Living Geography

Exploring for Dragons

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Sun, 27 May 2012 19:23:00 +0000

One of the most satisfying things about my involvement with Mission:Explore has been the way that it is taken up by other teachers and used to introduce new thinking and experiences, particularly in Primary schools. That's why I really enjoyed reading about Emma Dawson's DRAGON Exploring unit in this post here.
As the sun comes out and the academic year comes to an end, this is a perfect time to try something different...

Olympic Breakfast is off...

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Sun, 27 May 2012 17:16:00 +0000

I've been putting together a Google document providing a slightly more 'critical' list of suggestions for teaching about the Olympics as the event gets nearer.
I will embed it in a blog post again in the next few days, but there's a link below.

I am grateful to Keir Clarke for setting me thinking about this area with his earlier tweets.

There is a useful post here which shows maps around some of they key Olympics venues showing the brand exclusion zones. I have previously blogged about various aspects of the way that the usual 'rules' of urban living are put aside for the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics (and also before and after for security reasons) and put together my Londinium MMXII document.
Visit to read the information.
There are more maps here for the other venues.

For further information (if you want to find out more) visit the list of official partners...

You could perhaps work with students to train them up as Olympics Brand Police...
They could perhaps go around the school with official ID looking for examples where the brand has been transgressed and handing out 'fines'. A nice opportunity for some guerrilla geography.

There will be official enforcement teams looking for examples where the branding may have been used without permission: hence no 'Olympic breakfasts' in local cafes..

A Picture of London

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Sun, 27 May 2012 09:34:00 +0000

One of the projects that I have pencilled in for the summer is some major writing for IB Geography, including a unit on Urban Environments. As a result I've been collecting a whole range of resources to provide inspiration for some creative tasks...

Last night I had an hour out in the middle of Eurovision to catch this wonderful programme on BBC2.
It was A Picture of London told through the eyes of taxi drivers, crane operators, Big Issue sellers, street cleaners etc. Some wonderful stories and archive films, and the odd John Martin painting...
Also great visualisations of how London might have looked if some of the architects' plans had actually been built...

You should try to catch the programme on iPlayer before it disappears.

From its early years until the present day, London has provided powerful, emotional inspiration to artists.

This documentary evokes the city as seen by painters, photographers, film-makers and writers through the ages; the perspectives of Dickens, Hogarth, Turner, Virginia Wolfe, Monet and Alfred Hitchcock alongside those of contemporary Londoners who tread the streets of the city every day.

All these people have found beauty and inspiration in London's dirt and grime.

Architects and social engineers have strived to organise London, but painters, writers and many more have revelled in its labyrinthine unruliness.

This is the story of a city that tried to impose order on its streets, but actually discovered time after time that its true character lay in an unplanned, chaotic nature.

Baku : to the future...

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:35:00 +0000

This weekend sees an annual cultural event: the Eurovision Song Contest.
It is being held in Baku: the capital of Azerbaijan

Richard Allaway and I saw this poster in the back streets of Geneva a couple of weeks ago while heading for some fondue... The main image shows the famous 'flame towers'. There's some great architecture in the city, although there are some people who are concerned about certain issues regarding democracy in the country.

Here's the running order - looks like we kick things off !

UNITED KINGDOM
HUNGARY
ALBANIA
LITHUANIA
BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA
RUSSIA
ICELAND
CYPRUS
FRANCE
ITALY
ESTONIA
NORWAY
AZERBAIJAN
ROMANIA
DENMARK
GREECE
SWEDEN
TURKEY
SPAIN
GERMANY
MALTA
FYR MACEDONIA
IRELAND
SERBIA
UKRAINE
MOLDOVA

Perhaps time to dust off and update Tony Cassidy's classic Eurovision resources...

Here's the HUMP in action....

or perhaps you prefer someone older...

Thanks for the nomination...

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:58:00 +0000

Someone nominated this blog for this award. If you've got nothing better to do feel free to head over and vote for me :) or alternatively get out in the sun while it lasts !

Portas Pilot Towns announced..

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Sat, 26 May 2012 11:28:00 +0000

A series of posts related to the Mary Portas report have featured here.
Today was the announcement of the 10 towns which will get the first lot of funding to develop their projects. Apparently over 350 towns applied for the cash...

The winning bids announced are:

Bedford, Bedfordshire

Croydon, Greater London

Dartford, Kent

Bedminster, Bristol

Liskeard, Cornwall

Margate, Kent

Market Rasen, Lincolnshire

Nelson. Lancashire

Newbiggin by the Sea, Northumberland

Stockport, Greater Manchester

Stockton on Tees, Teesside

Wolverhampton, West Midlands

No Norfolk winners unfortunately..

Perhaps students could be put in groups and allocated a town.

What has been suggested for each town ? Which one is closest to your home town ? Which ideas do you think would work in your home town ?

Flooding... on the road again...

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:07:00 +0000

I am booked in for several lectures in the new academic year to GA Branches.
It's an extension and update of the 'High and Dry' lecture that has been seen by over 1000 people now.
'Still High and Dry ? : Managing future flooding in the UK'

Here's something that is likely to feature...

Happy to come along to other venues - get in touch :)

Mission:Explore at Hay Festival

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:45:00 +0000

Members of the Geography Collective will be present at the Hay Festival next weekend. This is one of the highlights of the annual cultural circuit. We're doing various missions and activities, and also spreading the word about Mission:Explore FOOD.

We have also created the map for the Hay Fever area - illustrated by Tom Morgan Jones. Click for biggery....

This means being on the same bill as Andy Stanton author of my son's favourite Mr. Gum books....

And, here we are in today's copy of 'The Sun' newspaper...

...leading lights of guerrilla geography... boom....

If you're going to Hay Festival next weekend, come and find the guerrilla geographers and say hi !

Launch of Teachit Geography

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:02:00 +0000

One of the final jobs that I completed for the GA was to liaise with Katie and Chris at Teachit to prepare the materials for the launch of Teachit Geography.
It's great to see that the site is now LIVE and is ready for you to REGISTER or SUBSCRIBE to....

You can register to look at the FREE content.

There are currently over 450 pages of resources on the site, and that number grows daily...
I have worked with a list of wonderful people who have contributed resources so far, but you can join them by submitting your own resources.
Resources can be discovered using a simple search process with key words to help you find what you want quickly.

A year's personal subscription is just £15 (see later for a special GA offer...)

There are also some 'Whizzy things': interactives which can be used in the classroom, or in planning interesting resources with students. I particularly like the Decision Maker, which would help to visualise DME tasks.
An image bank, newsletter, a chance to save your favourite resources in a favourites area and a Wiki based list of Geography websites completes the package so far.

Here's the information on a special offer for GA members...

Finally, it's worth saying that TeachIt History launches in July...

New mug and coaster...

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Fri, 25 May 2012 09:17:00 +0000

Souvenir of Southwold.. Would make a good task for students to do - produce some other map-related memorabilia....
Source the maps and mock-up the design...

Following things... and knowledge....

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:58:00 +0000

I liked this, and the sentiment expressed...

#highstcamp

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:57:00 +0000

I shall be following this hashtag today.
Useful for those exploring town and city centres and their 'vital and viable' futures - or otherwise...
This event is going to explore a lot of things relevant to town centres.
I was led here via the Twitter feed of @juliandobson who writes on such things and others.

A very useful SLIDESHARE to get you started today... Mission:Explore obviously has a potential use here too....

Mary Portas was blogged about a while back, and there are hopes that town centres can get a new lease of life.

I was out and about in Lowestoft Town Centre yesterday, and it seemed to be fairly busy - there was a good indoor market setting up, and a lot of folks out and about... the haddock and chips was fairly top notch too.... I also walked through Southwold too, a lot of tourists out, and a plant sale in the centre...

New O2 walkway...

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:36:00 +0000

This popped into my inbox just now...
A new London tourist attraction.

A walkway over the top of the O2....
Looks good, although there's no mention of ticket prices, and the terms and conditions make for interesting reading...

Which other London buildings could a similar attraction be added to ? Why not design one ?

Hans Rosling rocks...

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:34:00 +0000

As seen at the GA Conference 2010 - Hans Rosling excels in explaining important concepts in interesting ways...

New GA Chief Executive announced

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:56:00 +0000

Last week, interviews were held for perhaps the most important job in geography education.
Professor David Lambert is standing down as Chief Executive of the Geographical Association after ten years, and his replacement was announced today as Alan Kinder.

This is great news for geography education, and also for the GA.

I've known Alan since I joined the Secondary Phase Committee of the GA in 2004, and worked with him on a range of projects including the KS3 Toolkit series which he co-edited.
I wish him all the very best for what will be certainly be an 'interesting' and fascinating job.

Image copyright: Bryan Ledgard/Geographical Association

Historic Maps API

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:27:00 +0000

Via Twitter...

Source

University Geography tables...

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:26:00 +0000

Are you, or do you know, students who are considering taking geography at undergraduate level ?

If so, they may be interested in the very latest 2013 league tables for university departments of Geography and Environmental Studies...
Here's the top 10, via The Guardian...

Good to see the local gang at UEA doing so well...

Priorities....

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:01:00 +0000

Arriving soon in a school near you...

John 11:35

Send my Friend to School 2012

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:58:00 +0000

Thanks to Karen from Action Aid for getting in touch to tell me about the latest incarnation of Send my Friend to School.

The Global Campaign for Education are offering free resources as part of the Send My Friend to School campaign, which are suitable for pupils at KS2 & KS3. Every school that signs up will receive a free resource pack including a DVD, set of posters and stickers by post and more lesson plans, films, background information and resources on the website at http://www.sendmyfriend.org/teach

There are already over 5600 schools signed up

To view the campaign DVD go to: http://www.sendmyfriend.org/teach/films

Each year the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) invites parents, teachers, children and young people from around the world to call on governments to work to keep their promise to provide education for all by 2015. Most years about 6,000 UK schools take part in the campaign. Time is running out to get universal primary education by 2015, so we hope more schools will take part than ever before!

This year UK schoolchildren are being invited to add their voice to the Olympic-inspired Send My Friend to School campaign and urge world leaders to ‘go for gold’ and get the 67 million children worldwide who are missing out on school a quality primary education by 2015. With athletes flocking to London this year to test their abilities in hundreds of sporting events, this is an opportunity to reflect on another important race, the Great Global Education Race 2000 - 2015.

In 2000 world leaders promised – as part of the Millennium Development Goals - that every child would complete a quality primary education by 2015. Since then millions of children in Africa, Asia and Latin America went to school, for the firsttime. But like a marathon runner, the Great Global Education Race has hit a wall. The number of children out of school has stayed stubbornly at 67 million for 2 years now, with only 3 years to the finishing line.

This year the Send My Friend to School campaign is asking UK pupils to:

· Explore the issues of the great global education race: watch the DVD and animation, play the on-line game and use the story bank to learn about of the lives of children who miss out on school

· Create a message: use the templates to make a medal and add messages to urge world leaders to ‘go for gold’ and keep their promise of education for all by 2015

· Spread the word: hold assemblies and events, invite your MP in and tell your local media what you have been doing

· Make it count: Send your messages to your MP before the end of June and add the number of people who took part at your school to our online totaliser at www.sendmyfriend.org/totaliser

Every year we are so impressed with the huge numbers of schools that take part in the campaign, but also the level of their involvement and the obvious passion that pupils here feel about their peers overseas who miss out on school. We hope that thousands of schools will take part in our Olympic-themed campaign this year and use the range of creative learning, campaigning and fun activities designed for the whole school to use and become global active citizens this summer term of 2012.

Farming in North Norfolk

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:01:00 +0000

Thanks to Moya from FACE for sending my hard copy of the materials in the 'Farming in North Norfolk' resource.

There are various videos and teaching resources as part of the pack, which can be ordered as a hard copy. The videos can also be viewed online, and the accompanying activities can be downloaded as PDF files.

Some useful videos...
Here's the one on the link between farming and tourism, which features Burnham Deepdale.
The resources are designed for KS2 PUPILS.

More on Water Scarcity

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:18:00 +0000

A reminder once again that there are many topics which are impossible to teach in isolation, and then stop teaching and move on to the next one...
The more I develop resources, the more it becomes clear that there are connections to be made, and the need for a holistic approach across a particular programme of study...
Last weekend I was in Geneva working with IB students who were preparing for their unit on Water Scarcity.
This morning, an article popped into my Twitter feed relating to water supply, and making a connection with sea level change.
I am not so sure that the amount of water that has been pumped up from groundwater could have much of an impact on global sea levels, but the amounts involved are fairly huge, and this water would otherwise have stayed within the rocks for a LONG time...

Earthquake in Northern Italy

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:10:00 +0000

News reports and images have been developing around the earthquake in Northern Italy.

It's a reminder that earthquakes happen relatively close to the UK. This was a magnitude 6 earthquake, and damaged many historic buildings.
Lots of images of the damaged clock tower in Finale Emilia in particular...

Vox pop video from GA Conference

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:03:00 +0000

A nice video made by Anthony Barlow at the GA Conference in April

Good to see some familiar faces....

See you in Derby in 2013

My Farm update

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:58:00 +0000

I blogged about the National Trust's My Farm project when it launched.
It is continuing and, according to the latest NT Magazine, will have no membership fee.
Why not join in and take some decisions with your class...

Embedding UK Geology and Earthquake Maps

noreply@blogger.com (GeoBlogs) — Sat, 19 May 2012 09:45:00 +0000

I've been following the #FSCHackDay on Twitter today - Slapton was a bit too far to get to, and I'm not able to go anywhere this weekend... also missing out on a GA Cutting Edge Geography event in Yorkshire.
This tip is a new feature on the BGS website, which allows the embedding of a Geology or Earthquake Map.
Details are HERE if you want to make your own...
Here's a GEOLOGY map - click on it to show the surface geology...