geogtasticGCSE

SDME revision podcast

2012-01-21T06:49:00.001-08:00

Mark Howell, a Geography teacher in Northamptonshire, has put together a podcast to help with SDME revision. I've not had chance to listen to it yet, but if it's half as good as the last one he did, it'll be well worth you downloading it and having a listen. http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-manor-geog-pod/id376186285

Mark also posted this link on Twitter - to a pdf file which is a study of the Brisbane River from 1999, and might be worth a read for those of you aiming for A/A* grades.

Let me know if you find any other useful resources.

SDME - January 2012

2012-01-02T03:59:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year GCSE Geographers!

Hopefully the Year 11s amongst you have spent some time over the past couple of weeks looking at the resource booklet for the SDME exam (which is on Tuesday 24th January - pm). Assuming you were in your last lesson before Christmas, you have a black and white copy of the booklet. If you haven't or you need to look at a colour copy, a reminder that the booklet is here (direct link to the .pdf document - you will need a .pdf reader on your computer to be able to access this) as well as in Student Share.

Remember that, in order to get the higher grades, you need to be reading beyond the booklet... The Geographical Association's website has a useful list of links about the Australian floods which - although written primarily for teachers - is well worth you exploring. This article from the GCSE Wide World magazine (link to .pdf file) will be making an appearance in lessons in the next couple of weeks, but you might like to have a look at it now, and there are various useful bits and pieces, including links, on this site.

If you find anything else that you think is particularly useful - either specific to the Australian floods or about flood management more generally, email details to me (type vel into address bar from your school emails) and everyone can benefit!

Panorama: Drinking our rivers dry

2011-09-21T12:13:00.001-07:00

This week's Panorama programme (on Monday evening) was about rivers, and whether the water industry is doing enough to protect them - it's available on iPlayer here http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b013pzns/ and my group need to have watched it and written a summary of the key ideas by Monday.

Tropical storm names...

2011-09-11T06:47:00.000-07:00

Those of you who were asking last week about the naming of tropical storms (hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons) might like to have a look at these two links:

World Meteorological Organisation

National Hurricane Center

Year 11 - Controlled Assessment

2011-09-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome back Year 11!

Those of you who have not finished your Fieldwork Focus Controlled Assessment (for whatever reason) will need to get it completed as soon as possible.

There will be after school sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting on Tuesday 13th September (room to be confirmed).

If you have any questions/concerns, please come and speak to me.

Year 10 Homework

2011-09-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings new Year 10s...

The first part of your homework is to cover your book with a geographical theme.

The second part of your homework is to leave a comment on the blog, with an interesting geographical fact. Do your best to tell me something I don't know already... There might be a prize for the most interesting fact!

To leave a comment, you need to click on the "Comments" button at the bottom of this post. Type your comment, and then enter the "captcha". You should not need to have a Google account to leave a comment (although it is useful to have one anyway). Your comment will not appear straightaway, as they come to me to be moderated first, but I will make sure I check regularly and publish them as soon as I can. Please make sure that you are writing in "proper" English (ie nt txt spk), and also, put your FIRST NAME (not your surname, although if there are two people in your group with the same name, the initial of your surname as well would be helpful), and if you are in my group VEl and for Mr Mattia's group NMa in your comment.

Young Geographer of the Year 2011

2011-06-19T03:47:00.000-07:00

Could you be the RGS's Young Geographer of the Year 2011? Click on the flyer below to go to the RGS's website where there are more details about the competition and what you need to do.

Year 10 Controlled Assessment

2011-06-16T00:11:00.000-07:00

Some bits and pieces that might be of use for your introduction:

Background information:
http://www.eurosion.org/shoreline/57holderness.html
http://www.hull.ac.uk/erosion/
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/climatechange/environment/coastal/coastalErosion.html
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/regions/yorkshire_and_the_humber/ourwork/shorelinemanagement.aspx
http://www.withernseatowncouncil.co.uk/

News stories:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/a-town-under-siege-by-the-sea-since-its-beach-was-washed-away-withernsea-on-humberside-is-cracking-up-from-twicedaily-poundings-at-high-tide-1511370.html

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/around-yorkshire/local-stories/coast_erosion_calls_time_on_pub_1_2387512

Map links:
http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/login.html (You will need a login name and password for this site - speak to your Geography teacher.)
http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm
http://magic.defra.gov.uk/website/magic/

Don't forget about Google Earth and Google Maps as well.

You might also like to have a look at David Roger's blog - he is Head of Geography at Priory School in Portsmouth. His Year 10 students are working on the same Controlled Assessment title as you, and he has put various resources on his blog to support them.

Year 10 Homework - Dharavi

2011-01-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

Several links with pictures, video and audio about Dharavi and life there:

The Places We Live explores four slums across the world, including Dharavi.

This is an audio slideshow from The Guardian.

Article and photo gallery from the National Geographic.

BBC Interactive tour of Dharavi.

Your homework is to explore these links (and any others you find - there are lots of clips on YouTube too), and to leave a comment explaining:
- whether you think Dharavi is a "slum of hope" or a "slum of despair"
- what you think of the redevelopment plans for Dharavi.

Your comment should explain your ideas with reasons - not just a sentence or two - and should include your first name (not full name... if there are two of you with the same name, put the inital of your surname too).

Some SDME links...

2011-01-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

A handful of St. Lucia links here. If you find any more that might be useful, leave a comment or send me an email so that everyone can benefit.

SDME preparation

2011-01-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

By now, we're well underway with preparation for the SDME exam which is on Thursday 20th January. Remember that with a thorough understanding of the resource booklet, you should be able to get a C grade, but those of you aiming for grades above a C will need to be bringing in some of your own knowledge...

There's plenty of St Lucia information available on the internet for you to get your teeth into - if you find any particularly good links, leave a comment or send me an email so that everyone can benefit.

Mark Howell, a Geography teacher in Northampton, has put together an SDME revision podcast which is well worth a listen.

Year 10 Homework

2010-09-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yr10 Controlled Assessment - Data Presentation

2010-06-23T05:01:00.000-07:00

A reminder about a couple of things that I mentioned to you this morning if you are in my group, and that Miss Bradford will be mentioning next week if you are in her group:

- GE Graph is the tool that allows you to add data into placemarks and therefore create graphs in Google Earth. There's more info here about it from Noel Jenkins, and from the Google Earth Community here.

- There's a really useful blog post here, also from Noel Jenkins. It was written about ways the Google Earth could be used in coursework, but most, if not all, of the ideas could also be used in your Controlled Assessment.

- Although it's written for A Level, the guide here about how to draw an isopleth map is quite useful if you need a reminder.

Don't forget that the key purpose of your data presentation is to present your findings in a clear, logical and accessible way. Think about what you want each map or graph to show, and make sure that you choose the type of map or graph accordingly.

DME resitters....

2010-06-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

I'm hoping that those of you resitting the DME are making regular visits to the blog as it seems that Sports Day, Maths exams (and, I'm sorry to say, a bit of exam stress and/or general apathy on your part!) are getting in the way of us having any sort of conversation about the DME before your exam.

A new series of 'Mary Queen of Shops' has just started on BBC2 (it's 9.05pm on Monday 7th June as I write this!) and the focus of the series is to help out local shopkeepers and give them some support in keeping their small businesses running - not sure how useful it will be, but might be worth a watch.

I also have some photos that I took when we were in Sheringham with the Year 13 geographers a few weeks back, which are on Flickr here. As you will know, the last couple of resources in the booklet (and therefore, presumably, the decision) focus on Sheringham and the proposals for a supermarket there. There was much discussion about the proposals to build a Tesco in Sheringham, and the majority of local people fought very strongly against it. Miss Taylor and I were amazed that, in a town similar in size to Alfreton or Ripley, we found only five shops/businesses that we had heard of (ie 'chain stores' of some description) and even then, those five included names like Julian Graves - not exactly McDonald's or Tesco!

DME...

2010-06-05T01:36:00.000-07:00

Those of you resitting the DME could do worse than to have a listen to this podcast from Mark Howell who is a Geography teacher in Northampton. As well as discussing and explaining the resources in the booklet, Mark also talks about the sorts of questions that you can expect for each of the resources...

A quick search of the iTunes store will bring up lots of other geography revision podcasts as well. Or, you could make your own!!

Aid...

2010-05-19T13:29:00.001-07:00

A nice animation from Oxfam about aid...

Exam Papers

2010-05-03T10:17:00.001-07:00

Some past exam papers now uploaded to the Revision Ning... If you haven't joined yet, check your school emails for the link.

DME Resits (Yr11)

2010-04-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

Those of you resitting the DME (at least those of you who are not STILL on holiday...) will be interested to know that the resource booklets are in school and you will be receiving them soon.

I've been at a meeting this afternoon to discuss ideas and put together some teaching resources, and we'll get some lunchtime/after school sessions up and running soon.

In the meantime, the theme (as you should know by now) is "Local shops for local people?", so you can get thinking about what the issues might be, and do a bit of research. I've put a few links together here and will continue to add to this list. If you find anything particularly interesting, either leave a comment here with the link, or email it to me and then everyone can benefit.

Cadbury....

2010-04-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

To add to the information you already have about Cadbury from our visit and from the DVD, etc., it is worth having a look at the Cadbury website and their corporate website.

Remember, Cadbury will cover several case studies (secondary industry, industrial location factors, TNC, Fairtrade, LEDC development/aid project...) for the Economic Systems and Development unit, so it is in your interests to know it inside out!

Revision

2010-04-07T03:41:00.000-07:00

There is now a Geogtastic revision Ning... Check your emails for the link and more info.

GOOD LUCK!

2010-01-28T10:58:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the big day...

Remember, read the questions carefully, answer the question that you're asked, use the evidence from the booklet to support your answers, allow enough time (1/2 hour) for the decision question...

GOOD LUCK - I know that you will do brilliantly!

Muaitheabhal windfarm gets the go-ahead

2010-01-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

Those of you who've had a look at the Moorland Without Turbines website will have seen the news that the 33-turbine Muaitheabhal windfarm on the Isle of Lewis (further south than the 181-turbine proposal that your decision is likely to focus on) was given the go-ahead on 14th January. Here is the press release from the Scottish Parliament...

Year 11 - DME

2010-01-24T02:30:00.000-08:00

A few more links...

I am not sure why I didn't have this one - Moorland Without Turbines - on my original list. It is (hopefully obviously!) the website of a group opposed to the development of windfarms on Lewis and the other Western Isles, and there are lots of useful/interesting bits and pieces including photos, media coverage and the group's response to planning consent being granted on 14th January 2010 for the 33 turbine Muaitheabhal windfarm in the south of Lewis. There is also a number of maps detailing the various windfarm projects on Lewis and Harris.

You might also like to have a look at this .pdf document that I've just come across on the Lewis Wind site... The first paragraph of the Executive Summary reads:

The key objective of the study has been to help the Western Isles to deliver economic and community benefit by identifying renewable energy potential, including the role for different scales of energy generation compatible with environmental obligations. A second objective has been to identify other opportunities for sustainable development initiatives across the Western Isles.

At 133 pages, I wouldn't necessarily expect you to read all of it, but there are some interesting points made... (Note that this study was commissioned by Lewis Wind - the company who are proposing the windfarm developments.)

Some of you were asking the other day about crofting... The Scottish Crofting Federation website has lots of photos and a FAQs section.

If you want to know more about peat, then you could do worse than to visit the website of the International Peat Society. Also, this Guardian article looks at the Isle of Lewis crofters who are returning to the old tradition of cutting peat to use as a domestic fuel - and considers the environmental impacts of peat-cutting on the protected peatland areas.

The Explore Scotland site has a range of information about the Outer Hebrides, including a tourist guide with maps of the area and a Lewis Virtual Tour.

Frozen Earth

2010-01-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

Not a brilliant response from Year 10 to the snow challenges last week.... However, I was extremely impressed with Grace's effort:

Year 11 - DME

2010-01-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

Lots of links here that will be of use/interest:

Energy Gap Links:

Britain facing large energy gap (BBC News article, Nov.05)

Britain 'faces power cuts threat' (BBC News article, Sept. 08)

Energy gap means nuclear power is a must (Telegraph, July 09)

Energy entrepreneurs can plug the gap in our energy supplies (Telegraph, Nov. 09)

Closing the energy gap (Greenpeace/WWF summary paper, Sept. 08)

The Energy Gap (Guide from Sense about Science)

Launch of £100bn wind energy programme (Guardian Jan. 2010)

General Wind Energy Links (how it works, etc.):

Energy Kids - US site explaining how wind energy works, types of turbine, etc.

BBC Video on How Wind Produces Electricity

BBC News - Government sets 2020 renewables targets (video clip)

Pro- Wind Energy Links:

British Wind Energy Association

Yes2Wind

Proven Energy includes energy calculator and allows estimate of energy production

Dept. Energy Wind Speed Database online and downloadable database that links to GIS.

EcoTricity - why wind energy?

Wind Power Works - part of Global Wind Energy Council, various facts & figures, including 12 wind farm case studies from around the world.

Anti- Wind Energy Links:

Fairwind lobby group for Ardnamurchan, Morven and Mull

Isle of Lewis Wind Energy Links:

Lewis Wind

Google map link to Pentland Road Site, Eilean Siar (Isle of Lewis)

BBC News (video clip) about Lewis proposals

BBC News (video clip) about opposition to Lewis proposals

RSPB report about Lewis Windfarm proposals

Scottish Government News Release - decision on Lewis windfarm planning application

Scottish Wildlife Trust - response to planning application decision

Also, some of you were having trouble finding the Teachers' TV video - Electricity for the Future. It's here. I believe that some of you have watched it in Science, but it'll be a useful reminder of how electricity is generated and might provide you with some evidence to support the decision you make in the exam next week.

Year 10 - Worldmapper, Urbanisation and Google searching...

2010-01-20T10:21:00.001-08:00

The excellent maps that we started this morning's lesson with are part of Sheffield University Geography Department's Worldmapper project. Click on the image below to go to the website:

I also intended to tell you about the BBC's Urbanisation Interactive, which is part of their Urban Planet In Depth report and is great...

Also check out Google Timeline, Google Wonder Wheel (search as normal, and then click Show Options) and Google Squared...

£100 bn for offshore windfarms

2010-01-08T03:39:00.000-08:00

Very timely for the DME is the announcement today of a £100 billion programme to build thousands of offshore windfarms in the seas around the UK.

Couple of articles here that you ought to have a look at:

Guardian
BBC

Good idea? Leave a comment on this post with your thoughts...

Year 10 Geographers.... SNOW!!!

2010-01-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you will have spent some of your time off over the last few days keeping an eye on the snow news, and looking at the weather forecasts (including deciphering those pressure charts with the big high pressure area over Greenland...).

You are most welcome to do some research and reading about changing shopping patterns and out-of-town shopping centres (and Meadowhall being closed early because of the snow!) and also make a note in your diary to watch Slumdog Millionaire (Wednesday 13th January, Channel 4, 9pm) and Slumming It (Thursday 14th January, Channel 4, 9pm).

However, your official work while we're not in snowy Swanwick is.... to do AT LEAST four of the following (hopefully interesting and fun) Geography Snow Challenges. You must provide some evidence for each challenge you complete - this can be in written form (ideally a comment on this blog post, but email will be fine either), photographs (emailed, or uploaded to Flickr - send me the link or leave a comment on here with it), video (emailed, or uploaded to Vimeo or YouTube - again, email the URL or leave a comment here)...

The challenges are for my group and Miss Bradford's, and can be completed individually or collaboratively. If you are leaving a comment, make sure that you include your first name, and the initial of your surname if there's another Year 10 geographer with the same first name as you.

I'd also like you to have a think about why it is that we're struggling so much (as a country) to cope with the conditions - and leave a comment here with your answer.

Enjoy!!

The Geography Snow Challenges:

1. Measure the depth of undisturbed snow on grass.

2. Collect a cup of snow... Bring it inside and let it melt. How much water does it produce? Is this more or less than you expected?

3. If you have a thermometer at home, keep a record of the temperature... How does it change? Why? Keep a record of the times when it’s snowing... Watch the sky and how it changes... How do the temperature, the weather conditions and the state of the sky relate to each other?

4. Choose a particular spot – somewhere in your garden... or out of your bedroom window. Take a photo every hour. Put them together in MovieMaker to make a timelapse movie... (Email me the finished product, or upload to Vimeo or YouTube and email me the link.)

5. Wrap up warm and put your wellies on... Then go for a walk. Put together a snow/ice/cold weather hazard map for your local area.

6. Find some black paper and freeze it. When it snows again, take your frozen black paper outside and catch some snowflakes. Look at them carefully (with a magnifying glass if you have one). Describe them. Have a go at taking some photographs of them.

7. Make a glacier... Send me photos and/or video...

8. What does the snow look like? Feel like? Smell like? Sound like? (Taste like? H&S!!)

9. Make a geographical sculpture... The Eiffel Tower? The Taj Mahal?

10. Make some icicles or freeze some bubbles...

11. Something else!!! Can you come up with your own interesting educational snowy geographical challenge?

ps There might be a prize or three for the best (most interesting and creative) responses...

Year 11 - DME Preparation

2010-01-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

Good evening Year 11. Hopefully you are enjoying the snow - and keeping an on the forecasts and the news reports...

We will most likely be back on Monday so that you can have your DME booklets and we can get started properly with the preparation for the exam on 29th January. In the meantime, however, it's worth you having a think about the energy crisis, alternative forms of energy, wind energy, and the Isle of Lewis. I've gathered quite a few links together which I will post tomorrow. Had we been in yesterday afternoon, however, the plan was for us to watch this Teachers' TV video which looks at the production and use of electricity, the impacts of our energy use, and considers where we'll get our energy from in the future. It would be very useful for you to watch the video, note down any key words, and then to do some research around the topics mentioned earlier. If you find any particularly useful websites, email me the URLs, or leave a comment here with the link.

And when you have done so much work (!) that you need to go play out, have a go at one or two of the activities in the Year 10 post... Have fun!

Staff perceptions of Derby

2009-11-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

Looking at my Year 10 group's perceptions of Derby, I wondered whether their responses said more about them than about Derby, and thought it would be interesting to compare with the views of people who were still relatively local, but a bit older, so I emailed staff and asked them to send me the first three words they think of when they think of Derby. Here are the results:

Perceptions of Derby

2009-11-04T11:02:00.000-08:00

Year 10 started this morning's lesson writing down the first words that come into their heads when they think of Derby. This word cloud shows the results - the bigger a word in the word cloud, the more times it appeared in the students' lists.
I also enlisted the help of my Twitter network yesterday... these are the words that they came up with:
Clicking on the images will take you to the original Wordles in the Wordle gallery, where they will be easier to read.

Staff version coming soon!

What would your three words be?

Yr10 - Derby...

2009-11-04T10:20:00.000-08:00

Some interesting ideas from my Yr10 group today when we started talking about Derby. I will post the Wordle of your Derby words soon, and I'm in the process of gathering some words from staff too, to see whether their perceptions are similar to yours.

In the meantime, remember that your mind map needs to be completed for next Tuesday, and I'd also like you to have a think about some enquiry questions that link into the big question of "How and why is land use in Derby changing?". The videos and weblinks that we looked at today, together with a selection of other news stories are listed here. If you find any other particularly good sites, let me know so that I can add them to the list.

I've also just been sent a link to this very good video which looks at Derby and globalisation:

Year 10 HW - BedZED/Facebook

2009-10-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

One or two people commented today that they had had problems downloading the ppt with the Facebook profile template.

If you are one of those people, try this:

What if they had a Facebook profile?

View more presentations from TonyCassidy.

Well done to those of you who have completed this work already - although there's a bit of tree-hugger stereotyping, and the wind turbine obsession seems to be continuing, some of them were excellent. When I've put a ppt together with all of your work, I will post it here so you can all have a look.

Year 11... Coursework

2009-10-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned before about Noel Jenkins' "Google Up Your Coursework" resource, and some of you will have used it already, but now that you are in the computer room, I suggest that you make the most of your time and get using at least one or two of Noel's ideas. Remember, ICT use and a range of maps, graphs, etc. will all help to improve your skills marks - so these ideas will tick lots of boxes marks-wise, as well - obviously - as making your work look much more professional.

Juicy Geography: Google Up Your Coursework

Yr11

2009-09-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

Thank you to those of you who had drafts of your Aims and Location sections ready for today. I will have a look at them and get them back to you for Monday. Those of you who didn't have them with you today need to get them to me as soon as possible... It is for your benefit, not mine!!

Drafts of your Method need to be completed ready for Monday - make sure that you have your folders with you please!

Yr10 VEl Homework

2009-09-23T09:48:00.001-07:00

A reminder that your homework for this week is to watch one of the Urban Earth videos from an LEDC city (and perhaps re-watch the London one), and to write a comparison between the city you choose and London, as seen in the videos.... What are the similarities? What are the differences? Make a note of anything particularly interesting you notice too. That's to be done in your books for Tuesday p1.

Urban Earth

2009-09-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

Having spent time last week looking at functions of settlements and the settlement hierarchy, my Yr10 group started this morning's lesson with Dan Raven-Ellison's Urban Earth: London video...

This is Dan's explanation of the Urban Earth project, taken from the website:

"URBAN EARTH is is a project to (re)present our urban habitat through a series of walks. At its heart URBAN EARTH is a story of adventure. Not the kind of adventure that is untouchable, but one that we can step into as soon as we step out of our front doors. URBAN EARTH is about exploring the spaces in which we live.

Starting and ending in fields, the rules of the URBAN EARTH are to start and end in green countryside. The route is not decided by places of fickle and biased interest, but up hidden ridges of inequality and through the most densley populated and urban of city space(s). "

If you want to watch the London video again, or have a look at some of the other videos, they are available at www.urbanearth.co.uk, and you can find many of the photos from the walks on Urban Earth's Flickr page.

Will you be the first person to leave a comment telling me where in the world this picture was taken?!

Photo credit: Urban Earth, via Flickr

The winning facts...

2009-09-17T13:31:00.001-07:00

Well done Year 10, for coming up with some excellent facts....

The ones I particularly liked were Jake's, about the Mississippi flowing backwards, and Grace's, about the longest place name in the world...

According to Grace's source, Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihi-
maungahoronuku pokaiwhenuaakitanarahu, a hill in New Zealand, is the place with the longest name, and at 85 letters it is certainly a pretty good contender. I've just found another website, however, which reckons that Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayama-
hadilokphopnopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharn
amornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit in Thailand is actually the winner....

Either way, they both put Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to shame!!

Year 10 Homework

2009-09-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

The first part of your homework is to cover your book with a geographical theme.

The second part of your homework is to leave a comment on the blog, with an interesting geographical fact. Do your best to tell me something I don't know already... There might be a prize for the most interesting fact!

To leave a comment, you need to click on the "Comments" button at the bottom of this post. Type your comment, and then enter the "captcha". You should not need to have a Google account to leave a comment (although it is useful to have one anyway). Your comment will not appear straightaway, as they come to me to be moderated first, but I will make sure I check regularly and publish them as soon as I can. Please make sure that you are writing in "proper" English (ie nt txt spk), and also, put your FIRST NAME (not your surname, although if there are two people in your group with the same name, the initial of your surname as well would be helpful), and if you are in my group VEl and for Miss Bradford's group LBa in your comment.

Year 11 - Burbage

2009-09-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

A few reminders about Monday:

- You need to be ready to leave the layby at 9.00am.
- We should be back at school by 4.30pm.

- You will need: pencils, a packed lunch, water, waterproofs, suncream...
- A camera will be useful.

- You need to be prepared for all weathers, and be aware that the weather in Swanwick could be very different to the weather in the Burbage Valley! You will need walking boots or similar as we will be walking a reasonable distance .

Make sure you know who is in your group, and that you are clear about what you are measuring.

If you haven't brought your money and permission slip back yet (you know who you are!) I need it as a matter of urgency.

If you want to find out more about Burbage before we go, have a look at this post from last year, which has a map showing you where we're going and also has a couple of useful websites.

If you have questions about Monday, come and see me tomorrow or Friday, or email.

Welcome/welcome back!

2009-09-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to my new Year 11 group, and welcome to the two new Year 10 groups.

It would be a very good idea to make sure that you visit the blog regularly, as summaries of lessons, useful websites, news stories and some of your homework tasks will be posted here.

Your first interesting website is one that I have only just discovered... Earth Snapshot describes itself as "A daily view of the planet" and has some great satellite images... I particularly like this one of Hurricane Fred from yesterday:

Good luck!!!

2009-06-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

Not long to go now.... Hopefully you are all thoroughly ready and prepared for tomorrow afternoon... Email is available for last minute panics if you need it.

A couple of people have asked today about revision between English and Geography tomorrow - I am not going to plan anything formal, but if you want to come up to H6 p3 tomorrow, then I will be around to answer questions (and there might be a biscuit or two).

Either way.... remember to read the questions carefully - think about which ones you are going to answer rather than jumping straight in... and GOOD LUCK!!!

What are you revising?

2009-05-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

Not a clue if this is of any use or interest, but I just discovered Wallwisher, thought it was rather good, and thought that you should try using it...

So... click here, and post a note or two to tell us what you are revising...

BBC Bitesize

2009-04-18T00:52:00.000-07:00

Advance warning that the Bitesize Geography programmes are coming up soon on BBC2...

Human Geography - 28th April, 0400 - 0600

Physical Geography - 29th April, 0400 - 0600

Global Issues - 30th April, 0400 - 0600

Set those videos/DVDs/Sky+, etc.!

More Mobile Phone Revision...

2009-04-18T00:36:00.000-07:00

There's now a mobile phone revision quiz for Settlement in the 4shared folder, thanks to Tanith!! It would be great if a few more of you did some and sent them in...

Weather and climate
Natural hazards
Economic activity
Development

woul all be useful...

There is a template in the folder, so all you have to do is download, change the questions, save, resize, zip and send!

Geography revision on your mobile phone!

2009-04-06T11:29:00.001-07:00

I posted on Geogtastic yesterday about an experiment with mobile phone revision... Several Geography teacher friends and at least one student have tested it, on a range of phones and with a range of download methods, and it seems to have been pretty successful...

One Geography teacher friend, Liz Smith, has put together a Rivers one in a similar format...

You can now download both quizzes from the Mobile Phone Revision folder here. As I put together new ones, I will add them to that folder, so keep checking back. I will also put together a template and add that to the folder, so that you can make your own.

If you want to have a go at making your own and can't wait for a template, here's a quick summary of what you need to do:

- Open PowerPoint
- Set slide orientation to "portrait"
- Type your quiz (ours are both multiple choice, but yours don't have to be!)
- Make sure that any pictures you use are your own, or are Creative Commons (Flickr is a good source) and the source/photographer is acknowledged
- Don't type too close to the edges of the slide, and check that the font is big enough (if you zoom out to 25% and can still read it, it's probably ok)
- Once you're happy, save your presentation - it would be wise to save it as a ppt presentation so you have it for future use, but for your mobile quiz, you will need to Save As, and then alter the filetype to .jpeg. It will ask if you want to do this for every slide - you do.
- The slides will be saved as a series of .jpeg files on your computer.
- You will then need to resize the pictures - I used Microsoft Office Picture Manager but there are various ways you could do it. They will need to be 320 x 240.
- Then, download the photos to your phone, et voila!!

Oh, and don't forget to save the pictures in a zip file and email them to me so I can add them to the folder and everyone can benefit!

First Xtranormal Case Study!

2009-04-06T10:45:00.001-07:00

Well done and thank you to Tanith who has set the bar high with this fab Xtranormal movie about the Boscastle Flood... Can you do even better?? Click here and get creating!

Xtranormal

2009-04-04T03:32:00.000-07:00

My first attempt, and a bit rubbish... But dead easy to do... Make some case study ones, send me the URL, and we'll put them on the blog so everyone can benefit!

The EU

2009-03-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

Those of you who were here yesterday spent p2 doing some proper geography - producing a nicely coloured map to show the EU member states and the years that they joined the EU.

We talked about what the EU is, why it was set up, and some of the benefits and disadvantages of being a member.

Lots of info in the Europa Diaries... And more on the EU website here. The EU at a Glance section is particularly useful.

And the "Tour the EU in a minute" video that wasn't cooperating yesterday is available on YouTube (think it needs some music...) and there are various other movies on there that might help with your leaflets. (NB this video was made before 2007, so no mention of Bulgaria and Romania which took the total to 27 member states.)

Economic Activity

2009-03-21T10:58:00.001-07:00

A variety of interesting musical snippets started the lesson on Monday, and we talked about the classification of economic activity into primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary.

The graph below shows the results of the quick survey we did of your parents' occupations:
How - and why - would this have looked different if we had done the same activity 50 years ago? 150 years ago?

A message for Yr11...

2009-03-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

Why is there still a development gap?

2009-02-08T09:03:00.001-08:00

Some general development-related links that will help with your mini-lessons:

Gapminder
Developments Magazine
World Development Movement
UK Department for International Development

(This is only meant to be a starting point - it's by no means a definitive list! If you find any more that will be useful, leave a comment to share them with everyone else, or email me the URL and I will add to the post.)

Development

2009-02-08T08:59:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the lack of updates since the DME.

We spent a lesson considering why some parts of the world are more developed than others, and talked about the "rich north and poor south" and the Brandt Line. We also thought about different indicators of development, and whether some of these are more useful than others.

We had a lesson in the computer room to explore the fantastic Gapminder and some of you identified some really interesting patterns and relationships:

GOOD LUCK!

2009-01-25T11:03:00.000-08:00

It is pleasing to see that there's been a lot of visits this weekend (at least a few of them from Alfreton!)...

Remember:

- stakeholders
- sustainability (social, economic and environmental)
- read the questions carefully
- justify your answers

GOOD LUCK!!

Liverpool - DME

2009-01-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

Some links related to Liverpool that you may wish to have a look at:

Liverpool Vision
Liverpool Culture
Visit Liverpool
Liverpool Pictorial

Make yourself some revision cards...

2009-01-18T03:57:00.000-08:00

Just put this together in less than 5 minutes using the Trading Card Maker from Big Huge Labs and one of my Flickr photos... Your finished trading card is a jpeg file, so you can print them out easily as small cards or full pages - make yourself a set of case study revision cards!

Better still, make yourself a set and upload them to Flickr so that other people can use them too!

DME - Brindley Place and Broadmead

2009-01-15T12:16:00.000-08:00

Birmingham

Brindley Place website
Brindley Place images
Birmingham UK
BBC 360 tour of Brindley Place
History of Brindley Place

The Bullring website (look esp at the Education section)
Beetham Tower
Matthew Boulton College

Bristol

Cabot Circus website (look esp at the About Us section)
Broadmead Bid
Destination Broadmead

Using the websites above, Google Earth, and any other relevant websites that you find:

- add any additional points to your table showing the key features of the Birmingham and Bristol regeneration/redevelopment schemes.

- for each scheme, list the advantages and disadvantages... try to consider as many different stakeholders/interest groups (ie people who would have an opinion about the schemes) as you can... remember, that a factor that is an advantage for one stakeholder might well be a disadvantage for another.

- compare and contrast the two schemes.

- suggest which of the two schemes you think is the most sustainable (remember, economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and social sustainability), and justify your answer.

Save your work, email a copy to me, and print a copy to put into your DME folder.

DME Preparation...

2009-01-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Congratulations again on a fantastic set of mock DME results - let's make sure we do as well (if not better!) in the real thing on 26th January...

We started our DME preparation on Monday with a general look at the resource booklet and some of the issues involved - "City Centres: Vibrant Hub or Dead Heart?".

Yesterday's lessons focused on Resources 1-4, looking at city centres as "vibrant hubs" - particularly pre-1970, with a variety of land uses such as retailing, leisure and entertainment, services such as hospitals and schools, business and enterprise and some housing - and then at some of the problems that have developed in city centres - the downward spiral of congestion, pollution, crime and neglect that have led to some city centres being described as "dead hearts". Some interesting ideas about whether Derby's city centre is a "vibrant hub" or a "dead heart" - some of you thought that the development of the Westfield Centre had had a positive impact, others disagreed...

Resource 3 started with an advert for Windmill Hill Business Park on the outskirts of Swindon. Why have developments like this one occurred? Why might a company choose to locate here instead of the city centre?

We then looked at the locations of the out-of-town shopping centres listed in Resource 3. Capital Shopping Centres own 14 shopping centres, including Braehead, Lakeside, Cribbs Causeway and the Metro Centre which were all mentioned in Resource 3, as well as the Victoria Centre in Nottingham. Their website and those of the shopping centres make for interesting reading, particularly the corporate responsbility and environment sections.

Resource 4 considered the reasons for the success of out-of-town shopping centres - increase in car ownership, "weather-free", everything under one roof... It also considered some of the reasons why some people are opposed to out-of-town shopping centres.

Revision

2008-11-30T02:17:00.001-08:00

As well as your exercise books and the revision guides that some of you have bought, don't forget that there are lots of useful websites, etc. out there as well.

If you type "revision" into the search on Geogtastic, you will find various posts from previous years - a couple of the most useful are here:

http://geogtastic.blogspot.com/2007/02/gcse-revision.html
http://geogtastic.blogspot.com/2007/02/revision-podcasts.html

Ecotourism

2008-11-29T02:36:00.002-08:00

The Ecotourism Game that we mentioned yesterday is here...

Coursework...

2008-11-22T04:55:00.001-08:00

Thank you very much, and well done, to those of you who managed to get your coursework handed in on time. You can now stop worrying about it and can get on with revising for your mock exams, and preparing for the DME exam in January.

If you are one of the people who didn't, you need to get yourself sorted out as a matter of urgency.

Flipbook...

2008-11-16T07:32:00.000-08:00

I discovered this fab set of "creative games" via Dan Raven-Ellison a while back - but this example by Kenny73 is particularly appropriate for what the Yr11s who are not in an Art exam will be doing tomorrow:

Have a go at making your own flipbook showing how coastal landforms develop... What other uses can you think of?

The River Severn - From Source to Sea

2008-11-16T07:13:00.000-08:00

A rather timely follow-on from our rivers revision on Friday...

Thanks to Alan P, and to David Noble who created the videos.

Coursework Deadline, Mocks and DME

2008-11-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hopefully the coursework is going well... Remember that we agreed on Monday 17th November as the FINAL deadline.

Final deadline means a complete piece of work (spell-checked, printed, with title page, contents page, bibliography, etc.)! I will give you a list next week of reminders about how your work should be presented.

If you are sorted on the coursework front and short of something to do (!) then you might like to have a think about the DME title for January 2009 which is "City Centres - Vibrant Hub or Dead Heart?". More details and links to come in the next few weeks...

Remember also that it is not very long until mock exams - for Geography, you will have a "terminal exam" which will examine all the work that you have done since the start of Year 10, and a DME exam which will be a previous DME exam and which we will spend some lesson time preparing for.

Google-up your coursework

2008-09-20T01:30:00.000-07:00

Lots of interesting ideas from Noel Jenkins about how to use various Google applications to improve your coursework. We will look at some of these in more detail after our Burbage visit on Monday, but if you want to have a look now and think about how you might use them, click on the picture below:

Coasts may be "abandoned to the sea"

2008-08-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

That's according to Lord Smith, the new chairman of the Environment Agency, who says that coastal erosion is the most difficult issue that the Agency have to deal with, but that some parts of the coastline are so badly eroded that they are not worth protecting.

The picture shows part of the Holderness Coast (East Yorkshire), but large parts of Norfolk and Suffolk are under threat as well. Read the full article from the BBC here.

Burbage...

2008-08-17T09:31:00.001-07:00

Early in the new year for Year 11 will be our visit to Burbage:

View Larger Map

There'll be plenty more information in the few lessons before we go, and I will add more placemarks to the map in due course.

In the meantime, you might want to have a think about national parks in general - what they are, where they are, and why they exist. Two good starting points would be the National Parks Authority website, and the Peak District National Park site.

Welcome!

2008-08-17T04:15:00.002-07:00

Not much here yet, but this blog will be to support SHS students studying GSCE Geography...