British Empire Medal for Mark Beaumont...

We followed Mark Beaumont's 2nd world-record breaking cycle around the world at the start of the Michaelmas term, and it was great to see that he was awarded in the New Year's Honours List.


Source: BBC News

Advice as we move into Mocks and then Exam season

I'm very fortunate to have worked with lots of excellent geographers over the years, and currently working on a project with Dr. Peter Knight from Keele University, who is an expert on glaciers.
Here's a reminder of why knowing stuff matters...

Even if an exam is not a test of your knowledge but of what you can do with it, you can't do much if you don't know anything. Start your revision by making sure you know some stuff. Then move on and start seeing what interesting questions you can answer with it. #revision

— PeterKnightGeography (@PKGeog) December 30, 2017

How is the Arctic defined?

How is the Arctic Defined by GeoBlogs on Scribd

See some of you in Birmingham in June 2018

For the last couple of years, there has been a teacher-led CPD event called Teachmeet HistoryIcons. It was developed by a group of history teachers, and runs very successfully with some sponsorship and support from companies and individuals, which mean the event is free to delegates. The next event is taking place in March 2018.

A group of geography teachers has been working on developing a Geography-related event which, with the backing of our History colleagues has now been organised by a rather fine group of  teachers, with a similar logo, and which will be hosted by the lovely folks at the University of Birmingham.
It will take place in June 2018.

You can sign up to join the Waiting List for a ticket from the Eventbrite page.
Tickets are FREE, but SOLD OUT.

The event has a keynote from a teacher and an academic, although Teachmeets don't traditionally have a keynote, this one does... and for some reason the very lovely and generous Mrs. Humanities, who is on the organising team, asked me to do the teacher highlight talk, and I was delighted to say yes.... There have been some very kind comments on Twitter as a result of this news going out yesterday...






To follow the developments as the event gets closer, particularly any possibility of further tickets, you'd be best to follow @TMGeogIcons on Twitter.
And of course you can follow me. There has been a flurry of new followers over the last 24 hours.

I look forward to seeing some of you in June. I'm starting to think about how I can make my talk memorable, useful and profoundly geographical... I've got a few ideas...

Infographics CPD sssion...

This year, staff have been given a large booklet of training courses which are a mix of external and internally offered courses, from which teachers have to choose four during the year.
I've been asked to run some of these courses, and did the first one earlier today. I asked earlier in the month for any comments, and am grateful to a few colleagues who responded.
The session was on how to create an infographic using Piktochart.

Here's the presentation that I used...

Infographics CPD Session from GeoBlogs

I started the session with a bag of Skittles tipped out onto the desk - I've also used mini-boxes of Smarties for this too.
Each sweet was a data point, and had some attributes: colour, flavour etc.
These could be used to group the data, produce graphs, look at distribution etc.
With locational attributes known, they could be plotted onto maps or GIS and the patterns analysed, and reasons for these patterns explored.
The purpose of an infographic is to 'tell the story' of data in a visual way.
We talked about the growing use of infographics on TV news, and in newspapers.

To reinforce this, I have a copy of the book below: 'Dear Data', which tells the story of a year-long correspondence between two friends, with 52 projects exploring personal data. I showed some of the methods that they used to illustrate particular data, such as how often they picked up their mobile phone and why....



There was also a hand-out, which has some basic details on how to set up Piktochart and make a start on using it.
The whole session lasted around an hour.
Thanks to the colleagues who came along...

What is an infographic v2 from GeoBlogs

Changes in the Arctic

A New York Times article which has a relevance for the work I am doing on Polar regions at the moment, but also a tremendous resonance about the connection between people and ice.
I will be adding this to some articles from the 'Earth' magazine, which explore the changing lives of Inuit hunters, and the changing landscapes they now need to navigate.

“Inuit are people of the sea ice. If there is no more sea ice, how can we be people of the sea ice?”

Expedition Volcano - one to watch...

Check out BBC2 at 9 o' clock tonight (after Blue Planet II has finished) for the first episode in a series based around the Nyiragongo volcano 

Details from BBC iPlayer website

In the heart of Africa, deep in the Congo, is one of the most spectacular volcanoes on Earth - Nyiragongo. This spectacular volcano contains a massive boiling cauldron of molten rock - the world's largest continually active lava lake. But it is also one of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet. It has erupted twice in the last 50 years, most recently in 2002, wreaking havoc and destruction on the people who live in the nearby city of Goma. This region is also dangerous for another reason - it has been racked by war and humanitarian crises for most of the last 30 years, so Nyiragongo is one of the least studied active volcanoes on Earth.

But now, an international and local team of scientists are mounting a major expedition to study the volcano. They are attempting to discover the warning signs that it is building towards a new eruption, so they can alert the people of Goma before it erupts again. The team will take around four tonnes of climbing equipment, scientific instruments and supplies up to the crater rim. Then a small team will descend into the crater itself - 350m down a potentially deadly rockface - to spend a week camping right next to the lava lake. The expedition is led by Belgian scientist Dr Benoit Smets, who is an expert on Nyiragongo. He is joined by British geologist Prof Chris Jackson. Together, they work with the rest of the team using gas-sampling equipment, thermal cameras and sound waves to try and predict when the volcano will next erupt.

But there is another side to this volcano. As well as the threat of eruption, it impacts life in Goma and the surrounding area in many surprising ways. Humanitarian doctor Xand van Tulleken investigates how Nyiragongo has transformed people's lives by looking at the hidden dangers - from deadly disease to suffocating gases. In charge of expedition logistics is former Royal Marine Aldo Kane. It is his job to get everyone in and out of the crater safely. But during the expedition, he will also risk his life to get the team as near to the lava lake as possible.

Geology of the UK

Using this today with Year 7

The Lives Behind the Label

A new 'Follow the Things' style resource exploring the Lives Behind the Label.
It's been put together by the New Internationalist.

It's an interactive resource which will go well into our Geography of my Stuff unit for Year 8.
Meet the people behind the high street: garment workers of Bangladesh.

There are 6 garments that you can click on, each of which gives you access to a story (the total time for these is around 20 minutes so that would work well with a lesson for a self-guided lesson.
There are some interesting stories here, particularly the film on Sharif, who belongs to the hijra: the third gender community who have particular issues to deal with.
There is also a photo gallery of garment workers, which shows their different personalities. It was developed along with the Awaj Foundation in Bangladesh.

Thanks to Stephen Schwab for the early heads-up on this resource.

Nice work by Paul Myles and Davide Morandini

Mend the Mountains

 
A new campaign by the BMC targets our mountains, and is trying to raise one million to improve the nation's mountains. There's a useful video here showing the background to the campaign.

Who controls Antarctica?

Antarctic claims StoryMap

Union Glacier - the first plane arrives

The first Ilysuhin plane has now landed at union Glacier camp...

First #Ilyushin76 of the season has landed on #UnionGlacier, #Antarctica! Photo by @suefloodphotos pic.twitter.com/IRcSp2qLs4

— Antarctic Logistics (@Antarctic_ALE) November 4, 2017

Where does the Queen shop?

When we do our work on the Geography of Food, we explore where our food comes from.
This Telegraph article outlines the companies that hold Royal warrants for supplying the Queen with her food.
I used to live on the edge of the Sandringham estate for 12 years, and used to patch a butcher in Dersingham that had the Royal Warrant attached to the building. He provides the Royals with their meat, and sells meat from animals reared on and near the estate.

It has a link to the ESRI UK map that shows the location of these companies.

Mark Beaumont Podcast - Around the World in 78 Days

One for Year 7 to listen to. Hear about the journey in Mark's own words