Factfulness - what's happening to the world's population

The rapid growth of the world population, when will it slow down? from Gapminder on Vimeo.

Factfulness - what do the bubbles mean?

How to use Gapminder Bubbles from Gapminder on Vimeo.

Hans Rosling

We've been introducing Year 8 to the work of Hans this week.

Here's what he had to say, back in 2014...

For the first time in human history reliable statistics exist. There’s data for almost every aspect of global development. The data shows a very different picture: a world where most things improve; a world that is not divided. People across cultures and religions make decisions based on universal human needs, which are easy to understand. The fast population growth will soon be over. The total number of children in the world has stopped growing. The remaining population growth is an inevitable consequence of large generations born decades back. We live in a globalized world, not only in terms of trade and migration. More people than ever care about global development! The world has never been less bad. Which doesn’t mean it’s perfect. The world is far from perfect.

The True Size

Started teaching my Factfulness unit for a second time.

Going to use this to explore whether what we 'know' about countries is always correct.

Fearghal is cool...

We've been using some materials from the Water Diaries this last half term, particularly the expedition planning scheme that was written to accompany the RGS Land Rover Bursary funded project.



This Red Bull site shows some of Fearghal's travels which have been run alongside his teaching career apparently earning him the description in the title of the blog post.

Take a look and see what you think.

What3Words are coming to King's Ely after the half term break...

We are going to be signing up the school after half term with new signs.
They have been provided by What 3 Words, who have addressed the whole world into 3 metre squares.
We've had N2 signed up since February.
This is particuarly useful for such things as drones, and the emergency services.

The signs have appeared in school during half term, and will be placed in important locations around the school before being properly unveiled in a few weeks' time.

Superpowers and the Arctic - further planning

New Statesman article.
Makes good reading for our unit on Superpowers in the next half term.

Volcanic Hazards

Used these films this week.

Volcanic Hazards

We will use films from the Volfilm selection: https://vimeo.com/volfilm

For each hazard:

a)     What is it?

b)    What are the effects?

c)     How can the effects be reduced?

Explosive eruptions: https://vimeo.com/248150325

Lava: https://vimeo.com/248150337

Ashfall: https://vimeo.com/258987023

Pyroclastic Flows: https://vimeo.com/208040046

Lahars: https://vimeo.com/258992598

Gas: https://vimeo.com/248150333

Type of hazard & definition	Effect of hazard	Ways of reducing hazard

 Sheet to enter details while watching films.

Superpowers and Conflict - some planning

After half term, we are going to be exploring a new unit on Conflict connecting with the idea of Superpowers.

This is a development of our existing unit, but with a new focus and some new resources.
I've mined a few bits from Google Drive, TeachitGeography and some earlier work by Simon Oakes.

This weekend, the Guardian published a piece by Simon Tisdall on the possible new superpowers of the next part of the 21st Century.
This is a timely piece for us.

We also have a class set of the new illustrated version of 'Prisoners of Geography'.

We'll be exploring the Arctic and have Klaus Dodds' book, and will look at Russia's interests in this emerging resource frontier...


Will share the resources that I contribute and some outcomes in the next half term.

A few links from the 

Fair Observer - a new 'Cold War' in the Arctic?  




Is it time to draw borders on the Arctic Ocean? - an excellent Vox piece.
Russia has interests in the Arctic, and is building a fleet of icebreakers.



I've also started a new Pinterest board.

One real concern for many is that Russia is taking climate change seriously and preparing for the implications of it, spending many millions of pounds, whereas the USA has a climate denier in charge.... strategically a bad idea.

Vox - Ring of Fire video

Useful for Year 9s completing their exploration of what makes Indonesia a dangerous place to live.

Gapminder World Health Chart

Going up on my wall today...

Gapminder World Health Chart by GeoBlogs on Scribd

Print this off on 18 sheets of A4 (or A3) and then reconstruct a large wallchart version of the chart to refer to when teaching.

Thanks to Matt Podbury for the steer here.

Shared under CC license (as are all Gapminder related documents and resources)

River Glaven

Check out the River Glaven website. Gauge on the Glaven at Hunworth

Scott and Amundsen 2

Smartphones and volcanic eruptions

Scott and Amundsen

Scott and Amundsen 'raced' to the South Pole.
We explore this with Year 8
There are lots of interpretations involved in the reasons for the 'failure' of Scott compared to Amundsen.
Read widely...

A few short videos provide some context and visuals.
1



 2: TED Ed Animation
Talks about 'The Coldest March'