Living Geography

Winter Landscape...

2012-01-28T20:02:00.001Z

Out early on today to brave the ice and mist to take some photos...
This was the second image that I worked on with a programme called Flare for Mac. This was a processed image. Going to try and bring out the trees and rooks that were in the background a little in another version.

Click for bigger version

Image: Alan Parkinson

Teaching Geography - Spring 2012

2012-01-28T19:42:00.000Z

My copy of Teaching Geography arrived today.
You can also now download it from the GA website if you are a subscriber.
The focus for this issue is the London Olympics...

Also good articles by Fred Martin and Ruth Totterdell on the curriculum and what makes a good geography lesson.

Thought for the Day

2012-01-27T20:51:00.001Z

"the average British citizen is enjoined to spend their hard-earned income in 'ecofriendly' ways, even as they are simultaneously encouraged to holiday abroad, consume ever more imported commodities, and aspire to the lifestyles of the rich-and-famous"

Noel Castree (2009) - from 'Feelbad Britain'

Geography a 'soft' subject....

2012-01-27T16:44:00.001Z

Make your mind up... a few months back it was one of the more rigorous and valuable ones...

Telegraph article

Thanks to Eylan Ezekiel for tipoff via Twitter

Better GCSE grades

2012-01-25T16:30:00.000Z

As some colleagues will know, I have been writing a book for Badger Publishing on raising GCSE grades.
This will contain a series of sections which will support students during the GCSE Geography course and beyond.

I have set up a new blog to support those who purchase the book.

This follows my blog to support my KS3 Toolkit book: "Look at it this Way" - which is still available from the GA Shop....

Save outdoor learning centres - e-petition link...

2012-01-25T12:29:00.000Z

Sign the e-petition

Free GIS training at Ordnance Survey HQ

2012-01-25T10:22:00.001Z

If you're able to get to Southampton for a twilight session there is a good opportunity for you....

This is an opportunity for secondary school teachers to attend a free GIS training event on 6 February.
The event will be run at Ordnance Survey’s head office and will start at 4pm and run through until approximately 7pm.

The training will use QGIS, which is an open source software package, which is free to download.

If you would like more details, or would like to register to attend the course, please reply to darren.bailey@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Places are limited, so please reply as soon as possible.

Centre for Cities report 2012

2012-01-25T09:34:00.005Z

Plenty in the news today and yesterday about the varying fortunes of UK cities.
Some are doing well - others are struggling.

Which cities are doing well and which aren't ?

Students could be asked to research particular cities after first being asked whether they are going UP or DOWN in terms of their success at generating new employment and providing a good quality of life for their population.

The Centre for Cities report can be downloaded as a PDF and act as a useful basis for some work in this area.

How is your local city doing ? Why not give it a health check ?

Thought for the Day

2012-01-24T09:11:00.000Z

"Teachers who go out of their way to collaborate online tend to be creative, motivated people with high standards for their own performance — the type who would rather try something new than pull out the yellowed lesson plans they’ve been using for years."

from Washington Post, via Twitter...

Transition projects...

2012-01-23T20:27:00.003Z

I am starting to think ahead for an event in March in Devon.
I am leading a day on transition between Primary and Secondary schools. I would be really interested in projects that you have heard about or have taken part in to support students when they move from primary (or middle) schools to senior schools - particularly from KS2 to KS3... If these are geographical in nature that would be even better!

What transition projects do you do with feeder primaries ??
To what extent do you know what goes on in geography lessons in your feeder primary schools ?

I have some ideas based around exploration, and the preparation for the change as being a geographical expedition with some preparations... Mission:Explore will be making an appearance of course...
Other schools use the idea of a PASSPORT which students prepare and then take with them when they move. My son found this helpful when he moved to a new school.

Going to be looking at the PRIMARY CHAMPIONS Ning for some ideas and consulting with Primary colleagues, but please add a comment below or get in touch via my profile if you have a really good idea that you want to publicise....

Smurf Village

2012-01-23T20:10:00.001Z

A village in Spain was painted blue to act as a location shoot for the new Smurfs Movie

Juzcar, inland from Malaga, was transformed six months ago when it was chosen as the set for The Smurfs 3D, becoming the world's first official Smurf Village.

Sony, which made the film, had promised to return the village to its original state, with homes painted in dazzling white, as is typical of southern Spain.

A few weeks ago, the inhabitants of the village voted to keep the village blue. as it had brought over 80 thousand visitors in.
This is an interesting example of rebranding. Also ties in with the issue of attracting tourists. There is a precedent of course in the coloured houses in Tobermory used in the CBBC programme Balamory, although to be fair they were there before the film crews arrived.

Here's an image of some of my son's Smurf collection - he loves them...

Image: Alan Parkinson

Thanks to Judith Roberts for the tip off to this...

UWB Wetlands game similar to Farmville

2012-01-23T19:50:00.001Z

A find via Twitter.
UWB Wetlands is a game which has a similar feel and style to Farmville, but is aimed at teaching about wetlands conservation.

You will need to 'LIKE' the page on your Facebook page, and you can then start to play the game and build your own ecosystem.

iGCSE Geography books

2012-01-23T19:33:00.001Z

Only 2 copies of the Teachers's Guide for the new iGCSE Geography book that I contributed to available on Amazon. Does that mean it's selling really quickly or they didn't have many in stock ?
Check it out anyway, along with the Student Book - it's really rather good...

On your bike...

2012-01-23T16:40:00.000Z

A new option for exploring which PUBLIC TRANSPORT route would be best for you, from Google.
Check transport routes and get interesting mapping and data.

Audio description...

2012-01-23T16:30:00.001Z

I watched some of the Human Planet DVD earlier in the week to prepare some materials on DESERTS, and accidentally put the AUDIO DESCRIPTION on.

I was watching a programme on Deserts, and had forgotten about that until it started to describe the scenes where there is no other soundtrack or voice over describing what was happening....

e.g. a long line of camels walks slowly across a sand dune, led by three men in blue clothing... the camera moves back and upwards to reveal a huge expanse of desert sands...

It occured to me that this might be an appropriate way for students to use a DVD. Rather than relating to the existing script, they need to explain what can be seen - which perhaps is the most useful reason for using a video of course...

Junior Mapmaker Award 2012

2012-01-23T11:30:00.002Z

The UKHO Junior Mapmaker award is sponsored by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO), in conjunction with the British Cartographic Society (BCS), to encourage the creative and graphic representation, by children, of their environment. The awards are given every two years and comprise a prize and certificate for the overall winner in each age group.
The theme for the 2012 competition is “My Voyage to Treasure Island”. This could be based on any stretch of water – from a lake to a trip across an imaginary ocean. The map or chart should represent the encounters of that day. It may be hand drawn or computer generated (to a maximum size of A3).

There are 4 age categories (7 to 9; 10 to 11; 12 to 14 and 15 to 16 years – ages at 21 July 2012), with an overall winner chosen from each category:

The closing date for entries is 21 July 2012.

Full details, including the entry form can be found at www.cartography.org.uk by following the ‘Awards’ link.

Thanks to Richard Carpenter for adding details of the competition to the GA NING.

Ghost Wood

2012-01-22T14:31:00.000Z

One of the missions in the pack that I produced for the National Geographic Education materials for the US Geography Awareness Week explores the idea of the suburbs which, so the saying goes, is "where they chop the trees down, then name the streets after them..."

The GHOST WOOD mission is the mission in question. Why not give it a go ?

Wet the baby's head...

2012-01-22T13:41:00.000Z

An interesting tale for those looking for useful stories related to flooding.

The town of Gloucester has reported an unexpected consequence of flooding that happened in 2007...

Baby boom 4 years on has created a problem for local primary schools. A useful secondary effect of the floods ?

Would be a good investigation - were the floods really the cause or are there other demographic reasons for the rise in births in the area that is mentioned ? What other theories can students come up with ?

Hazard Map

2012-01-22T13:38:00.001Z

A nice global hazard map.

Interesting to see the reporting of the 'vehicle accident' off the Italian coast...

iBooks 2 and iBook Author

2012-01-21T15:15:00.002Z

Some interesting posts over the last few days on the Apple announcement earlier this week. There are various issues with the licensing, and the tie-in with Apple relating to any documents that are created with the iBooks Author app. It's not quite what I anticipated. I've installed the iBooks Author app and will have a play.

Kudos also to Ciaran McCormack who very quickly came up with a useful video guide.

Technology made Easy is currently hosting a very useful 20 minute run through of iBooks 2 and iBooks Author with (appropriately enough) a geography book example !
Well worth watching if you fancy having a go at making your own books available....

Update
If I'd had a fiver to place on someone to have done something with this first it would have been on Noel Jenkins, and sure enough, here's Noel's first thoughts on the use of the tool.

Frozen Oceans in the TES

2012-01-20T19:46:00.004Z

The Times Educational Supplement featured the frozen oceans resources that I wrote for the Catlin Arctic Survey funded OCEANS website produced by Digital Explorer today. The resources for KS3 and GCSE were then added to and produced by Jamie Buchanan Dunlop.

Head over there if you haven't already and download the materials...

Olympics Venues

2012-01-20T19:21:00.000Z

A reminder that not all of the Olympics is being held in London. A useful map of the area of sea off the coast of Portland that will host the sailing events...

Fancy having Michael Palin as your boss ? *

2012-01-20T17:09:00.001Z

A rather nice job appeared on the the RGS-IBG website today.
School's Programme Manager

It includes various elements of the job that I did at the Geographical Association, although it includes various different schemes and projects that I wasn't involved with, and a different emphasis.

If I was still in the classroom and looking for a new challenge and opportunity to use my skills, and could make it to Kensington every day, I'd definitely go for this job. Which is why I won't be, because I'm not, and I can't...
I look forward to working in some way with whoever does get the job though....
Good luck if you're thinking of applying - these are interesting times for Geography....

* = sort of....

Update
The post has appeared because Kate Amis is stepping down from the role she has held for some years. Kate has done a fantastic job and I wish her the very best...

SOLO Taxonomy for Geographers...

2012-01-20T16:34:00.000Z

Thanks to John Sayers for volunteering to join me to present a VITAL CPD Teachshare on the 9th of February at 7pm.
It's on the use of: SOLO, which stands for Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes.
It really asks students to place their understanding of work on a scale of 1-5, depending on their ability to make sense of connections. It's a useful technique for discussing progression.

So, although I'll be talking SOLO, I won't be on my own....

A reminder that you can still subscribe to the VITAL CPD GEOGRAPHY portal for a very low price - if you go to the pub tonight and buy a pint and a packet of pork scratchings it'll probably cost you more than a subscription would.... although admittedly they'll taste better....

Oceans Academy - March 17th & 18th

2012-01-20T15:48:00.000Z

Come and join me in March at the Digital Explorer Oceans Academy.
This is another chance to experience a free weekend of ocean-related fun...

Here's the mailing that I got earlier today.

Oceans Academy opens again!

Our third and final teacher training session about the oceans will be taking place over 17th-18th March and the competition to find gritty, enthusiastic and curious teachers is once again open!

Geography and science teachers can apply online until 26th February - if a two-day expenses-paid weekend away with marine biologists, sailors and oceanographers on the English Riviera isn't enough to convince you, this is what teachers said of the last training sessions in October:

"Very interactive which was great. Good balance of strong scientific base and ways of bringing the ideas to life in a simple way. Realise now I could link oceans to many other modules."

- Dan Waistell, Magdalen College School, Brackley

"Great fun, good mix of science, geography and good plain enjoyment! Didn’t know how reliant terrestrial ecology is on ocean ecology."

- Simon Jordan, Plymouth College

Apply now to join me and the crew in March....

Read about what David Rogers thought of the experience on his blog...