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Risky Business 

Micromort Animation for Year 9

Micromort Animation that I've come across while preparing some material for next week on the risks facing people in Australia....
Several tabs to click on, and then click on the left hand image and you'll be able to see the risk in micromorts (one in a million chance)

For 'getting out of bed' you also need to look at the drop down menu to see the changes for different sexes and also comparisons with the past.

Which are the most surprising 'risks' that the infographic shows up.....

Risky business...

Year 9 risk moved into new territory today as we delved into the Risk equation...

We explored how it worked with a range of risky situations, starting with the lady leaning over a cliff with the waves splashing against the base...

Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability / Coping Capacity and Resilience

Thanks to Noel Jenkins for permission to use this picture of him, taken by Laura Jenkins, which we used to explore the equation and how the risk would vary as each factor changed with time, location and context.

Image: Laura Jenkins

Finally, a reminder to King's Ely pupils that Professor David Spiegelhalter is coming in this term to do a talk....
He is involved in our earlier MICROMORT work, which Andrew remembered and used very nicely today.
Well worth going to see...

A disastrous homework...

Challenge students to identify a top 10 of films which feature disasters or other risks to the planet. For example, one of the risks that we face (a very real one) is asteroid impact.
This has the potential to wipe out the human race, but fortunately the probability is quite low...

This film is based on this risk... It's one of several in the King's Geography Department DVD library, which is quite extensive...

What other disaster movies can you think of based on other natural phenomena or human activity that pose a risk ?
Who can create the most creative movie list??

Take a risk

For use with the Risk Equation... see next post....

Put factors which would increase the risk or vulnerability above the words on the card (print them off and distribute several per person) and those which would reduce the risk by increasing the coping capacity or resilience below the words on the card...)

Feel free to come up with your own risks...

Plenty of risky stories today...

TAKE A RISK

Interesting image for the Risky World topic for Year 9

Which is the most dangerous ?

Risky Places

Earlier today, I asked my Twitter followers to tell me of the most risky place / situation they had been in. The intention was to produce a document to help frame discussions about the nature of risk, how it connects with places, and how it can be mitigated or reduced through particular actions. There's also the element of the perception of risk - sometimes we put ourselves at risk because we're not aware of how dangerous our actions are.

The stories came pouring in, and here's version 1 of the resource that I created with a starter for two of questions - there are plenty more.

Risky Places – real stories

I'll update to version 2 in a few days time to add in any extra entries. Already had 3 more awesome stories to add to the ones here, which span the globe and span time too...
Thanks so much to those who took the time to tell me a risky story. 

Risky Business

Which of these are the most risky activities ?
Cards used for card sort activity and to prompt other discussions. Further materials to come later, once the lesson has been taught for the first time and tweaked...

Risky Business by GeoBlogs

Risky World...

Look at this image from the news in the last few days...
(Can't blog as taken from newspaper...) - also check the Daily Mail coverage of the story along with over 600 comments from readers...

The lifeboat at Aberystwyth had to rescue this student from an area near the seafront. Was he right to ignore the warnings? How risky was his behaviour? Did he need to be rescued?
Other people who went out 'to take some photos' are missing, despite being given warnings...

There are some interesting questions here about the nature of risk.
We discussed the accident of Michael Schumacher and the risk of certain sports, using an article from the Guardian datablog.

Here's a picture I took three weeks ago on the Norfolk coast at Happisburgh.




It's the final house on Beach Road in Happisburgh - the cliff was in danger of collapsing, and potentially could have collapsed while I was there. Was I taking a risk?

At a time when we have our attention on risks generally, it's worth thinking about this theme.
Is the world a riskier place than it used to be ?

Here's a sheet to construct an A-Z of risk

A Risky A-Z by GeoBlogs

Dangerous mountains...

I'm planning to bring in / develop some element of mountains at KS3. There are a few options for this. I like the idea of juxtaposing extreme height, compared to a school which is only 28 miles from the lowest point in the British Isles. Holme Fen. Holme Fen is 2.75m below sea level...

Ely's highest point is about 39m above sea level, some way below the height of the mountains. We'll perhaps consider the height of the Octagon Tower / Lantern Tower of the cathedral, which is spectacular, and was built in the 1300s....

The Economist published a really useful resource which provides an image of the highest mountains and the risks involved.
It's taken from this article (which may disappear over time and not be available when you click...)

Your life in Jelly Beans

Another video which I hope to make use of in the unit with the Year 7 unit on risk and time...
It refers to the way that our life is spent... and encourages us to make the best use of it.
It's an American film, and there are references that UK students will need to replace with relevant ones...
The statistics are available to view here.



I like the final section where you are presented with a final few jelly beans. How would you spend those days ? Spend them on something that matters :)

Could be a challenge to try making something on a slightly smaller scale involving sweets...

Risky World

Year 9 will be exploring a unit called RISKY WORLD at the start of the Michaelmas term.

I asked my Twitter network earlier today to send me a risk they had taken... these could be passed to students to develop a continuum of risk and identify which risks we take on a daily basis.

Paul Turner passed me a link to a YouTube video, which I'd forgotten about, made for the Cambridge Ideas series by David Spiegelhalter, who is Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk. The video explores the uncertainties that we face in our daily lives, and how we might reconcile ourselves to some of them. It also reminds us of the useful term micromort: a 1 in a million chance of dying...


Some really interesting ideas in this short video which are worth exploring more.
As part of my preparation for teaching this unit, and also our Year 7 unit: 'Who wants to live forever', I've just ordered a new book that the good Professor co-authored called 'The Norm Chronicles'.
The website to accompany the book goes through a typical person called Norm's life experiences, and talks about risks.....