Climate Change in Scotland

LTS (Learning Teaching Scotland) have a rather good resource for Climate Change HERE.
As you were....

Multicultural Britain - Year 11

This BBC News article needs to be read by those of you wanting to get a deeper understanding of the issue of a multicultural society.

The Poll that forms the basis for the survey can also be downloaded.

For example, what, in this context, is a 'coconut' ?

Work for AP - Tuesday 29th January

OK, so this week I really am going to be away. This time, I'm going to Cambridge to discuss some Geography-related issues.
You have several things to do today....

1. Finish off your PYRAMID. See the earlier blog posts for the instructions on how to make it, or ask a reliable member of the group. The templates and A3 cards are on top of the unit in B3, and your books are in the box in the unit if you handed them in (or didn't collect them)

2. Print off and stick on any relevant images on your pyramid, particularly the map on the base.

3. Produce an annotated (labelled) map of the area that you intend to change - remember, not too big and not too small... A street, an area of derelict land etc., or if in doubt, choose the area immediately around the school as we can go out and get some pictures of this...

4. Decide on 3 to 5 changes (these should have gone on the outside of your pyramid)

Try to decide which of the 13 parts of Local Agenda 21 this particular plan is going to 'meet'...

e.g. If you decide that you are going to recycle waste, that will meet target number 1

A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY IS ONE THAT.....

1. uses resources efficiently and keeps waste to a minimum
2. keeps pollution to a level which natural systems can cope with
3. the diversity of nature is valued and protected
4. meets local needs locally, where possible
5. everyone has access to at least basic needs, such as good food, water, shelter and fuel at reasonable cost
6. everyone has the opportunity to undertake satisfying work in a diverse economy
   
7. people's good health is protected
8. access to facilities, services, goods and other people are not achieved at the expense of the environment
9. people are able to live without fear of personal violence from crime or persecution
10. everyone has access to skills, knowledge and information
11. all sections of the community have a real say in what happens in their area
12. opportunities for culture, leisure and recreation are readily available to all
13. the local distinctiveness and diversity of the area is valued and protected

5. Produce a list of websites which have information about Sustainable developments.

6. Have a go at this - and add a comment to say how many you scored...

CLICK THE LINK and prepare to type in the names of as many countries as you can name in 5 minutes

Multicultural Britain - Year 11

So today we started to look at the key ideas relating to the idea of MULTICULTURAL Britain. Once again, we are indebted to Tony Cassidy for his excellent resources.
You said that you wanted to tell Tony how grateful you were for his help and one thing you could do would be to add a comment below to that effect...
We were looking at some key ideas relating to Multicultural Britain. Below are a few key slides for you with the key definitions. We also mentioned the work we are going to be doing.

Remember that this issue is not to be confused with illegal immigration. The UK has a long history of different cultures moving in and adding their ideas to the cultural mix. We will look later at the various culinary metaphors for how this can be described.

Do some research before the next lesson:

1. What would you consider to be the key elements of a multicultural society...
2. What do you think of Norman Tebbut's 'cricket team test' ?

Where do you sit on the continuum that we outlined ?

Remember that this is challenging stuff. This is not copying notes out of a textbook on how waterfalls are formed - it is REAL geography as it is all about changes in the places where you will spend your lives...

Add some posts to let me know that you are reading this and thinking about it !

What is the ethnic mix of the UK ? Visit this NATIONAL STATISTICS page to look at the UK and King's Lynn differences. How typical is King's Lynn of the UK ?

King's Lynn-opoly

Meant to post this a while ago...
Great effort !

My Place: the North End

When we looked at MY PLACE, we discussed King's Lynn. Some of you may be from the area known as the NORTHEND, which had a famous fishing community.
BBC NORFOLK have now added a new section celebrating the Northend. There are special programmes on Radio Norfolk as well as cultural events in town.
There are some good AUDIO DIARIES of life in the area.There are also some excellent images, owned by True's Yard Museum, such as the one above of the Black Joke pub.

Antarctica Blog and Teabags

'The qualities necessary to the explorer are, … in … order of importance: first, optimism; second, patience; third, physical endurance; fourth, idealism; fifth and last, courage'
Sir E. H. Shackleton, 1914

A new product on Tesco shelves I discovered today is Captain Scott's Strong Blend Tea bags, based on the Expedition Tea of 1910. Each box that is sold will generate a donation of 5p towards the fund for the restoration of the Scott huts in Antarctica.

They were used by Scott to overwinter and are in need of restoration. There is also a hut used by Shackleton's party.

While looking for a picture of the box of tea bags to put here, I came across the Antarctica Blog, which mentions them as well. Click the banner to visit.

Don't forget the exhibition that is currently on at the Natural History Museum as well...
And the 70South blog.

Pyramids of Change

Today with Year 10 we were making pyramids.
The template we used came from the resource pack produced by Action for Sustainable Communities, which was handed out a conference I went to last year.
As well as a CD of images, there was a template / net for a pyramid, and I decided this would be a good way to plan your changes, and create a 3D element for your coursework portfolios...

We drew around the template, scored and cut out a pyramid net on thin card.

Each of the 4 sides of the pyramid was then going to represent one of the areas that we wanted to change about the particular area of MY PLACE that we were trying to make more sustainable.
Along the bottom of the pyramid ran a strip where we wrote the particular aspect of our area that we were hoping to change.
We then wrote down some names or added pictures to each face of the pyramid.

At the bottom was the existing situation 'BEFORE' and towards the top we put the 'AFTER': the more sustainable alternative that you have come up with...

And then on the bottom of the pyramid goes a map of the place that you are going to change, or some images.

Remember, try to be creative with this !!

Check out the MAKING PLACES pack (teacher bit...)

While re-visiting the ASC site for a bit more information and to find the relevant links for you I came across this exciting opportunity, which is called FUTURE VISION 08.
This gives students the chance to win up to £1000 for ideas on sustainable communities: the sort of thing that we are looking at !

Whether it's a city, town or village, a sustainable community is a place where people want to live, work and invest in. It has good homes, local shops, things to do and opportunities for young people to get a good education. It is…

• A place where leaders manage the area well and local people have a say
• A place that is environmentally friendly
• A place with good transport links
• A place with good public services that everyone can use
• A place with a strong local culture and lots to do
• A place that has a thriving local economy
• A place with good quality buildings and public space
• A place that is fair for everyone

Is this you and your coursework ?

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Year 10 work for Tuesday 21st January

I'm absent today at a meeting at the Geographical Association up in Sheffield.
Prize for the first person to e-mail me a Google Earth screendump of the building where I'm currently sat
Here is the work...

Here is a reminder of the task we are going to start working on...
The tasks are further down the post....

LA21 - Local Agenda 21 is about:

"everyone of us taking responsibility for present actions and working towards bringing about changes so that we may secure a better future for all..."

Pilot GCSE: My Place

Based on work produced by Paula Cooper and colleagues at King Edward VI 5 Ways School and posted on GA website. Many thanks ! As with the first piece of coursework this will provide challenge for all, and the best scores for those who follow the assessment advice carefully !

This task is the second of three that will be completed during Year 10 to form the coursework element of the short course and will be put into your portfolio. The work will be internally assessed. The emphasis is on the concepts of SUSTAINABILITY and possible FUTURES.

TASK

Pupils are to present a map with overlay and an accompanying brief report to show how they might redesign their home area in King’s Lynn to make it more sustainable and improve life for local people. It also needs to take into account the thoughts of the people you have collected data from using a questionnaire.

TIME

• One lesson to introduce and discuss the task and to obtain an appropriate map.
• Two lessons and two homeworks to plan and complete the annotated plan.

Source of maps

www.streetmap.co.uk

www.multimap.co.uk

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk Get a Map service

http://www.virtualearth.com – better images for King’s Lynn than Google Earth – other areas may be different….

• Pupils may be given choice over the area they choose but advise them that it should be large enough to allow them to present a range of ideas. Encourage pupils to focus on an area they know. They should focus on their home area, the area that they will have chosen and investigated in the early part of the course.
• Map selection could be set as a private study task or could take place during a lesson in an IT room.
• The selected map should be printed on A4 paper and may include a small aerial photo to complement the map.

Geography Pilot GCSE Coursework Part 2

Sustainability and a possible future for your local area

Your task is to redesign part of your local area in King’s Lynn to make it a more sustainable urban area and enact Local Agenda 21 (LA21). You should aim to improve life for people in the area and meet the 13 statements outlined.

You must produce an annotated overlay map and a brief supporting report to present and justify your design

The map

Demonstrate your ideas by producing an overlay map to show the key changes you would make.

· Your overlay map should show three to five key changes. The changes must be linked and work together (integrated), they may be radical but realistic.

· Remember to use your creativity as far as you can

· You may show these changes using shading and symbols (so remember a key!).

The map must be annotated to describe and briefly justify the changes you propose. This annotation can be done using ICT and ‘call outs’ (I demonstrated these to you…)

The report

Write a 500 word report to support and fully justify your proposals. You should aim to develop the points you made in the annotation in more detail (but don’t simply repeat).

For each proposed change you must:

· Explain why you chose it for this area.

· Explain why it is sustainable (why it supports Local Agenda 21) – and which of the 13 statements it relates to

· Describe how it would benefit people and the environment in the area.

· Show how it is linked to the other ideas - they should be integrated! You could, for example, choose a theme for your work. This might relate to the concerns that have been identified by the people who live in the area

· Suggest how the ideas might influence the future of the area.

You may, if you prefer tabulate the report on A4 paper to save time and use words efficiently. For example:

Recommended change	Reasons why chosen for this area	Reasons why it is sustainable and why it supports LA 21	Ways in which it would benefit people and the Environment	Links to other ideas (annotated arrows?)
1
2
3
Description of alternative future of the area if these changes were made.

NAME: _______________________________

How to make your coursework outstandingly brilliant …

Try to make it match the description below.

Use the annotated tips to help you.

Tick the circles as you achieve each one in your work.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

• Show good knowledge and understanding of sustainability and possible futures.

• Describe sustainability and sustainable ideas in detail with good supporting arguments.

• Show you are aware of a range of sustainable ideas.

• Present a range of interconnected ideas.

APPLICATION, INTERPRETATION AND VALUES

• Write about your area and the changes in detail.

• Refer to other people’s views of your place and proposed changes.

• Justify your personal view of the area and the world.

• Check your writing is coherent and arguments make sense, they may even be complex.

• Show you understand familiar and unfamiliar situations.

• Use ICT at appropriate points.

SKILLS AND ANALYSIS

• Use more complex skills of annotation and mapping skills.

• Communicate as clearly as possible.

HERE ARE THE TASKS TO COMPLETE TODAY....

1. Go to the BBC CITIZENSHIP test page.
Once you get your score out of 14, post a COMMENT on this post with your score - be truthful - let me know how many out of 14 you got (I scored 8 the first time I did the test). Post using your first name, or nickname only...

2. We are then going to be starting some planning for the next piece of coursework. This is adapted from work done by Paula Cooper: a teacher and her colleagues at a school in Birmingham.
Here is the starting point for you to read:

Geography Pilot GCSE Coursework Part 2

Sustainability and a possible future for your local area

Your task is to redesign part of your local area in King’s Lynn to make it a more sustainable urban area and enact Local Agenda 21. You should aim to
improve life for people in the area.

You must produce an annotated overlay map and a brief supporting report to present and justify your design

The map

Demonstrate your ideas by producing an overlay map to show the key changes you would make.

• Your overlay map should show three to five key changes. The changes must be linked and work together (integrated), they may be radical but realistic.
• You may show these changes using shading and symbols (so remember a key!).

The map must be annotated to describe and briefly justify the changes you propose.

The report

Write a 500 word report to support and fully justify your proposals. You should aim to develop the points you made in the annotation in more detail (but don’t simply repeat).

For each point you need to explain why you chose it for this area, and explain why it is sustainable.

This means that you need to know about something called AGENDA 21.

Start by looking up AGENDA 21 on Google, and exploring the WIKIPEDIA and other definitions. What is AGENDA 21 - what does the 21 bit relate to ? When was Agenda 21 produced ??

Check out the ideas that are at DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL's website for how Agenda 21 could be applied in a local area.

Also see what King's Lynn Borough Council are doing.
This is just the preliminary stages of the work at the moment...

3. Choose an area of King's Lynn that you know, and obtain a map for that area.

You could use one of various mapping services online, such as the Ordnance Survey's GET A MAP service.

© Crown Copyright 2007

www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap

Image produced from Ordnance Survey's Get-a-map service.
Image reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey and
Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

You need to have an area selected. Produce a map, then paste the map as an image into the centre of a WORD or PUBLISHER document, and add arrows and handwritten labels suggesting the changes that you could make to the area to improve it, and make it SUSTAINABLE. If we take an example from the Derbyshire page...

Try to cut down your rubbish to one bin bag a week. Take any newspapers, magazines, junk mail, glass bottles, aluminium, unwanted clothing and books to recycling centres. You will find them at most supermarkets and some car parks.

So one way to improve your area would be to make sure that there was a recycling centre in the area - where would you put it ? What problems might you have in finding a site ?
Think this through !!

LA 21: Local Agenda 21 - Year 10 Coursework Preparation

This is related to local discussions for the 21st Century.

We will be looking at FUTURES and SUSTAINABILITY...

A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY IS ONE THAT.....

1. uses resources efficiently and keeps waste to a minimum
2. keeps pollution to a level which natural systems can cope with
3. the diversity of nature is valued and protected
4. meets local needs locally, where possible
5. everyone has access to at least basic needs, such as good food, water, shelter and fuel at reasonable cost
6. everyone has the opportunity to undertake satisfying work in a diverse economy
   
7. people's good health is protected
8. access to facilities, services, goods and other people are not achieved at the expense of the environment
9. people are able to live without fear of personal violence from crime or persecution
10. everyone has access to skills, knowledge and information
11. all sections of the community have a real say in what happens in their area
12. opportunities for culture, leisure and recreation are readily available to all
13. the local distinctiveness and diversity of the area is valued and protected

Fancy winning a prize !

Calling all KES pupils...

Young Geographer of the Year Competition

The theme this year is "Explore your World"...

You need to explore this theme, and there are lots of different formats that the work can take.

Click the link to go the GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE and find out more.

We want you to carry out a project that involves you exploring the world around you. The project must be completed somewhere in the UK, and must involve you getting out into the real world and making a geographical investigation – it could be a survey of your local streets or a study of a stretch of coastline. We want you to bring geography alive and show how it helps us to understand the world in which we live.

Your entry can take whatever form you think is most appropriate – be it a written report, a short video film, a photographic essay, an annotated map, an audio file or a mix of all of these. The important thing is that you get out of the classroom, away from your computer screen and into the outside world.

And what are the prizes ?

Prizes

Senior Geographer (16–18 years)
WIN! Mountain explorers wanted! Journey into the unexplored. Win a place on a month-long expedition to the Himalayas this summer and discover a whole new world of adventure, courtesy of BSES Expeditions


Young Geographer (13–15 years)

Junior Geographer (12 and under)

WIN! Both the Young and Junior category winners will receive a mountain bike courtesy of Specialized

From the mean streets to demanding dirt trials, this bike will deliver utility and durability without missing a beat.

Mythconceptions of Place and Cultural Quiz

We used Tony's Cultural Quiz in today's lesson and you liked it a lot, especially Beethoven's 5th Symphony !
Good feedback - "fun", "good", "enjoyed that", "wicked.." etc... We all did better on the popular culture than the elite culture except for one tie...

Also coming up is another resource from one of my virtual Geography colleagues, this time it's Val from Scotland. Back in 2005, she looked at the ways in which Scotland was represented as a place, and here are the first few slides from the presentation that she used at the GA Conference. I was present at her session, and we even got some pictures in the GA Magazine...We're going to do a similar exercise with Liverpool, and some other places possibly...
How are places represented ?
Year 9s will also become familiar with the ideas here as they are used to explore the images and mythconceptions that we have about China...

Liverpool: European Capital of Culture

Liverpool is the European Capital of Culture for 2008.

There is a special event being held in Liverpool tonight to kick start the year.

Liverpool shares the distinction with Stavanger, a rather nice city in Norway I spent a couple of weeks in as a student... many years ago.

The BBC have produced a useful set of resources on the city, and a comparison between the 2 cities.

There has been lots of coverage in the local press: thanks to Stephen Schwab for the information on that link.

How is Liverpool likely to benefit ? Fits into the idea of rebranding the city too...

I am looking to do a project where students in Liverpool exchange information with students at my school relating to cultural aspects and the changing nature of the town / city where they live.

The Education Guardian published a very useful piece, with some good lesson ideas.

I am grateful to those colleagues who have already volunteered to help via the posting on the SLN Forum.

Thanks to those who have sent their memories of the city too. All this will feed into the creative works...

The Guardian Article: THE EYES OF THE WORLD ARE ON LIVERPOOL

A good list of some of the events at this IC WALES article.
How about an audit of the events, and an exploration of the types of culture that are included.
More on the HERITAGE CITY status.

The BBC News site has lots of useful articles.

Check out the Liverpool08 site for a shop with lots of promotional stuff: clothing, books, DVDs etc.

Look at the banner headings on the site: which aspects of Culture have they chosen ?

The site also has a series of postcards, which can be sent electronically.
Look at the images on the postcards. Which aspects of the CULTURE of Liverpool have they selected for these cards ? Could you design some of your own for your own place ? Or for Liverpool ?


Update: the Liverpool Echo had a lot of coverage of the evening, but the front page also shows something that was mentioned in the BBC coverage yesterday morning - nowhere is perfect of course - remember that this aspect of geography relates to the image of a place that people have, and the factors that help create that image.

Is Svalbard quite as extreme as it used to be ?

Svalbard is our extreme environment for Year 10.
It's the middle of winter, so it's really cold there, right ?
Well in fact it's not as cold as it should be...

Thanks to my virtual colleague Richard Allaway for pointing out the article from the TREEHUGGER site.

Apparently, according to the site:

The "normal" early January temperature for the Norwegian Arctic Ocean island of Svalbard is around -14 degrees Celsius. But last Wednesday, Svalbard was the warmest place in all of Norway, with temperatures at the airport a relatively balmy +5.8 degrees. December 2007 was the warmest month on record for all of the region of northern Norway, and in Svalbard 2007's warm temperatures were topped only by...2006.

Perhaps the ominous warmth is one of the reasons Svalbard is pushing itself hard to be CO2-free by 2025. Svalbard has a rich coal industry and is dependent on coal-fired energy, making local scientists eager to test out creation of an underground CO2 storage facility in the town of Longyearbyen.

The photo below is from Laurel McFadden's COLD PHOTO blog.

Picture copyright Laurel McFadden

England, Half English...

(the logo of the England football team)"...those three lions on your shirt
They never sprang from England’s dirt
Them lion’s are half-English
And I’m half-English too"

We'll be using the lyrics and music to this song to explore some of our Cultural Geography ideas.
What things which you might consider to be typically "English" are actually from somewhere else ?

For those who want to find out more, the song is by Billy Bragg.

King's Lynn...

You'll remember that we had a video called "Our Town" where we looked at images of King's Lynn.
The next activity is for you to find out about the town. There are a series of headings which you need to consider...

We are going to need to have detailed information on our place so that we can answer the questions which appear in the 2nd "slide" above, taken from the presentation you were given in today's lesson.

Cultural Introduction for Year 11

Cultural Objects

This is an idea from Tony Cassidy from last year. We are going to use it to start to think about the cultural changes that have happened, and what we mean by culture. This is Tony thinking back to his teenage years (as you can see, he's quite young...)
The cultural objects relate to particular areas:
These are the headings that Tony used: are there any other headings that you think we should perhaps use in the work:

• Social Network
• Mobile Phone Network
• Website
• Gang / Group
• Catchphrase
• Graffiti Tag

Here is another set:
and here are mine:
What about you ? What are your cultural objects ?
How have your cultural objects changed ? Where are they manufactured ?

The Imagined Village

One of the CDs I've been listening to a lot is 'The Imagined Village'.

This CLIP is an interview with John Copper of the Copper Family: a dynasty of English folk singers.

Towards the end of the interview Simon Emmerson, the producer of the album refers to "musical geography"...
Worth watching the clips.

Scott vs Shackleton

Regular readers of the blog will know that when we discuss the exploration of the Antarctic, we always stress the tremendous story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition to the South Pole, and the story of the James Caird. For more on this, visit the Shackleton page of GeographyPages.

The BBC News Magazine has an interesting comparison of Scott and Shackleton, and a vote is underway as to who was the greatest.

At the moment it's gratifying to see that with over 14 000 votes cast, "The Boss" is well in the lead.

Visit and cast your vote...

Sustainable Housing

Today we looked at the houses which are being built in South Lynn as part of the Millennium Community (check the labels column to find previous posts on this topic)

The YOURS South Lynn website is another good place to go for information on the proposed community and the houses that are being built.

Also some slides from when Mr. Clarke visited last year (keep an eye out for a visit soon...)

How can you design a sustainable community and an eco-friendly house ?

Cultural Geography - Year 11

We are going to be starting this topic next week. In advance, you need to consider further what we talked about today - what is culture ? is culture related to class ? is culture affected by location / age / social status / what you can afford ?
Why do some people slob out in front of soaps and others slob out in front of Wagner's Ring Cycle ?

Are our parents important in determining what we like ? (or not like ?)

Do our tastes change as we get older ?

What culture have you been exposed to ?
Are you receptive to new cultural ideas or do you prefer the status quo (no, I don't mean the band...)

Are you a Culture Vulture ? or a Culture Hamster...

Check out the dedicated CULTCHA blog for more... Remember that all the content is not available at school due to filtering of YouTube / Flickr etc.

Young Voices

Just had a comment added to another post about a project called Young Voices.
On 15th January the project workers are visiting Gaywood and are keen to involve people in making films.
The project has already been into KES to speak to 2 Chinese students.

Visit the website to find out more...

"The Estuary" on Radio 4

Year 10
Try to listen to this series of short 15 minute programmes on The Wash: part of "My Place"...

Listen again on Radio 4.. Click the banner above to launch the iPlayer...
Also search through the previous posts on The Wash. This is somewhere that is on your doorstep...
How much do you know about it ?

Covers an area of a quarter of a million acres.
Controlled by the ebb and flow of the tides.

First programme looks at the origins of the Wash
Image by Mister P

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my readers....

Here's one way to spend £1 million...




This is the year when you need to get down to some serious work !