GA Conference 2013

I'm preparing my contributions to the Geographical Association Conference today.

The conference will be held at the University of Derby, which is my favourite of the three venues. It runs from the 4th to the 6th of April.

The first day of the conference doesn't involve any of the usual workshops.
I will be heading over to the Association at Work session to grab a bite to eat, and chat to Ian Cook (who features in this month's 'Geographical' magazine coincidentally) to talk about a Follow the Things project I'm doing between now and the end of June.

Later that afternoon, it's the public lecture from Ellen MacArthur, followed by the GA Awards. I know that something I worked on has won an award, and there may be a few more in the offing too...
Then it's the wine reception, followed by a few drinks with esteemed geographer colleagues...

Friday is the main day of the conference, with sessions from early in the morning to late in the evening. My draft schedule is as follows:

9am

Lecture 2

Oceans for the Geography Classroom from Jamie Buchanan Dunlop. I've worked with Jamie on three different projects this year for Digital Explorer.

10

Workshop 6

Ian Cook – Follow the Things 

A controversial choice as this clashes with Bob Digby's Presidential Lecture, but I'll be going along to get ideas and pointers for the work I'm doing with Ian. I'm sure there'll be a big turn out for Bob's lecture so I won't be missed...

11.45

Workshop 11 – SPC

I'll be going along to support SPC colleagues in their workshop.

Lunch, and a chance to network with colleagues. I'll also spend some time on the Discover the World stand to share ideas on the mission booklet which we've put together with them.

1.50

Lecture 7

David Lambert

My old boss talking about the thorny subject of progression in Geography - what's not to like.

2.55

Workshop 20

APPening Geography 

I'm up on this one. Katy Shipman and I will talk about apps, and their use in geography. We'll ask people about their favourite apps, and explore how they can support learning.

4.30

Workshop 26
I'm up on this one as well.. going to be a busy couple of hours !

Two Hundred Heads are better than one
I'm going to act as master of ceremonies, and introduce two sessions by Tony Cassidy and John Sayers. They are both on the theme of collaborative work, and the importance of sharing. 

5.35

Lecture 13

Urban Vignettes - Emma Rawlings-Smith and other colleagues who are involved in setting up a website with writing on urban areas. I'm hoping I can get across in time to join this one.

SPC Meal - down into Derby Centre for a pizza and a chat with colleagues...

GeoBeerMeet - over to the Brunswick Inn near the railway station for a gathering of teachers and some fine ale...

Sign up for the event on Google+ here

After the GeoBeerMeet I shall sleep soundly, knowing that my major contributions to the event have been concluded.

The second main day of the conference is on Saturday.

9am

Lecture 13

Digital Earth - a lecture by Karl Donert, related to an EU project which I am involved in, and which has taken me to various European locations... which is nice :)

10.10

Keynote – the changing Arctic

Terry Callaghan lecture - an important element of the conference is the chance to develop knowledge and skills in new areas. This is an area that I've been focussing on with some reading, and will develop further for some writing I'm planning in 2013 and beyond.

11.45

Mission Explore fieldtrip - a quick trip out, with a trial of some of the missions in the book

1.50

Forum

Bringing knowledge back in
A range of contributors from the various UK nations...

If you're going along to the conference, come and say hello.
Happy to sign your copy of the BADGER GCSE book :)

GCSE Geography request...

I'm interested in the support strategies for GCSE Geography that seem to work the best for you.

I've also set this post up to show the potential for using GOOGLE FORMS for collecting data. This can be used for data collection for KS3 and GCSE/'A' level projects. It features in a new book on 'Fieldwork through Enquiry', which I wrote for the Geographical Association, and will be published later this year.

If you have a GMail account, you will already have a Google Drive available to you, which you can claim by visiting the site.
There is a HELP PAGE here.

If you had a minute or so to fill in the few questions that I've added below that would be much appreciated. As any entries are made, they will appear on a spreadsheet, and can then be analysed. There are also some immediate visualisation options....
Thanks in advance...

Useful Tourism infographic

Why not create some local endangered places which people should visit soon ?
With thanks to Noel Jenkins for bringing this to my attention...

Local area comparisons: a possible format to teach this....

Each year, the RGS-IBG run a competition in association with Geographical Magazine.
It's called the Young Geographer of the Year Award.

The details have just been announced of this year's competition.


The competition began in 2000 and has become a regular feature in many schools' calendars.
The question for Young Geographer of the Year 2013, run jointly with Geographical, is:

How does either the human or physical geography of your local area compare to the rest of the UK? 

Pupils should use different sources of geographical information and data to research their local area and compare it to the national picture in the UK. This might include using census or climate data, and examining urban change or flood risk. However, the choice is open to you to explore relevant data to your local area.
The competition has categories for Key Stage 2 (KS2), KS3, GCSE and A Level students. 

The Society encourages schools to run their own in-school competition before sending their top entries into the national competition.
We particularly welcome entries which:

• Can demonstrate a good use of different and relevant data
• Focus on and explain a small number of geographical features and information about them. We do not need to know everything about your local area and would prefer you to select some key data
• May also involve first-hand observation in the local area

Entries for the Young Geographer of the Year competition must be received by 5.00pm on the 11 October 2013.

Rex Walford Award 2013 – for student teachers or teaching colleagues new to the classroom

The same question will also form the basis of the accompanying Rex Walford Award, which is for teachers in either their student training year (for example: PGCE, Schools Direct) or who have just started in the classroom (for example: NTQ, Teach First). Entries should include lesson notes or a scheme of work to cover two or three lessons exploring this issue and we particularly welcome entries which include opportunities for data handling and fieldwork. 
Entries for the Rex Walford Award must be received by 5.00pm on the 11 October 2013.

Go to the RGS-IBG website for further information and entry forms...

OSIRIS CPD for GCSE Geography

I have another new strand in my activities starting this year.

I have previously led hundreds of CPD events all over the country for the GA, and beyond the UK for digitalearth, but I will be doing some events for OSIRIS for the first time.

OSIRIS offer a range of courses for different subjects.

I will be leading two different courses, which will be put on several times at several different locations.

The first is a course called 'All Pupils pass GCSE Geography' 
This will be held twice during March, in London and Birmingham.
Details of this course can be read HERE.

This will draw on some of the ideas from the book that I wrote for Badger, and which you can read about in the book's accompanying blog HERE.

The second is a course on the 'Future of Secondary Geography', which will look at all the coming changes and equip you with strategies and resources to prepare for, and implement the coming changes at KS3 and 'A' level, and the introduction of the EBC....
This is a new course, which will be put on in London, Birmingham and Manchester in July - dates are still to be confirmed. It will draw on a new book that was published by Routledge in December 2012, and which I contributed a chapter too. Details can be read HERE.
I shall let you know when details are added to the website - we are finalising the details of the course, which will involve all new exciting  materials.

Both courses are, at heart, opportunities to get together and learn from the practice of others, as well as take time out of the daily stream of demands to plot a steady course through some of the changes ahead, and prepare students effectively for formal assessments.

Head over to the OSIRIS website to find out more about their courses in a range of subject areas.

I look forward to perhaps seeing some of you at these courses.

Introducing Urban Geography

The Badger book explores the importance of video and engaging starters...
Thanks to Shaf Hansraj for the tip-off to this wonderful vintage movie to start off a unit on Urban change....


Housing Problems (1935) from bifurcaciones on Vimeo.

New Year... new Geography book...

Why not treat yourself to a new book to guide you through the new GCSE specifications and the teaching that you will be doing this year....
Why not buy this one :)

Coming soon: a post on the updated GCSE Specifications, iGCSE and also the EBacc.....

I-USE Statistics.... a new EU project

Statistics form an important part of any GCSE Geography course.
Students need to use data of various kinds which allow them to explore and interpret the meaning behind them.

As I write this, I am freshly back from a 3 day meeting in Belgium to launch a new European project.

The project is called I-USE.

The context is a simple, but important one.
It's about making sense of a world of data...

Statistical literacy is becoming increasingly important. This includes an element of information literacy, but also digital literacy.

Students (and teachers) are now living in a society that demands evidence-based arguments and decisions. While the world is changing rapidly with respect to the prevalence and use of statistics, the curriculum in schools and the approaches teachers adopt tend to be slow to respond to such changes. Therefore creating meaningful, innovative teacher training plays a crucial role in developing statistical thought processes.

Using statistics provides simple yet instant information on the matter it centres on. Modern computer-based visualisations create a vivid presentation of collected and organized data through the use of figures, charts, living and interactive diagrams and graphs, which helps lead to more critical analyses of information. 

Teachers do not always consider new forms of visualising statistical information as part of curriculum courses as they are not explicitly mentioned. As a result, in some secondary schools, many students don’t have an opportunity to learn to work with statistics and computer-based visualisations. 

Therefore, despite the fact that statistics offers powerful tools for information analysis and interpretation, many students are unable to extract meaning from the data and information they are presented with. 

The dilemma is that as more data becomes readily available and the tools for visualising and analysing the data become more sophisticated, the ability to produce useful information from the analyses is outpacing the capacity to use the knowledge productively.

The project will support teachers and learners to explore a world data and create meaning....

It connects with the EU's Digital Agenda 2020 and the INSPIRE directive.

You can follow the progress of the I-USE project on a range of social media strands.
These are now live...

Twitter feed @StatsinEdu
Blog: I use Stats in Edu

The Ice Man

Since I wrote the Badger book I've also been working on several other books, and I'm going to be doing several more in 2013....
This is my latest book which is now available from various online book retailers....

Case Study Updates...

One of the challenges for GCSE teachers is to keep case studies up to date.

The ARAL SEA remains one of the most important examples of the consequences of a mis-management of a resource by humans.

This Al Jazeera English video is a good example of one source of additional information on this area, which is obviously continuing to develop and change over time. It's important to follow up case studies which might be featured in text books, particularly as the publication date gets further and further away from the present day....


Al Jazeera often focus on topics that are familiar to UK students, but sometimes approach them from a slightly different angle.

Of course whichever case studies you use, or specification you have selected, the Badger book provides a range of ideas for making the most of them.

A longer Al Jazeera programme, on the 'People of the Lake' is here, although there's a lot of subtitle reading to do... Would this be a video that you would use ?
If you were using it, how could it be made more 'accessible' for learners ?
Do we want to do all the work for the students ??