyshire – OL17 Snowdonia “but I like them all really”...

Sheffield – Lakes SW

Cardiff – South Pembrokeshire

Will follow up on some of the stories when I get a moment as to WHY, this could form a good geographical assessment piece. Would fit in with the Mike Parker "Map Addict" book.

My favourite map sheet is probably Explorer Sheet 411: Cuillin Hills

Many a happy hour spent there, but not seen them for a decade... Have to go back soon...

Thanks to Manchester colleagues for their enthusiastic input on the day, and lots of questions, which is always good (except when I don't know the answers...)