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.

Tickets to come along to Ely are free.

They can be booked on this Eventbrite link - there is space for 25 people in total in person.

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.

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.

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.

Gapminder - new upgrader quizzes

 A new set of Gapminder quizzes.

Sick and tired of prejudice about your country?
We just published 196 quizzes to confront common stereotypes.
Search for your country here: https://t.co/2hx1NaQlC3 pic.twitter.com/3xf3qAxJtz

— Gapminder (@Gapminder) September 16, 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:

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.

WWF: Risky Seafood Business Report

'The ocean is the blue heart of our planet and we ignore its health at our peril. Protecting this precious resource should be the top priority of every single fishery around the world, yet for too long unsustainable practices have gone unchecked, draining the ocean of life.' 

Kate Norgrove, Executive Director of Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF 

My favourite meal is fish and chips (with mushy peas), from a decent chippy, of which there are several close to where I live in Norfolk.

We like fish and chips as a nation too.

The recent WWF Risky Seafood Business report says that a total of 887,000 tonnes of seafood was eaten by people in 2019 - the equivalent to 5.2 billion portions of fish and chips. The report can be downloaded from this link (PDF)

It goes into detail on the impacts of seafood extraction on other aspects of marine ecosystems, including the impact on endangered species.

There is also a good range of useful images that would find their way into lessons on the oceans, food production, fisheries and sustainability.

Image source: WWF Risky Seafood Business Report

Updated Gapminder World Health Chart

The first Gapminder graphic that many people will see is the classic world health chart, with a bubble for each country showing where it sits on the graph of life expectancy against income. Mind the gap.

That has now been updated for the most up to date figures (2021) and the new version can now be viewed or downloaded as a PDF from this page.

Image copyright: Gapminder, but they kindly share resources under CC license.

StoryMap Exercise on Tornadoes in the USA

 

Fast Fashion on Radio 4

A BBC Radio 4 programme which explores the area of fast fashion, which is something we explore with Year 8 students.

People online are debating whether contestants from ITV’s Love Island should be signing mega-bucks deals with clothes companies that sell people stuff cheaply and often - so-called fast fashion. Others claim it's a bit rich for the well-off to lecture everyone else about what's in their wardrobe? We’ll look at how fast fashion got turbo-charged, see if the stats on climate change and fashion add up, explore how fashion and social class have interacted over the years, and ask if “sustainable fashion” is an oxymoron.

Thanks to the Dress Code shirt team for the tipoff here.

Really interesting conversations on @BBCRadio4 #antisocial with @adamfleming examining the facts of fast fashion, environment and class. Well worth a listen. 🌍👍 pic.twitter.com/qFrISCTXZl

— dresscode (@dresscodeshirts) August 19, 2022

There's also a Radio 4 Bottom Line programme on the same issue. 

From the design desk to the shop window, how do fast fashion brands deliver the latest trends in double-quick time? Evan Davis and guests discuss fabric, factories and a nimble supply chain.

Yi Fu Tuan - RIP

Cross posting from LivingGeography blog. 

Very sad news of the passing yesterday of Yi-Fu Tuan, at 92. Such an important scholar in so many fields, from geography to Sherlock Holmes studies. pic.twitter.com/nk5wutDvCh

— matthew edney (@mhedney) August 11, 2022

Sad news yesterday of the passing of geographer Yi Fu Tuan, whose work will be familiar to many, and who inspired some of our thinking around Mission:Explore and other work on place, and the idea of topophilia.

I wasn't able to confirm the news, but it appears it is now confirmed.

We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Professor Yi-Fu Tuan.

His work has had a profound influence on the way in which we all think about key geographical concepts. He will be sorely missed both by those that knew him well and by the discipline as a whole. pic.twitter.com/zdndOzMCgk

— Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (@RGS_IBG) August 12, 2022

His work has been influential for many - particularly in the area of place and other conceptual thinking.