Working as an Ordnance Survey #GetOutside Champion

Back from two days in the New Forest with Ordnance Survey. We were asked to come to Brockenhurst to a nice hotel, where we were to meet with the Ordnance Survey team that supports their core #GetOutside initiative. As you may remember from an earlier post, I applied to be involved for 2018/19 and was delighted to find out some weeks ago that I was going to be taking part, and also that Dan Raven Ellison, who applied independently, was also going to be going along.



We were made very welcome and introduced to the scheme, and given new jackets and boots and various other things. We found out more about OS Maps, and the whole #GetOutside campaign.
We heard from previous and ongoing Champions, and also met Ben Fogle and Kenton Cool, who talked about their plans to climb Everest. Not something that most people can manage, and therefore my work will be far more down to earth, and even below sea level... with an educational emphasis.
We had a photo call: group and individual, and enjoyed some excellent food. In the afternoon, we were set a challenge, and I enjoyed working with the folks on my table: we were placed on a table for the day with other Champions, and some of the other partners involved.

We had a challenger treasure hunt to take part in, and we managed to cover the longest distance by running relays back and forwards for part of the time. Thanks to my team, who are pictured below, and there are also links to their twitter feeds for you to follow.

"It's like an episode of The Apprentice, except everyone's nice" @OrdnanceSurvey #GetOutside Champion @PhillyByrde on the Great Champs Digital Scavenger Hunt 👌

Photo: @EatSleepCycle. Also featuring @jenandsim @GeoBlogs @sianannalewis and me 😎 #OSGO2018 #GetOutside pic.twitter.com/6I7QYgd6yV

— Belinda Dixon (@BelDixon) January 25, 2018

I'm looking forward to working over the coming year to encourage everyone to spend more time outside during 2018. It's certainly galvanised my own plans for getting outside more. In fact, when I finish this post I'm off out to the local common to get some pictures...

Dan's visit on the King's Ely Facebook page

1000th post

Hi to anyone reading this...
I started this blog over four years ago, back in June 2013, when I had it confirmed that I would be returning to the classroom after a five year break working for the Geographical Association, Open University, and as a 'geographer for hire' across Europe.
The first substantive post shared all the resources and thinking behind the lesson I taught for my interview, on Wind Energy and landscape change

This is the 1000th post on the blog.

Use the search box to find ideas from my teaching over the last 4 and a bit years... There are resources and ideas here which are different to those over on my other blogs, such as LivingGeography, OCR B Geography etc. but with some cross-posting...

Explorer Visit: Daniel Raven Ellison

On Friday, we were delighted to welcome Daniel Raven Ellison: a National Geographic Explorer to King's.
He came and spent the day with the geography department, and talked about his work on a number of projects. Much of Dan's work takes place in urban spaces, and explores how we can change them to improve them for people. He has a philosophy of "purposeful exploration" and his message was that we are all explorers from the moment we are born, and we don't need to go to exotic far away places to start exploring.
Dan introduced Year 7 and 8 students to projects including Route 125, where he completed 125 adventures with his son,  and his walk across all the UK's cities and national parks wearing a headset which captured his emotions. He spoke about crossing the world's largest cities, taking a picture every 8 paces.
For Year 10 and 12, he focussed on a project he has spearheaded for the last 4 years, aimed at making London a National Park City. He has the support of the Mayor of London, and is close to getting enough political support for this to happen in 2019. Dan outlined how this plan would improve the health of London's population and help with the theme of sustainability. He shared outcomes from work with universities and architects to rethink the city, which he has explored in a giant 600km spiral walk.
Dan has previously worked with Mr. Parkinson to co-write a series of children's books, and an iPhone app called Mission:Explore, and they have presented together at venues as diverse as the Glastonbury Festival and Microsoft HQ.

Dan's philosophy can also be seen on the Geography department's webpage, where there is a quote from him.

“Exploration is the physical manifestation of Geography. Under the inspirational guidance of their teachers, King’s Ely geographers not only learn about the world, but how to become explorers of, and place-makers in it.”

Daniel Raven-Ellison, National Geographic Explorer

Dan Raven Ellison, and KEJ Head of Geography, Alan Parkinson

Thanks so much for having me in. So many enthusiastic geographers with great questions and ideas. Brilliant to see. #NextGenerationOfExplorers

— Daniel Raven-Ellison (@DanRavenEllison) January 19, 2018

Hornsea Drone Footage

From the Internet Geography channel, comes the latest in a series of very useful videos for exploring coastal processes.

Pole to Pole - the great Antarctic Melt

An excellent picture essay in TIME magazine.

Worth a read please if you are preparing for your Year 8 exams.

Some stunning images here.

Picture Credits:
Paolo Pellegrin is photographer represented by Magnum Photos.

Ordnance Survey #GetOutside Champion 2018/19

I'm finally able to announce something which I've had to keep to myself for the last 7 weeks or so...
Back in October 2017, I put in a speculative application to join an illustrious group of people who are selected each year to work with the wonderful folks at the Ordnance Survey to encourage people to #GetOutside and enjoy exploring the amazing variety of countryside that we have in our country (possibly guided with a classic Ordnance Survey map in paper or digital form).
In early December, I received the following e-mail:

There were almost 500 applications last year apparently, and the final list for 2017 included a fair few adventurers, explorers and people who spend their lives in the outdoors, and many of whom are known to millions through their media work. This included Ben Fogle, Sean Conway, Kenton Cool,  Jason Rawles (founder of the Adventurers' Club), and the amazing Sarah Outen.
There were also people who share particular aspects of working outside, or who blog about the outdoors and spend a lot of their time outside, including the Meek Family who were big fans of our Mission:Explore book. There were also people who loved walking, climbing, swimming and other activities, and wanted to share their love of them.
I thought that with my teaching role, my Mission:Explore role, my involvement in fieldwork (I co-wrote a book on it you know) and local place and landscape investigations that I might have something to offer.

This coming year is therefore going to see me getting outside even more than usual, and encouraging everyone to take part in outdoor activities (including pupil at my school, and other schools that I visit), some of which I already have ideas for and others which will no doubt emerge as the year develops, perhaps in collaboration with other Champions. I've enjoyed reading the blogs and tweets from last year's Champions, particularly as they have been reflecting this month on the year just gone and what they have gained from it.

I've been thinking of a few things that I want to achieve during the year, and will be telling you more about those over the next 12 months here on LivingGeography.
I'm looking forward to an event next week when I'll be meeting up with the other champions and finding out a lot more about what we are going to be doing.
I know already that a very good friend of mine is also going to be involved - he'll tell you about his involvement himself.

Here's one of last year's Champions' next venture for example - though I don't suppose I'll go quite that far...

Looking up. In just a few months I will be attempting to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. A slightly terrifying prospect for someone afraid of heights. The hard work towards the 8848m summit has already begun..... pic.twitter.com/dQhWFKOLnK

— Ben Fogle (@Benfogle) January 2, 2018

The Ice Man inspiration

One of my proudest moments was the visit to International School of Toulouse for Practical Pedagogies 2016, and seeing this excellent display.
It was located immediately outside the staff room, and featured student responses to my Ice Man book, published some years ago by Collins. Russel Tarr and Matt Podbury had led the work.
It featured a large version of Otzi buried in the ice, and copies of the task sheets and student work too, all around it... The actual task can be found here on GeographyPods.

"Sir, did you hear about Ben Saunders!"

During the last term, we spent some time following Ben Saunders on his attempt to cross Antarctica solo, and one of the first things that many students said to me on the first day back was whether I'd heard about his decision to stop at the South Pole, which I had... A lot of interest generated.
Check Ben's website for more. 
We're hoping to get down to the RGS to hear his Monday night lecture at the RGS-IBG later in the year.
He's also been on Desert Island Discs

Picture from Ben's Instagram page.

Before the Flood

Start from 12 minutes into the film, where Leonardo describes the impacts of Climate Change and then heads for the Arctic...

Arctic Changes

Use the Discovering the Arctic website and Firefly...

We used the LIVING ON THE EDGE section to explore the area around Qaanaaq in Greenland, and changes.

Arctic Sea Ice Animation

Watch how much the perennial sea ice shrinks during the period shown on the animation.

Game of Thrones locations in Northern Ireland