Eye on the Arctic

My favourite new blog find (and also available on Twitter @eyeonthearctic)

Eye on the Arctic also scores with its tag line... "views from up North", and we're not talking Rotherham...

There's plenty of intriguing stuff there at the moment:

Snow being collected in Helsinki over winter months to act as air conditioning in the summer
Tourists visiting calving glaciers in Greenland
Wind turbines and reindeer...

Check it out if you are studying or teaching the circumpolar regions of the world... an important area in the next few decades...

Thought for the Day

"..we all need to recall that the GA is not a 'them' tucked away in a lofty eyrie in Sheffield, but an 'us'... the health and survival of the Association depends directly on our own willingness to lift our sights beyond the immediate and parochial, to become involved in committees and working groups, to support local branch activity, and to participate in turning the purposes of the Association towards positive and practical ends..."


Rex Walford, from his GA Presidential address "Geography and the Future" - 1984

Changes in London's Congestion Charging Zone

I hope you've all signed up for the Harper Collins Geography Update e-mails.
This will allow you to get a copy of an excellent case study of the London cycle hire scheme - as written by me ;)

As is the nature of all printed materials, they go out of date, and one role of this blog is to be as up-to-date as possible.

The Congestion Charge in London changed in the first week of January.

The main changes are:
- a reduction in the size of the zone, with the reversal of the decision to extend the zone to the west of the central area
- an increase in the daily cost to £10

There is also a new Greener Vehicle Discount (GVD)
From the TfL site:

You can now register with us for the GVD, which will allow a 100 per cent discount from the Congestion Charge for cars that emit 100g/km or less of CO2 and that meet the Euro 5 standard for air quality. You will need to register with us for the discount and pay £10 a year per vehicle.

Over the course of the next 12 to 18 months, it is anticipated that new electric and hybrid electric plug-in vehicles will be brought to market with significantly lower emission levels.  We'll monitor developments in the market and keep discount criteria under review, with the intention of reducing the discount levels to 80g/km or lower when the time is right.  The review of discount criteria will be carried out in 2012.

So now you know... happy motoring !

GA Magazine Spring 2011

The latest GA Magazine is now available to download from the GA website (hard copies will be on the way..)

Some interesting and useful contents as always:
- Pictorial report on the official opening of Solly Street
- Details on GA CPD opportunities
- Details on latest schools to be awarded the Primary and Secondary Geography Quality Mark
- Reports from the International Geography Olympiad in Taipei, the Atlantic Rising project, GA Study Tour in Poland and details of 2011's tour to Tanzania
- An overview of the review of the Primary Curriculum

The late Rex Walford can be seen on the front cover... in animated conversation as always... (see previous post)

Dr. Rex Walford - geographer...

Earlier this week, one of the first e-mails to be received by GA staff after the Christmas break was the sad news that Dr Rex Walford, OBE & President of the GA in 1983-4 was missing after a boat accident in the Thames over the Christmas period.

Rex was one of the most influential post-war geographers and few teachers will have been unaware of his work, or gone through their career without encountering his huge contribution to geography education.

Image copyright Bryan Ledgard - Rex and Fred Martin at the official opening of Solly Street

My first introduction was in the form of the idea of Games in Geography, guided by my PGCE tutor, the late Vincent Tidswell. As a gamer myself, I enjoyed developing some of my own variations on Rex's ideas, and remember the contributions that Rex made to Teaching Geography.
I met Rex numerous times as he visited Cambridge University PGCE colleagues who had their placement in my school through the 1990s.
More recently, we met again at Madingley Hall for the 2010 Geography Teacher Educators' Conference, where I was privileged to hear him talk through his involvement in the famous lecture series in the 1960s, and showed documents from his remarkable archive. He was also present at the recent official opening of Solly Street, and can be seen on the front cover of the most recent issue of GA Magazine. He was also one of the many influential faces from Geography's past (and future) who attended a recent seminar at the Institute of Education.
Yesterday, I went down into the GA warehouse, and read through the issues of Teaching Geography from the time of Rex's GA presidency. One of the articles was by Rex himself on the issue of Marking in geography, and contained useful advice, written back in 1984, which still holds true today...

Article by Rex from Teaching Geography, 1984

A brief message by Professor David Lambert has been added to the GA website - there will be a fuller remembrance in future GA journals and events.

You can comment on the message on the GA website if you want to add your own messages to remember Rex. There are already plenty of messages on the website.

I got out my copy of Geography in British Schools 1850-2000 today to re-read some sections....

Update:
The Faculty of Education at Cambridge is organising a book of recollections and reflections, to be presented to Wendy at an appropriate time in the future. Colleagues are most welcome to e-mail their contribution to either Judy Stevens (jas60@cam.ac.uk) or Susannah Lacon (sml44@cam.ac.uk), and i will then ensure that they are assembled appropriately.

With best wishes
Mike Younger
Head of the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

Walled world

Via @urbanphoto blog


A new Walled World: the latest Brandt line ?

Interesting discussion image

Could you be the 1000th ?

The number of people who are involved with the Geography Primary Champions NING has been slowly edging towards the 1000 mark as the Christmas season has come and gone...

If you are involved in Primary geography, perhaps as co-ordinator, or a teacher and you're not a member why not head over to the NING and sign up to join this valuable online community.

Things to watch in 2011...

I liked this..
Lots of 'geographical' food for thought in terms of possible developments during 2011...

JWT: 100 Things to Watch in 2011

View more presentations from JWTIntelligence.

Did the earth move for you...

An earthquake occurred in NE England yesterday evening, centred around the Ripon area.
Plenty of twitter action to map and respond to.

Report on SKY NEWS.

As usual, if you felt something use the BGS online form to add your data.

A useful INTERACTIVE MAP has already been collated...

Push...

Interesting story on front page of The Guardian (and other newspapers) on the ending of a scheme in Spain which paid new parents 2500 euros (scheme was introduced in 2007 as a pro-natalist policy)
The scheme is ending because of public-spending cuts...
As the deadline approached (nominally, the end of 2010), Spanish mothers were apparently trying to have their babies so that they would qualify for the baby bonus...

A case study to connect the changes in finances with population policies...

Image by Flickr user Michael Sharman and made available under Creative Commons license

Montserrat recovering...

Via Victoria Ellis
An article from the BOSTON GLOBE on the slow recovery of the island of Montserrat from the impacts of ongoing volcanic activity which has been a regular case study in many geography classrooms...

And if you're teaching MONTSERRAT, don't forget Noel Jenkins' classic lesson activity resource.

A year's worth of consumption

...by artist Katherine Hubbard..

There's also a great GOOD post on how to reduce plastic consumer waste...


Fits well with my Functional Skills National Strategy booklet...
Available for FREE DOWNLOAD (PDF)

7 billion... National Geographic video...

New in January 2011

One to spend your Christmas book token on perhaps...

Camera for ipad

Thanks to @tonycassidy for the tipoff to this app: Camera for iPad by Headlight Software
It costs just 59p to purchase, and a copy is downloaded to both iPhone and iPad (so already we're into some fairly expensive technology... but that's already been paid for anyway...)

One issue with the iPad for some people is that it has no camera (yet ?)
This app connects the iPhone and iPad via wireless or Bluetooth so that whatever the camera on the iPhone sees can be viewed on iPad...

Works very well so far when I've tried it on wireless... Need to head out and try it with Bluetooth I think...

Whatever you look at with the iPhone can be seen on the iPad screen.
Images can be captured, and sent between the devices.

This would allow students to communicate with others in another location, which could be within the building or, subject to wireless reach, outside the building and elsewhere on the school campus.
Students could be cast in the role of explorers, or send back clues as to their location using images...
These images could involve students having to use evidence to identify places, jobs, geographical processes that are taking place etc.

Thinking of some other possible uses, and will try it with some PGCE colleagues later in the month...
Any other thoughts on how to make use of this interesting app ?

Update: Noticed the image is reversed...

Video in Geography

Have used video in my teaching quite a lot over the years.
Also went on a couple of courses run by Dan Raven Ellison in the time before I was working for the Geographical Association, and before the Geography Collective...

For a perspective on the use of video in geography, why not read Bradley Garrett's recent article, which is embedded below...
Perhaps 2011 will be the year when video plays a bigger part in your classroom ??
Videographic geographies: using digital video for geographic research

SLN Forum - still going strong

I don't visit the SLN Geography Forum as much as I used to...

That's not to say that it isn't providing great support (as it has always done) for geographers young and old...

There are also some good resources on the SLN HOME PAGE.
Claire Housecroft has contributed a nice mystery on the recent heavy snowfalls, for example...
If you need a ready made community to join, sign up to SLN for 2011

Curriculum Prescription...

We've had the prescription, now here's the prescription...

Bit of fun via the Prescription Maker (indulge me while I get the generator fix out of my system...)

IYC 2011

Apparently 2011 is the International Year of Chemistry, which as you know is a sub-branch of Geography... :)

GIS 45rpm

An image produced using the Vinyl Record Generator for a presentation I'm doing in Austria later this month...
One of many generators that are out there...

Quite like this FAKE GRAPH one as well....

Forest Fire Simulator in Google Maps

ForeFire is a forest fire simulator.

The idea is that you start a forest fire somewhere on the island of Corsica, and decide on the wind strength and direction. Watch how the fire spreads... and begin to think of appropriate management plans to contain it and to warn people who are threatened...

Would be useful for those doing a unit on Natural Hazards or hazard management...
Forest fires used to be included in the old 'A' level spec that I used to teach (in the days when they were called syllabuses...)

Thanks to Google Maps for (yet another) tip-off....

London - travelling through time...

A rather splendid looking iPad app which allows you to drill back through time at locations around London. A bit pricey for an app, but would be great for those who do quite a lot of work in this area, and want to peel back the present day...

To go with that, here's a wonderful old map from the 1940s which illustrates the various functions of different parts of the city...
Stick that in your pipe Burgess... ;)
Click for biggery...

Skyscraper Forum

Superb for urban work - the SKYSCRAPER FORUM


This POST provides links to some great images of NEW YORK.
Plenty of inspiration in this community, which would reward some time spent exploring...

Archers at 60...

I used to listen to the Archers for a while, quite a way back... I think it was to impress a lady... ;)

2011 marks the 60th Anniversary of the show, and there's a useful map here...

Hadn't realised that Ambridge was so close to Borchester...

New Flickr contact

The UK National Archive Flickr page.
Lots of great vintage creative commons images...

#coldfilms

Another one of those Twitter memes...
This one is films that have had their titles changed so that they include reference to something COLD... This one took place during the Christmas holidays, when I was on my blogging break...

No country for cold men
Gone with the wind chill factor
Slushmore
Coldfinger
Frost in translation
Gosford Parka
Snowball Fight Club
-6 degrees of separation...
Glove Story
The Blizzard of Oz

As always some great creativity from the twitter folk who participated in this one, and remember that this is a suggestion for a possible starter to lessons to get students' brains working as they come in and settle ready for the lesson... Plenty more themes that could be used...

New York Blizzard: 2 movies...

Michael Black first of all with an amazing timelapse...


December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

Followed by an excellent short movie shot by Jamie Stuart



This is a wonderful piece of work....
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

GeoVations...

A useful set of URBAN scenarios... from GeoVation...

Here's PLANNED-OPOLIS (one of four) - good for those teaching about SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT


Megacities on the move - Planned-opolis from Forum for the Future on Vimeo.

About.me

A new place to direct people to: your own online profile page.
A useful online 'business card'...
Here's my ABOUT ME PAGE

Weather vs Climate

Thanks to Noel Jenkins

Armstrong and Miller: one slightly risque moment...

Out later this month....

A great start to the musical year...



Here's a track from new Decemberists...

National Flood Forum

Just before Christmas, had e-mail reminding me of the NATIONAL FLOOD FORUM.
Their website has useful presentations from conference on flooding. Follow them on Twitter for all things flooding...

The Domestic Soundscape

Thanks to Joe Moran for the tip-off to this intriguing project by Felicity 'Felix' Ford.

First of all a blog called 'The Domestic Soundscape'

Secondly, a radio programme on a road that she uses each day, which you can catch on LISTEN AGAIN if you're quick.... The A4074...

Some intriguing stuff to start the new year...


Great 'psychogeography'...

Day 1 of 365

I've followed quite a few of these projects. The idea is that you post something each day for a whole year.
I've never done one before, mostly because I forget to start one on the 1st of January, and then decide to wait until the next time round.

This year I remembered...

Different people post different things: images, videos, song lyrics, poems, quotations... you can basically add what you want.
I'm going to use POSTEROUS for my 365 as I can post to it from my iPhone using the POSTEROUS app, but also have the option to e-mail posts to the blog as well. Never used it for more than the odd blog post either...

Visit the 2011x365 BLOG HERE, and feel free to subscribe...

2011... an interesting year ahead...

Image courtesy of Google's Doodle Archive...

Happy New Year !!
Things on my geographical "to do" list...


1. Finish some big writing projects for a number of publishers
2. Work with teachers on the remaining ESRI / GA GIS CPD courses (still places available on the second group of courses), and take the partnership to the next stage
3. Work with FSC, FACE and other organisations
4. Work with new teachers in new networks and PGCE courses, and at local Teachmeet East
5. Support some new GA branches, particularly the Norfolk GA branch
6. Lead a large number of workshops at the GA Conference in April at the University of Surrey, and see Hans Rosling talking about Gapminder
7. See the Rush 'Time Machine' tour
8. See the launch of Mission:Explore books 2 & 3, and work with fellow Geography Collective members on a range of other exciting projects (more to come early in 2011) and take a Scottish road-trip
9. Develop my own geo-consultancy work, and in partnership with Rich Allaway develop Geography Training.net further
10. Travel to new places near and far...
11. Celebrate the end of the Action Plan for Geography 2006-11 and the accomplishments that it has made possible, along with the Royal Geographical Society, and work on new GA projects
12.Visit Salzburg as part of an EU-funded GIS project
13. Continue to write articles for various journals including Mapping News and the GA Magazine
14. Develop my involvement in school-based work, including further use of iPad apps for educational use
15. No doubt get involved in a range of other as-yet-to-be-decided projects and events across the country...
16. Finally organise my huge library of digital and paper-based resources into some sort of organised state, and spend time in the GA archive hunting out some gems from past generations of geographers, such as Vaughan Cornish

Going to be another interesting year, and it'll all be documented here, so keep coming back.