Let's go bananas....

Big Mac Miles

To go with the story from yesterday on the 8000 miles travelled by the ingredients.

From CDA Group Ltd

Field to Frier

An excellent and useful video made by Isle of Ely produce, close to where I teach...
It explores the stages in the production of potatoes, which are then sent up to Scotland to be turned into chips...
Involves the weather, the soil, traceability, transport and logistics, and various processes.


Field to Frier from Beard Askew Productions on Vimeo.

The journey of a berry....

The first of a few videos on Food Miles that we use when exploring whether far is really bad...

Primark Suppliers Map

All ready for the start of our Year 8 unit on the Story of our Stuff...

Primark are a company that has some criticism in the past over their supply chain. Now they are trying to position themselves as a more ethical company, and provide more information about the factories where their products are made.

There is an improved focus on transparency in the supply chain, and this includes the production of a map (a tool that other suppliers have also done quite effectively).
The map now has a link through to suppliers.

Arctic vs Antarctica

The Arctic

Just too late for our teaching this time round, but saved here for next time round.
A nice introductory video for an Arctic project from the Wicked Weather Watch website.
With thanks to Emma Espley for the tipoff.

Teachmeet at the GA Conference

The sign-up page is now up on Eventbrite for the Teachmeet which will be held at the GA Conference in Sheffield in April.

I'll see you there... and at the Beermeet afterwards...

The biggest geography themed TeachMeet of the year.

The TeachMeet will take place at Shefield Hallam University on the 6th April 2018. 

The TM will start with introductions at 18.50 with sessions commencing at 19.00 and finishing at 20.00. Drinks and snacks will be available.

Ethnographic Fieldwork

Some ideas when exploring cities or new places from examiner David Holmes. Produced to accompany an article in GeographyReview journal.


and here's one on Sampling strategies

Volcanic hazards

Mayon continues to erupt... does this man let that stop him tending his land?

This man in Philippines is not letting the erupting Mayon volcano stop him from taking care of his farm. pic.twitter.com/5ImunLFGU6

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 4, 2018

Vocal Recall App

For those users, like ourselves, check out the news here, and look out for Class QR.
Also request some duplicate codes if ordered through Amazon.

I'm so sorry :(, I'm currently in shock. Please see the picture for details of what is currently happening with Vocal Recall pic.twitter.com/L3f8C98VMx

— Vocal Recall (@vocalrecallapp) February 3, 2018

Dollar Street - the TED talk

We've been using Dollar Street with Year 7 and Year 8 groups to explore the inequalities in access to food and other items in homes with differing levels of income.
The students have been fascinated by the images that Dollar Street offers, and we have been asking them to explore the 'stuff' that is owned by the families and whether there are thresholds to owning an object such as a washing machine (see the Hans Rosling video on this topic to see how important it is)




I've put together a resource for Geography teachers (and others) on how to use Dollar Street in the classroom.
It's not finished yet, but is a collaborative Google Drive document which will hopefully grow...
You're very welcome to add your own ideas to this document...
It's embedded below for your interest...



Following on from that, Anna from Gapminder gave a TED Talk a while ago, and that is now available to view.

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...