Wednesday, 6 October 2010

Mapping News - latest issue now out...

And what an issue it is...
It has 2 articles by me in it, which is always a bonus...
One on the new DIGIMAP service for schools, and one on Amanda Hone's Brown Sign blog, which I have mentioned here before.

Also some good ideas from Jeff Stanfield on adding a sporting feel to lessons, and details on the ESRI / GA GIS courses running in cities across the country.

Remember that the journal no longer comes into schools in paper form.

You can view an e-copy, or download a PDF for reading offline (or printing out) at the MAPPING NEWS page.

Tuesday, 5 October 2010

Let's talk about the weather...

The Weather Club: Press Release from Royal Meteorological Society


theWeather Club is launched by The Royal Meteorological Society to bring together like minded weather lovers from across Britain

The Royal Meteorological Society, one of the oldest and most respected weather institutions in the UK, is launching ‘theWeather Club.’ theWeather Club is the first membership organisation to be launched in the UK that brings the general public together in order to share their fascination with the weather. The club is aiming to attract 1,000s of members from all four corners of the UK. And, with a recent survey revealing that the average Briton spends an astonishing six months out of their lives talking about the weather, some may say that the club is appealing to an eager audience.

The club, which operates on a non for profit basis, is offering its members a quarterly magazine, entitled theWeather; access to an interactive, social media website where people can come and share their weather stories and images; free gifts and discounts; and collectable weather information. theWeather Club members also have the chance to participate in nationwide weather related experiments such as ‘The Great British Weather Experiment’, which launches across September and October, to track the arrival of autumn in real-time across the UK. The experiment will run until mid- October 2010.

The study is the largest of its kind and will collect information about the weather, temperature and rainfall across the UK. Teachers and school children as well as the general British public will be participating.  To get involved visit www.theWeatherClub.org.uk.

Legendary weatherman Michael Fish, commenting on the launch of theWeather Club, said: “In Britain we are bonkers about the weather. Maybe it comes from having such a varied climate. Foreigners certainly seem astonished at how much we obsess about the weather.  I can barely walk down the street without someone wanting to have a quick chat about the weather. So I know this club will have a lot of people who want to participate. I for one am signing up!”

Meteorologist, theWeather Club founder and well known TV commentator on all weather related matters Dr Liz Bentley said: “theWeather Club is for all those who appreciate the weather for all its wonders. Its beauty, its power, its fragility, its occasional absurdity, and deep fundamental influence it has upon us all. It will allow us to come together and share our very British obsession with the weather.   People can share their interest in weather; get involved in national experiments and surveys; and ask an expert about things they’ve always wanted to ask, like ‘why is the sky blue?’ (Answer: white light from the sun is a mixture of all the colours of the rainbow but our atmosphere scatters blue light more than red light so this is what we observe – except during a spectacular sunset or sunrise of course, but that’s another question…..)”  

Monday, 4 October 2010

A Personal Geography of Injustice...

If you're in the Sheffield area, this event looks like an intriguing way to spend a Sunday evening on the 17th of October.


At the Showroom Workstation.

Volcano Infographics

Iceland Volcano Infographics.... that is all...

New Teaching Geography now available for download...

The latest issue of Teaching Geography is now available to download by those who subscribe to it....

It features a range of inspirational articles on the theme of place by Mark Jones, Eleanor Rawling, Becky Kitchen, Margaret Roberts and others...
Articles range from a teacher visit to Greenland, to the urban re-branding and renaissance of Scarborough...

To add a subscription to your GA membership, or to join (and gain access to the last five years of journals in electronic format) click the JOIN THE GA link.

London Tube Strike: Boris bikes...

There's a tube strike today... (good job it wasn't on Friday when I headed over Bristol way...)
Oliver O' Brien's excellent Barclays Cycle Hire scheme is tracking the bike hiring, which is at higher levels than usual...
Check it out HERE.

10.10.10 - One Day on Earth

One Day on Earth

One Day on Earth Participant Trailer from One Day On Earth on Vimeo.
Join us on 10.10.10 for an unprecedented event. Every Nation, 24 hours and You.

On October 10, 2010 (10.10.10), across the planet, documentary filmmakers, students, and inspired citizens will record the human experience over a 24-hour period and contribute their voice to the largest participatory media event in history.

Founded in 2008, ONE DAY ON EARTH is creating an online community, shared archive, and film. Together, we will showcase the amazing diversity, conflict, tragedy, and triumph that occur in one day. We invite you to join our international community of thousands of filmmakers, hundreds of schools, and dozens of non-profits, and contribute to this unique global mosaic. Through the One Day on Earth platform, we will establish a community that not only watches, but participates.


Check out the opportunities for Educational Projects to get involved with

Old exercise books

From Year 8 - 1976-7 and Year 9 - 1977-8

My Geography exercise books... See where the legend began !! ;)

Flickr image set

Sunday, 3 October 2010

Don't forget to Lobby your MP

It only takes a few minutes...
And to prove that something happens, I've had a reply to the letter I sent...
Plus a message to say that he had taken 'A' level Geography and really enjoyed it...
Go to the GA website for all the information you need...

Commonwealth Games: geographical curriculum making...

The Geography of Sport has found its way onto many KS3 schemes of work.
It made its way onto mine as I used to teach in a Sports college. The PE department had a lot of money, and we didn't so it made sense to start to make a few connections. Remember that at this time of austerity, any additional source of funding for geography departments needs to be explored.

The World Cup has been and gone, the Olympics aren't until 2012 (although that is getting closer every day... literally a day closer)...
Just been watching the first part of the opening ceremony for the COMMONWEALTH GAMES.


The weblink above includes details on getting the bid document, for activities which involve planning a bid for the games in your local area...

The idea of designing the cultural element of the opening ceremony of a similar event in your home area has already been explored elsewhere.... perhaps the giant helium balloon used in Delhi could become a giant Yorkshire pudding on which images of the county were projected, if they were held in Sheffield ?

With many official languages, a huge variety of landscapes and diversity. the ceremony included a lot of music, costumes etc.
I liked the henna hand painting from beneath...

Good for exploring cultural diversity in India, but also how an event like this will raise awareness of the country. A nice REUTERS SLIDESHOW has some good pictures contrasting ancient and modern India.

Don't forget the Geographical Association shop has a range of resources for teachers considering teaching about INDIA.

A TOP-SPEC book written by Gill Miller & Sue Warn on the new Superpowers of India and China (some sample materials are available)
An INDIA map
A series of DVDs made for the GA in association with Pumpkin.
There are 4 DVDs in the series, and there are discounts for ordering more than one disc.

A sample of the DVDs can be seen on the YouTube ChannelPumpkin which has clips from lots of DVDs to whet your appetite.

A Primary Super-schemes book on a village in India.
Plus the classic Ladakh and Chembakolli photopacks....

Don't forget that GA members get big discounts in the shop, so JOIN NOW.


Coverage of the Commonwealth Games on the BBC



Suresh Kalmadi at the Opening Ceremony: 
"India is ready to host the Commonwealth Games. We have the second fastest-growing economy in the world. There have been delays and challenges but we have risen to the challenges and we can do it. Despite the adverse publicity, all the Commonwealth nations have stood by India. This Games will be the largest in history."

Goo.gl

Google have released a new link shortener, so that you can provide a shortened version of a long weblink.

Go to GOO.GL for more.
One of the nice features is that it also generates a QR CODE for the site (and will also keep a record of the links you have created, if you are logged in to your Google account..) if you click on the DETAILS tab next to the shortened link.
Here is the QR CODE for Living Geography - use a code reader and you'll get a link to... this blog... a little recursive...

So now you can have QR code weblinks to related websites for the work that you are doing...
Even print them on stickers and add them into textbooks - perhaps on top of, or next to, existing images and activities....

Iceland Video..

I like this...

Magic Icelandic Honeymoon from Ben Husmann on Vimeo.

Saturday, 2 October 2010

Britain from the Air - some super new KS3 resources

I blogged about the Britain from the Air exhibition a few days ago.
Organised by the Royal Geographical Society, it is taking place in Bath at the moment, but will be travelling to other locations.

There are now some excellent teaching resources relating to the exhibition which have been produced by the RGS.
There is a Key Stage 2 scheme of work, and associated resources which can be viewed HERE.

There is a Key Stage 3 lesson plan, and associated resources which can be viewed HERE.

“All too often, chasing far away places, we forget just what beauty we have on our doorstep and just how rich and diverse a country we live in. I can think of no better time to celebrate Britain¹s built and natural landscapes. The scale of the hundred images that make up this spectacular street gallery is breathtaking, and I very much hope it will one day travel to every major city in Britain” - Michael Palin (RGS-IBG President)

Highly recommended.

Dave Holmes' YouTube videos

2 great videos made by Dave Holmes.
The first is shot in London and provides some simple ideas for ethnographic fieldwork data collection.... "people watching"...



The second is particularly helpful.
It is a short video featuring Nick Blunsum: the Head of Geography at Kingsmead Community School



What's great is that Nick talks about the impact of going through the process of gaining the Geographical Association's Secondary Geography Quality Mark.

He talks about "evaluating what was good and developing areas that needed improvement" and also "giving back some of the control to students to stop the lessons being too teacher led..." - some good advice on controlled assessment too....

Thanks for sharing these Dave, and to @GeogAdviser for the tip off on Twitter....

Climate Change Viral

This has been 'pulled' after several people have complained about the content and presentation.
If you want to watch it, you can press play otherwise, don't - you have been warned.
It does feature some gory scenes...



Interesting visual literacy debate to be had...

Some movie details:
Whippersnapping climate campaign 10:10 teams up with legendary comic screenwriter Richard Curtis - you know, Blackadder, Four Weddings, Notting Hill, co-founded Comic Relief - and Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong to proudly present their explosive new mini-movie "No Pressure". The film stars X-Files' Gillian Anderson, together with Spurs players past and present - including Peter Crouch, Ledley King and David Ginola - with music donated by Radiohead. Shot on 35mm by a 40-strong professional film crew led by director Dougal Wilson, "No Pressure" celebrates everybody who is actively tackling climate change... by blowing up those are aren't.

This is how the Daily Mail reported the story.

Bristol - "Food for thought"...

Missing all the accompanying discussions, notes, digressions etc...

This may take a short while to load