Wednesday, 12 December 2018

Ice Flows Game - teacher pack now available

A good day today, as we finally launch a resource that has been in the pipeline for over a year, and has been tweaked and improved over the last year or so. I've blogged about it here before.

Here's some text from the official press-release.

The Ice Flows teacher resources pack provides a range of resources and suggested lesson plans built around playing Ice Flows game.   The learning outcomes relate to an understanding of the interactions between ice sheets and climate, and the resulting impact of changes in ice sheets on global sea level.  The resources include explainer videos, some skeleton PowerPoints to use as a basis for lessons, plus added extras such as a Spotify playlist.

The resources are aimed at pupils in KS3 in UK Schools, but the main resources are generic enough to be used with any curriculum or age. We also provide information on how the game could be used in line with the UK curriculum for older pupils.

The resources were created in partnership with the Geographical Association, written by Alan Parkinson, Consultant to the Geographical Association, and Anne Le Brocq, Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter.  The game “Ice Flows” was developed by Dr. Anne Le Brocq at the University of Exeter in collaboration with Inhouse Visuals and Questionable Quality.  Funding was provided by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through a research grant led by the British Antarctic Survey.

The 2nd version of the website has also been launched, and we've also added a series of instructional videos which help relate the game to the science that underpins it. If you haven't seen it before (or even if you have) head over to the Ice Flows Game website to take a look.







A new page has now been added to the website.
This includes the link for you to be able to download the teaching pack and associated resources.




Any feedback welcome.
Thanks to students from King's Ely Junior who have helped with their feedback when playing the game, and using some of the earlier versions of the resources.

Thanks also to those teachers who came along to the workshop that Anne and I ran at the GA Conference in April 2018

Monday, 10 December 2018

Shush... it's the SDGs...

Today, we have a sponsored silent lesson.

Here is the video I will showed, minus the sound of course...



Here's the PPT that I put together to run the lesson by and point to.

I had cube nets printed on thin card, and

Tuesday, 27 November 2018

Hans Rosling... something to aim for in terms of style

Here's a Hans presentation.... We are aiming for something simpler, but communicating one piece of good news from the Factfulness book

How many are rich and how many are poor? from Gapminder on Vimeo.

Friday, 23 November 2018

GA Cambridge Branch CPD - a date for your diaries for January

This will hopefully be of interest to those who can get to Cambridge fairly easily.

Curriculum making: new tools and serendipity
Alan Parkinson


A practical CPD session for teachers which will introduce a number of new resources made with the British Red Cross, Gapminder Foundation and others, along with the work of the GeoCapabilities project, which outlines the teachers' role of 'curriculum making' and the use of curriculum artefacts.
Alan will demonstrate a number of websites and apps which he has been using in his teaching and which may increase the depth of investment that students have in geographical topics, and describe how serendipity plays a major part in his work.

The session will take place on Wednesday 23rd January (5.00 pm - 6.00 pm) at Netherhall School, Cambridge, CB1 8NN (map)

Please use the link here to sign up.
The session is free to Branch members.
You can join the Branch for £1 on the day.

Wednesday, 21 November 2018

Ice Flows Game - version 2

It's been a while since I saw the first iteration of Ice Flows.
The 2nd version of the website has now been launched, and we've also launched a series of instructional videos which help relate the game to the science that underpins it. If you haven't seen it before (or even if you have) head over to the Ice Flows Game website to take a look.
Coming soon: the official launch of the Ice Flows Game Resource Pack (all 70 lovely pages of it...)

Tuesday, 20 November 2018

Tuesday, 13 November 2018

A definition of landscape...

And a very good one at that...

Saturday, 10 November 2018

Armistice Map


To see the map in full, go to the link here. Click CONTENT in the right hand toolbar, and then click the table image just below where it says RELATIVES as a layer. Finish by clicking the short arrow pointing left (near the word LEGEND) to close the sidebar
and you can select a person by clicking a poppy, or click the name on the spreadsheet that appears at the bottom of the page.

We will remember them....



Thanks to the grounds team for their work on this display in Barton Square...
And thanks to all involved in yesterday's Act of Remembrance in the Cathedral.

Friday, 9 November 2018

Iceland Ad - banned from TV...

Interesting tweet this morning...
Advertising wasteful commercialism is fine, but alerting people to the environmental impact of their consumer choices isn't. This Guardian piece explores the reasons why it deserves to be shown, and why we need to stop using palm oil.
Take a look

Thursday, 8 November 2018

Adventure Landscapes

Wild Scotland from John Duncan on Vimeo.

Shown this morning - what landscapes can you see?
How has the filming portrayed the Scottish landscape? Is it always like this?