Thursday, 3 November 2022

NEOM

NEOM is a remarkable concept and project which realistically has very little chance of coming to fruition because of the sheer scale of its conception and the cost of building materials and the actual reality of the location where it is.

The website is full of promise.


It promises:


No roads, cars or emissions, it will run on 100% renewable energy and 95% of land will be preserved for nature. People's health and wellbeing will be prioritized over transportation and infrastructure, unlike traditional cities. Only 200 meters wide, but 170 kilometers long and 500 meters above sea level.

The Line will eventually accommodate 9 million people and will be built on a footprint of just 34 square kilometers. This will mean a reduced infrastructure footprint, creating never-before-seen efficiencies in city functions. The ideal climate all-year-round will ensure that residents can enjoy the surrounding nature. Residents will also have access to all facilities within a five-minute walk, in addition to high-speed rail – with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes.



Here is another view:


Will be fascinating to watch what happens next...

Mr. P's been to Iceland

The Geography Deapartment have been on their travels this half term...

Mrs. M and Miss. S headed South

Mr. P headed North... to Iceland (not the freezer store) - here are a few geographical highlights.

Temporary placemaking

It has been interesting to see the adaptations to parts of Ely, which are preparing for being used as a location for filming for a new film called 'Maestro', on the life of Leonard Bernstein. An example of temporary place making for geographers...

Image: Sally Parkinson



COP27 Postcards are on their way...

 A few hundred postcards from King's Ely Junior are amongst them...

A dry year

We had wet break on Thursday on the week before half term.... this is becoming a rarity now...

Thursday, 20 October 2022

GI Pedagogy - come and hear about it

Come along to an ERASMUS+ event at my school: King's Ely, funded by the British Council.



This is a multiplier event for the GI Pedagogy project.

The GI Pedagogy project has involved exploring the pedagogy that might be applied when using GIS to support teaching, using Rosenshines Principles and a stepped model that we have developed, along with a literature review.

We have put together an online course which we'd also like to introduce you to during the afternoon session.
We'll give you a light lunch and refreshments.


If you can't make it in person, but would like to join online, let me know and we'll see what can be organised for you. Eventbrite doesn't seem to want me to add a hybrid event.

Thursday, 13 October 2022

Polar Flag design competition

The UK Polar Network has an annual competition for school students to design a flag for Antarctica.

This is running again this year, and you have just over a week to register your interest in being involved.

I've done this for the last few years and students love to receive their images of their flags down in Antarctica.

Here's a round up of last year's event.


Google Form to sign up is here - you have until the 24th of October.

Check out the UK Polar Networks resources here too.

Eastenders Credit sequence

We sent off our postcards to COP27 as part of Oxfam GB's Climate Justice campaign.

More on this in a separate post.

I was alerted to the fact that the end credits of Eastenders on Wednesday this week were subtly (ish) changed to act as a trailer for Frozen Planet II.

You can see the video of the credits here.


The new end credits saw London’s East End transformed to show the river Thames bursting its banks with parts of the capital under water in a hypothetical scenario of what London could look like in the future.

It then zoomed out to capture a satellite image of the Arctic and point to the last episode of Sir David Attenborough’s series, underlining the message that the challenge of melting ice in this frozen region could one day affect us all close to home.

Sunday, 18 September 2022

GeographySW - Primary newsbites newsletter now available

I've teamed up with Simon and John from the GA Award-winning Geography SouthWest to produce some support for Primary geographers. 

I'll be working with Emma Espley to produce a monthly Primary newsletter and blog, and you can access it easily by visiting the website and clicking the Primary tab.

The September 2022 issue is here now, and we are already working on the October 2022 issue.


Feedback and suggestions for future issues welcome.


Update
October issue now also available.

South America

The first Year 6 topic is South America.

Here's a useful question to ask them, as featured on The Chase.

Saturday, 17 September 2022

Gapminder - new upgrader quizzes

 A new set of Gapminder quizzes.

Saturday, 10 September 2022

The National Windrush Monument

This was unveiled in June at Waterloo Station.

We will be exploring more about Windrush with Year 7 after half term.

We have just had delivery of extra copies of 'Windrush Child' for the new Year 7 cohort.

Image: Sally Parkinson

Year 8: Gapminder Misconception Test - why do people generally score poorly...

 Here's Ola Rosling explaining why...


For Year 8 homework help.

Frozen Planet II

Perfect to accompany our Antarctica unit in Year 8.

A second series of the BBC's Frozen Planet will start on Sunday on BBC1 at 8pm, narrated as always by David Attenborough (subject to schedule change)

It is 11 years since the first series, although I thought it might have been longer. 

Our frozen planet has become a thawing planet in those 11 years, with worrying changes to the landscape, ice masses and sea ice coverage during that time.

This is the fastest changing region of the Earth as a result of climate change, even through around one fifth of the planet is covered in snow or ice.

The first episode opens in Antarctica.

We are likely to see South Georgia at some point I am sure.

The Education Pack that Mr. P wrote for the South Georgia Heritage Trust with Val Vannet is available to view from the link here.

As always with these series, there will be a free poster to order produced in association with the Open University, and experts such as Professor Mark Brandon have been involved in developing the series.

Here's the trailer:

Monday, 5 September 2022

Year #10

It seems like no time at all, but I'm about to start the 10th year at King's and therefore the 10th year of this blog.

Thanks to all those who have followed and reading it.