Sunday 30 September 2012

Perfect for Edexcel B GCSE Geography

The OCEANS ON THE EDGE unit... 

  This news article explains the background to a project which I've been slightly involved in on the sidelines for a while now, and am just finishing off the 2nd of a series of resource contributions to what will become a major resource for geography and science teachers. While waiting for a connecting flight in Dusseldorf airport, this was a major feature on the German news, so it's been getting good coverage.

To watch more, take a view at this remarkable video:


The project is in association with Jamie Buchanan Dunlop and the team at Digital Explorer, who have worked with Catlin: the insurance company which is funding this project previously (as did I) on the Frozen Oceans resource pack.

Catlin Seafloor Survey is underway and the first of tens of thousands of images have now been released.
Some remarkable pictures from the tool are available here...

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the World's great places, and a World Heritage Site.

Perhaps with these 'virtual' trips there will be less need for people to physically visit the areas which are threatened and fragile, or will they actually encourage more people to visit them ?

I'll keep you posted on the resources as they are produced. Jamie is heading out to Australia shortly to work on some video materials. The final pack is due out at the end of the year, or early 2013.... 

Friday 28 September 2012

Teaching OCR GCSE Geography ?

Just got this message from the OCR newsletter/e-mail for those who teach this specification.

GCSE Geography A and Geography B have received accreditation for first teaching September 2012. Following the recent redevelopments, some aspects of the content and assessment have changed.
The full details of the changes can be found in our accredited specifications for Geography A and Geography B and the sample assessment materials are available to download.
View all accredited documents for Geography A
View all accredited documents for Geography B
View all accredited documents for Geography Short Course
Controlled Assessment
The Controlled Assessment task titles for 2014 for Geography A and B specification are available to download from OCR Interchange.
See earlier post with reference to Chapter 6 of the Badger book which covers this....

Learning outside the Classroom

Chapter 6 of the Badger Geography Grade Booster book talks about the importance of appropriate fieldwork for the data collection element of the Controlled Assessment.

This will still be a part of GCSE courses for a good few years yet, and if/when it is finally replaced, there will still be fieldwork and longer projects which means the advice in the Chapter will still be relevant.

Fieldwork learning comes under the banner of Learning outside the Classroom.

I'm delighted to announce that the Geography Collective has been shortlisted for a Learning outside the Classroom award.

We would be even more delighted if you would consider voting for us, especially if you have been enthused by our Mission:Explore books, app or website, or perhaps been visited by us, seen us at Glastonbury, Latitude or the Hay Festival, ridden on buses in Suffolk, cycled along Sustrans routes in many cities, explored the Great Glen with Discover Explore or in some other geographical context...

We're going to be on the road in the next few months, and also will be running our Geography Camp in December, of which more later...

Please click the link and give us your vote. Thanks :)

Saturday 1 September 2012

One year down...

A year ago, I was just coming to terms with the (premature) end of my job at the Geographical Association after three wonderful years, and decided to try things out as a freelance geographer: author, consultant, trainer and whatever else people would pay me to do.
Here's a visual summary of what I've been up to, made with Tagxedo

As it happens, my extensive networking over the previous decade meant that I had a few projects to start in on, the Geography Collective was going from strength to strength, and I was fortunate to get a temporary contract managing the OU's VITAL CPD portal. Paula Owens involved me in a writing job for the BBC, and together we produced a major resource for the Digimap for Schools for EDINA. Thanks also to Richard Allaway, who asked me to write content for his Geography all the Way website and collaborate on an innovative series of eBooks, the first of which is now available to download from the iBookstore.

The writing work I did for the RGS-IBG's From the Field, working to translate the research of PhD colleagues, was later awarded a GA Silver Award, as was the Geography Collective's MissionExplore.net. Our books had won a National Trust / Hay Festival Outdoor Book of the Year Award, and we were also runners-up at the Educational Writers' Awards, with the ceremony held at the House of Commons. I produced a set of resources on the Frozen Oceans for Jamie Buchanan Dunlop which are now used in hundreds of schools, and we've worked on a few more things as well...

I wrote a book for Badger publishing: a GCSE Grade Booster, which was published in April. I also have a children's book on Otzi the Ice Man due for publication in November 2012.

Karl Donert involved me in a range of EU projects, and steered another one to successfully gaining funding. This took me to Europe several times, and my passport will continue to get regular use for the next few years. The digitalearth project took me to Manchester for the GA's conference where I met the tireless Joseph Kerski. Paul Baker involved me in Independent School events.

I've found myself in many different hotels once again, and there have been plenty of highlights, and also lots of lonely days staring at a screen willing ideas. Some moments that stick out from the last year involve:

  • splashing along muddy towpaths on the outskirts of Leeds on my bike writing 'missions' for SUSTRANS 
  • standing on the viewpoint at over 3000m on the Aiguille du' Midi with Richard Allaway and staring at the clouds we'd just passed through in the cablecar
  • crunching through the snow in Salzburg on a Sunday morning as the churches in the city competed with each other to have the loudest bells
  • presenting at BETT and then heading across London to the Outdoor Show to join the Geography Collective on their stand
  • sailing up the Solent on a tall ship, and taking the helm
  • walking on the frozen ice of the Worthersee (don't try this at home kids)
  • attending the book launch of Mission:Explore Food at Hackney City Farm
  • walking around the Olympic Park with John Widdowson and a school group

Oh, and I have a book manuscript co-written with John Widdowson, which has to be on the desk of Ruth Totterdell at the GA first thing Monday morning !
Here's to my 2nd year of freelancing. Unless I get an offer to entice me back into the classroom somewhere in Norfolk, I'll carry on doing what I'm doing for a while yet.

And I have a reasonable number of diary slots through into 2013 if you fancy getting me involved with something you have planned...