Antarctic Tourism

 

This is part of the resource that is being created and shared by Shackleton clothing during a week of talks and sessions as part of Antarctica Now.

A useful article on the fragile nature of Antarctica, in a year when tourism has been halted, and the continent is broadly being 'left alone'.

Valentine's Roses

This week, Year 8 will be exploring the story of a Valentine's Rose, and the social, economic and environmental costs of its production. There will be many more flowers being produced and grown specifically to come to the peak of their condition in the week running up to the 14th of February, which this year falls on a Sunday. Normally at this time of year, Rose sales rise to their highest levels in the run up to the 14th of February because of the links between roses and romance.

I wonder what impacts the COVID-19 pandemic and the Brexit delays on imports of fresh goods, which would also include flowers might have on this year's trade?

We will be using a version of the resources written by Louise Ellis in her book written for the GA's KS3 Toolkit series, which can be purchased at a 15% discount currently from the GA Shop.

Stuff

Y8 - we are onto one of my favourite topics: the Geography of our Stuff...

Each item has a story.

Find an item and tell its story.

A new review of 'Why Study Geography?'

 

Thanks to Debbie Steel and 'Career Matters' magazine for this excellent review of 'Why Study Geography?' This is targeted at supporting one of the groups of people who we feel the book will be particularly helpful for.

Very happy with this.

"Alan Parkinson's enthusiasm for geography is infectious. If you read this book as a parent or guidance professional and you didn't study geography, you'll probably wish you had".

Addresses

I like the introduction to this very brief Ted Talk by Derek Sivers.... 

'Race' to the Pole...

A useful additional video.

If you want to know more Year 8, watch this...

Home Learning Pack

 A reminder of our home learning pack.

Home Learning Pack by Alan Parkinson

ArcGIS Atlas Collection - great for home learning

Need an Atlas but not got one in the house?

Check out the digital atlases.

Shared by the ESRI UK Education Team.

A new collection of digital atlases for use in lockdown learning.

Access them all here.

Don't forget that the GA also has its Geography From Home section ready to help as many return to remote teaching for a few weeks at least.

Getting ready for remote teaching again...

We hope all King's Ely Geographers had a great Christmas and a good start to the New Year: 2021. 

We will be teaching remotely in KS3 for the next couple of weeks at least it seems.

Teachers will be in touch with regards to work, which will be set via Firefly and/or OneNote. 

There will be live lessons and/or pre-recorded Loom/PPT with voiceover videos with tasks, depending on the group and teacher and timing. Invitations to live lessons will come via TEAMS and your Outlook school e-mail address. Remember that you have access to all the relevant software via your school account, and most of you will have this already set up from last academic year.

Check the Geography department's home page on Firefly where you will find the work for Year 7 and 8 in particular. Click the Lent Term 2021 button to go to the page with the work.

We look forward to seeing you again in person when the levels of infection and pressure on the NHS reduce a little from the current rates. In the meantime, stay safe.

We will also be tweeting ideas to help you on our Twitter feed @KingsElyGeog

Also remember that we have our Lockdown Learning sheet of ideas if you fancy doing something away from the screen. We sent this out in March 2020, but it's equally relevant now if you want to do something to take you out into the fresh air, and take your mind off the situation.

Offline Activities by GeoBlogs on Scribd

Lawrence's flag down South

Our King's Ely flag has made it to South Georgia and may well head further South. Well done to all those who sent in a flag design for this competition.

King's Ely Junior pupil, Lawrence Boness, is a winner in the

UK Polar Network

Antarctica Flag Design Competition!

Schoolchildren from across the globe were invited to design flags as part of the annual Antarctica Day celebrations, which mark the fact the Antarctica Treaty was signed on December 1st, 1959.

Mr Parkinson, Head of Geography at King's Ely Junior, encouraged pupils to enter the competition and Lawrence's design, pictured here at Hope Point on the island of South Georgia, was chosen as a winner.

A spokesperson for the competition said: "The aim of this initiative is to inspire new generations about the Antarctic and Antarctica Day. The idea is that following a lesson(s) on Antarctica, students design a flag for the Antarctic – as it does not have its own – based on what they have learnt."

Well done Lawrence - how fantastic to see your design here at Hope Point!

South Pole Marker

The location of the South Pole is marked by an official marker which stays in place for a year. During that time, the ice on which the marker is placed moves around 10metres as the ice it sits on moves.

2021 South Pole marker details: top hemisphere is aluminum for 6 months of night/twilight, with selected Southern Hemisphere constellations; the bottom, brass for 6 months of day. The rising/setting Sun of the Equinox is inspired by compass rose of 2020 marker; pic @SPTelescope pic.twitter.com/6InGuT9QbD

— The Antarctic Report (@AntarcticReport) January 2, 2021

OneSoil

One for those teaching about food and farming.

An AI generated map of crops being grown in the USA and Europe.

The tragedy of the loss of Erasmus

As a geographer, it's clear that I would only ever see leaving the EU as a terrible decision. 

No country prospers without connections with others in the modern day. Great Britain may have prospered in the past by stealing the resources of other countries and colonising them, but that's no longer an option that sits well with the international community. Interdependence trumps independence.

One of the real tragedies of the proposed deal (which has not been accepted yet by the UK Parliament) is the loss of the ERASMUS scheme. The school where I teach has had significant involvement in ERASMUS, with seven projects, including three I have been personally involved in co-ordinating on behalf of the school. These have involved hundreds of students in visiting a range of countries including Spain, Sweden and Reunion Island (France), and connections being made with academics and colleagues in other schools and universities in a range of European countries.

Prior to that, I also took part in a great many ERASMUS funded projects which took me all over Europe and connected me with hundreds of inspirational colleagues: students, teachers and academic geographers. I was able to work numerous times at Salzburg University, learn from Finnish colleagues about their work in the outdoors, discuss curriculum development with Turkish colleagues in the heat of the Alentejo and walk on an ice-bound lake on the Slovenian border. 

My colleague Esmeralda Salgado (MFL colleagues should follow her on Twitter here) has shared her own ideas of why ERASMUS needs to be retained. A petition has also been set up and is waiting for approval before being available for signing - hopefully before the end of the year.

Read Esmeralda's blog post on the loss of ERASMUS here.

Here's Julian Baggini on his own experiences of ERASMUS.

Thanks to Covid, the neighbours haven’t been round for Christmas this year, and thanks to Brexit, in future we’ll be spending less quality time with our European neighbours too. The walls are going up again and no amount of trade windows can compensate for that.

From what I've seen, the proposed Turing Scheme replacement will not be a replacement. It doesn't include the same features as the original in any way, or focus on all the Key Actions that ERASMUS does, or require reciprocal travel, or target the same people...

I will enjoy the remaining years which are left on the ERASMUS projects we are currently completing - albeit virtually - and fingers crossed for our final application on a project which developed from the Covid-19 pandemic and responses to it. I also hope to continue to be involved, as an external consultant, on future projects, and perhaps there will be some opportunities to be involved on behalf of other European countries.

There will be other unintended negative consequences doubtless. (When you read (and I checked) that the partly cut and pasted Brexit UK-EU deal references Netscape Communicator 4.0 as a suitable web application. It was discontinued in 2006.

 Here's another:

Thanks to #Brexit, the Falklands now faces a 6-18% tariff on EU-bound exports:
—‘The situation for the Falkland Islands is crucial since fisheries contribute some 90% of exports sent to the EU, 40% of GDP and some 60% of the treasury's revenue.’ https://t.co/3CJv8WneL2 https://t.co/uhxG3umLQZ

— Alasdair Pinkerton (@AlPinkerton) December 28, 2020

Here's Professor Alison Phipps from the University of Glasgow:

"Erasmus: the life-mind-heart expanding glorious adventure into freedom, responsibility and myriad ways of knowing and speaking the world. Wanton theft of this peacemongering freedom isn’t so much a deal as a cultural mugging of young people. Cruelty is the point again.” 

Flood warnings on the Ouse Washes

 

View more gauges on Gaugemap.

Merry Christmas and thanks for reading...

Taking the traditional Christmas blogging break.

I shall be back early in 2021. This will involve me in developing some remote learning options for a short while at least, because of the requirement to introduce testing into schools - I shall refrain from commenting on that...

Wishing everyone who has read this blog during 2020 a peaceful break, and a slightly improved 2021 over the ups and downs of the one that is ending...

Image: Ronald Lampitt