geogtastic!

Brrrr!!

2012-02-01T20:02:00.004Z

It has been a bit chilly today to say the least, and this map from the Met Office shows that there are warnings of severe cold weather in place across much of the country.

The cause of the cold weather is the high pressure system that is currently sitting over northern Russia...

The Year 8 geographers have been looking at air pressure and how it affects the weather, so they should be able to tell you all about what's happening at the moment.

However cold we might think it is here though, we come off pretty lightly... Temperatures in eastern Europe have reached -32oC in places, Hungary is experiencing the lowest temperatures it's seen in 65 years, and more than 70 people have died as a result of the cold temperatures.

There is a fantastic set of photos here of the coast of Romania, where the Black Sea is frozen!!

Montserrat

2011-09-30T17:38:00.004Z

The Year 9 geographers have been having a look at Montserrat in their geography lessons this week... The Montserrat Volcanic Observatory have just posted this lovely photo on their Facebook page... Click on the photo to link to the MVO website.

London 2 London

2011-08-05T08:38:00.003Z

I've just come across this very interesting sounding expedition via Twitter. Sarah Outen left London on 1st April 2011 and her plan is to travel all the way round the world and back to London using only her own power - three continents and two oceans by boat and bike!

Check out Sarah's expedition website here. You can also follow Sarah's progress via Facebook and Twitter.

Move...

2011-08-04T09:32:00.002Z

Fantastic video via @al_humphreys... Probably coming to a Geography lesson near you in September!

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

GROW

2011-07-23T10:22:00.003Z

Nice video to launch Oxfam's new food security campaign.

Click here to find out more and get involved.

Summer Geography Competition

2011-07-12T18:33:00.003Z

Wherever you are heading over the summer holidays, keep an eye out for all things geographical so that you can enter our lovely competition...

The competition is open to all students who will be in Year 8, 9, 10 or 11 in September, and there'll be a prize for each year group.

Your challenge is to create a collage of your geographical summer holiday. You might want to include maps, photographs, tickets, objects.... from places you visit. It doesn't matter whether you're going to Crich Tramway Museum or the Great Wall of China, and your collage can be based on a day, a week or the whole summer holiday.

Entries will be judged on creativity, imagination and geographical-ness...

Your entry needs to be handed to Miss Ellis in H7 by the end of the day on Friday 9th September, and must be clearly labelled with your full name and your [new] form.

Have fun!!

A new nation

2011-07-09T08:48:00.004Z

The Guardian has its version of 'the new world map' here. It's new because it includes South Sudan - the world's newest country as of today. You can read more about South Sudan from the BBC here and on the Worldmapper blog.

Young Geographer of the Year 2011

2011-06-19T10:38:00.003Z

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.

Where the hell is Matt?

2010-12-12T19:58:00.004Z

The Year 8 geographers have enjoyed watching "Dancing Matt" and finding out more about the huge range of places that he's visited.

You can find out more about Matt and his dancing on his website - but there are one or two rude words on there... you've been warned!

This is where it all began:

The first video sponsored by Stride:

And the second:

And most recently, in the run-up to the World Cup, Matt danced the Diski around South Africa:

For their homework this week, my Yr8s were asked to think about where in the world they would most like to dance with Matt and why... Here are the first two:

Charlie: The place I would like to dance with Matt is Paro, Bhutan because the scenery is very nice and it looks very interesting because all of the different colours.

Regan: I would dance with Matt in Andorra, because the views and heights make Andorra very relaxing in the summer. It is a very warm place in the summer and a very cold place in the winter. Andorra is well known for all the snow in the winter, the heights make Andorra very good for winter sports and the snow would make the views even more special.

Interesting choices gentlemen - I'll add some more as they arrive... And if you're not in my Yr8 Geography group, leave a comment and let us know where YOU would most like to dance with Matt, and why!

#UKSnowDepth

2010-12-02T20:20:00.002Z

Following on from the #uksnow map started last year, Tom Barrett has set up a UK Snow Depth map... Measure the depth of your snow, and add it to the map:

View #UKSnowDepth in a larger map

Snow!!

2010-12-02T19:13:00.003Z

If you're getting bored (?!) of sledging and snowman-building, have a go at one of these geographical snow challenges:

1. Measure the depth of undisturbed snow in different places - how and why does it vary?

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. Go follow some footprints in the snow... Who or what made them?

12. Make a Frozen Earth video - Grace in Yr11 made a fantastic Urban Earth style video in January, taking photos every 8 steps on a walk through her snowy village... Upload it to Vimeo or YouTube and email me the link.

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

Snow Missions...

2010-11-30T12:50:00.002Z

I've posted a few times about the excellent Mission: Explore... but now there are Snow Missions! Try some of them out and leave a comment or send me an email with your evidence Or have a go at creating your own snow mission...

If you're a Twitter type, search #SnowMission...

Work for 8D

2010-10-31T22:57:00.005Z

Good morning 8D! I'm sorry that I am not there for your first lesson back... However... Your challenge for today is to use Google Earth to produce a fantastic piece of art work... Below are two of my favourite examples from Year 8 groups over the past couple of years, and you can see some of the others by clicking here.

To make your own...

1. Open Google Earth (Start, Swanwick Hall, Humanities, Google Earth).

2. Spend some time exploring, and find yourself a beautiful view.

3. Open a new Ppt presentation.

4. Back in Google Earth, make sure you are happy with your view - do you want to zoom in or out, or tilt it? You'll probably also want to turn several layers (Gallery, Panoramio, Borders and Labels, etc. off - do this towards the bottom of the sidebar on the left - this will remove "clutter" from your view), then take a screenshot (hold down Ctrl + press PrtScn).

5. Paste your screenshot into your Ppt slide.

6. Crop your screenshot until you are happy with it.

7. Right-click on your picture, and select "Save as picture..." Give your picture a sensible name, and save it in your user area (preferably in a Geography folder!). Check that the filetype (in the dropdown box below where you type the filename) is .png or .jpg.

8. Go to the Big Huge Labs website. Upload your picture, and then experiment with colours, etc. and give your work a caption.

9. When you are completely happy with it, click Create. Once your finished poster appears, you can either go back and edit it, or click Save. Save the file to your computer, giving it a filename that includes your name.

10. Open your school emails. Type vel into the address bar, and then attach your finished work (not the screenshot from your ppt). Send!

I am expecting AT LEAST one brilliant piece of work from each of you, and we'll have a look at everyone's work when I see you on Tuesday.

Good luck and have fun! Miss Ellis :)

Oops!

2010-10-31T22:55:00.003Z

Not sure what has happened that has meant it's half a term since my last post here.... Especially when there have been lots of geographical bits and pieces to be blogging about... Some updates coming in the next few weeks.

Congratulations!!!

2010-08-20T19:58:00.004Z

Yesterday was A Level Results Day, and the Year 13s achieved the best A Level Geography results that there've been during my time at Swanwick (and quite possibly before that too!)... all nine of them got C grades or above!

They were the first cohort to go through the "new" A Level course, and this was the first year that it was possible to achieve an A* grade at A Level. And two of the geographers - Jo and Michael - did just that!! (Their A*s were two of only seven in the school!)

Well done Year 13 (and I guess that makes you officially "the best A Level Geography group"!!) - very best wishes for the future, whatever you are doing (even if it's not a Geography degree...).

Map Addict

2010-08-05T10:12:00.002Z

I have just finished reading Map Addict by Mike Parker which (as well as making me realise I am not quite so obsessed with maps as I could be) was a brilliant read - full of interesting geography, history and stories that make you nod and smile in an "I know just what you mean" sort of way. Click on the picture for the Amazon link.

Disclaimer - there are some rude words in it.

West Yorkshire in Ten Squares

2010-07-31T10:10:00.005Z

I was interested to read an article in the Yorkshire Post this morning about Alan Burnett, a blogger (and formerly lecturer, writer and bus conductor), who grew up in Yorkshire and is now three weeks into a project in which he is exploring, photographing and writing about ten randomly selected grid squares in a West Yorkshire road atlas.

I'm possibly a little bit biased, having grown up in West Yorkshire myself, but Alan's blogposts of the project so far - Little Germany in Bradford, Ilkley Moor, and Woodlesford (of which I had never heard) make very interesting reading, and I'm looking forward to seeing where he goes next...

West Yorkshire in Ten Squares

And as I was writing that, the fourth instalment's been added... Grid square 4 was Calverley, just down the road from my parents' house, and where one of my best friends from school used to live.

Fault-Line Living

2010-07-30T09:51:00.002Z

On Saturday, the Fault-Line Living team will set off on their 15,000 mile expedition from Iceland to Iran, to investigate the stories of people living on faultlines. The expedition is sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society and Landrover, and the team will be carrying seismometers provided by the BGS with them.

The expedition website is here and you can also follow their progress on their Facebook page.

Mission: Explore!

2010-07-26T13:30:00.003Z

Not the first time I've mentioned Mission: Explore, but as well as the brilliant book (if you haven't bought it, you should) there's now an iPhone app - Mission: Explore London. The app contains a variety of missions located around London, and some "anywhere missions", that, surprisingly enough, you can do anywhere.

You can report on your missions via the app and on Twitter, but it would be great to hear some of your stories here too... Leave a comment or send me an email with tales of your adventures, preferably with photographic evidence... There might even be a prize for the best one...

A geographer in New York...

2010-06-22T20:51:00.004Z

Back in Feburary, at half-term, it was far colder than it is now, and I was standing in a [very long] queue with a bunch of sixth form historians to go through super-sensitive metal detectors to get on a ferry to Ellis Island (woohoo - it must be named after you Miss!) and the Statue of Liberty. Partly, I was concerned about whether a certain student would be allowed through security with her very attractive leg splint and walking stick, but mostly I was hoping that the Battery Park Busker would not pick on me next... Luckily, he didn't - that leg splint and walking stick were far more interesting topics for the next song.

Several months later, I had some nice memories of the USA trip, and am hoping to go and visit again soon, but had forgotten all about the Battery Park Busker until I heard he'd been tracked down on YouTube and identified as Freddy Harrington. There are various videos of Freddy and his songs on YouTube, but I was particulary interested to find this one, in which he is interviewed, and he talks about the fact that he is a teacher, and about teaching his daughter about USA geography, and about our increasing connections with the rest of the world... If I go to New York again, and Freddy is there, I'll be sure to have a chat to him about some geography!

Strange Worlds

2010-06-19T11:23:00.003Z

Strange Worlds is an amazing set of miniature landscape models, made by a New Jersey artist called Matthew Albanese, from all sorts of things ranging from paprika to feathers to fireplace ash!

Check out the Strange Worlds photostream on Flickr... Could you make your own??

Young Geographer of the Year 2010

2010-06-19T10:26:00.002Z

"Sorting the wood from the trees; the future of forests" is the title of this year's Young Geographer of the Year competition, organised by the RGS-IBG.

It would be brilliant to have some Swanwick entries this year... Find out more on the Geographical website, or come and speak to me next week...

Good luck!!

Historypin

2010-06-05T09:17:00.004Z

One of my most recent discoveries is Historypin - essentially, people (including you, if you like) can scan old photos and "pin" them to a Google Map, and also add stories to the photos. Explorers of the map can compare the historical photos with what's there now, and the photos can also be viewed in StreetView. It's still in Beta so a bit temperamental at the moment, but potentially a very interesting and useful resource...

Anyone can explore the map - if you want to add photos and/or stories, you'll need to sign in with your Google account.

Click on the screenshot to link to the site, or have a look at this YouTube video to find out more:

Is Dora the Explorer an illegal immigrant?

2010-05-22T08:09:00.002Z

Interesting geographical things to do....

2010-05-08T10:00:00.002Z

Mark Beaumont (aka "The Man who Cycled the World" and "The Man who Cycled The Americas") is doing a lecture tour at the moment, and will be at the Assembly Rooms in Derby on Friday 14th May. I went to the Loughborough lecture, and it was brilliant.... More information and the link to book tickets on Mark's website... Go and see him!

Also, if you are in Nottingham, you might like to visit the Nottingham Contemporary, where there is a new exhibition starting today - "Uneven Geographies: Art and Globalisation"... looks interesting!

How big is the oil spill?

2010-05-08T08:10:00.002Z

Attempts to manage the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are still ongoing and, in amongst all the election talk, there are various news articles about the impacts of the oil spill and the consequences for BP. The BBC's coverage is here.

Below is a screenshot from a nice Google Earth interactive map that allows you to compare the extent of the oil spill (which might not look that big when it's in the sea) to various cities around the world. Click on the picture to link to the site.

Eyjafjallajokull

2010-05-02T08:57:00.003Z

It might not be making the headlines in the UK any more, now that it's not stopping flights and inconveniencing us so much, but the Eyjafjallajokull activity definitely hasn't stopped. The image below was the view from the Vodafone webcam a few minutes ago...

US oil spill

2010-05-02T08:30:00.003Z

The situation in the Gulf of Mexico and on the south coast of the USA continues to worsen following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

11 workers were killed when the oil rig exploded on 22nd April, and it is thought that upto 5000 barrels of oil a day are continuing to pour into the Gulf of Mexico. The map below (from the New York Times) shows the extent of the oil spill which has been described as a "true catastrophe", and which has caused a state of emergency to be declared in Louisiana. Click on the map to link to the interactive version on the NY Times site, and here to link to the coverage of the disaster from the Guardian.

Some brilliant Eyjafjallajokull images... And how DO you say it?

2010-04-20T18:39:00.004Z

Some more stunning images from The Big Picture of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption and its impacts here.

And for those of you who've not yet seen it (and those of you who've seen it several times in lessons and still haven't mastered the pronounciation):

Planes or volcano...?

2010-04-16T20:09:00.003Z

No, I'm not bored yet! Click on the picture to link to the site...

Ash Friday...

2010-04-16T13:56:00.004Z

The Newseum website is an excellent website where you can access, amongst other things, front pages from newspapers across the world. Here's their top ten from today... dubbed Ash Friday...Click on the picture above to link to the site.

Eyjafjallajokull on Flickr...

2010-04-16T13:33:00.002Z

Lots of amazing images of the eruption and its impacts on Flickr.

I particularly like those of steini3 and Helga*. Let me know if you find any other particularly good ones.

Ash...

2010-04-16T10:45:00.003Z

I'm pleased to see from some emails that you are keeping an eye on what's going on with Eyjafjallajokull at the moment. If you have missed the news (I'm not sure how you'd have managed to do that really...) a quick Google News search for "iceland volcano" will bring you up to speed!

In the midst of all the news about UK airports being closed though, there's not been much coverage of what's actually going on in Iceland - flash flooding caused by the melting of the glacier above the volcano has caused hundreds of residents to be evacuated... Find out more and practise your Icelandic with some of these news reports: http://dagskra.ruv.is/sjonvarpid/4497963/2010/04/15/6/ (there are links to several different news clips below the video) and check out Iceland Review, where there are frequent updates (and links to some impressive videos and photos) in English.

There's also an excellent set of links here to more images, blogs, webcams, etc. and the links I've collected so far (going back to the start of the eruption in March) are here.

My Coastal Life - Photo Competition

2010-04-15T09:19:00.002Z

Fantastic photo competition from Atlantic Rising... Watch the video to find out more, and let me know if you're interested in entering:

My Coastal Life from Atlantic Rising on Vimeo.

Mission: Explore

2010-04-10T17:08:00.002Z

I've posted about Mission: Explore before... But now the book is here, and it's excellent!

Check out the Mission: Explore website, follow @geocollective on Twitter, order a copy of the book, and get exploring!!

Another Iceland volcano webcam...

2010-03-31T16:03:00.005Z

This is the current image from a different webcam of the ongoing Icelandic volcanic eruption... Click on the picture to link to the webcam:

More Eyjafjallajokull activity...

2010-03-28T20:25:00.002Z

This screenshot was taken a few minutes ago from the webcam mentioned in the previous post. There's been plenty going on all day, but now that it's starting to get dark, things are starting to look even more impressive...

Ejyafjalljokull eruption

2010-03-28T09:39:00.006Z

Having been away all week with Year 12, I have missed out on the developments in Iceland, so catching up now.

There are further updates from Ian Hardie on this thread - well worth a read, and a several excellent webcams have been set up... Here's an image from one of them from a few minutes ago:Have a look this evening as it starts to get dark, and send me some screenshots!

http://mila.is/um-milu/vefmyndavelar/eyjafjallajokull-fra-fimmvorduhalsi/
http://www.mila.is/um-milu/vefmyndavelar/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/

Some nice aerial images here and a set of photos taken by a local farmer here on Flickr.

Icelandic volcanic eruption...

2010-03-21T21:37:00.003Z

You might well have seen on the news that an Icelandic volcano near Eyjafjallajoekull glacier has erupted today, after 200 years of dormancy. About 500 people have been evacuated from their homes.

The BBC report with some video footage is here and this is a link to a discussion on a Geography forum, which includes emails from Ian Hardie, who leads Rayburn Tours' Iceland Geography tours, and who has a home in the area.

Scott's on StreetView!

2010-03-15T22:55:00.004Z

You may or may not be aware that Google StreetView is now pretty much nationwide. After a quick look at my house the other day (which was photographed on a Monday morning, because the bins are out...), I investigated Swanwick, and spotted Scott:

Explore where you live and see if you're a StreetView Star too! There might be a prize or two if you can find yourself on StreetView and send me a screenshot...

In the meantime, you might also find this article from The Telegraph interesting.

Weather World Record Attempt

2010-03-11T12:47:00.006Z

Part of the BBC School News Report event involves an attempt to break the world record for the largest interactive weather report... Here's Aaron's report:

Schools all across the U.K today are taking part in a world record attempt to create the largest interactive weather report. Schools from the Shetland Isles to schools on Jersey and even schools on St Helena are taking a temperature reading at approximately 9:15am and emailing the temperature to the BBC Weather Centre to gather the readings and to see whether we can break the record and get into the Guinness World Record Book. Every school's temperature reading will have to be seen by an independent witness for their reading to be counted and go towards the record attempt.

At our school we took the temperature and it was 3◦C. our reading was witnessed by Mr Hickton who is a member of the Amber Valley Rotary Club.

Aaron checking the temperature

Geo School News Report

2010-03-11T06:48:00.002Z

A bunch of budding Year 8 and 9 geo-journalists will be taking part in the BBC's School News Report today...
Find out more on the BBC website, and watch this space for their stories.

Good luck Geo-News Report Team!!

A Day in New York...

2010-02-28T19:57:00.002Z

With my liking for timelapse photography, and my current love of all things New York, I was very impressed with this:

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

Chile earthquake

2010-02-28T19:36:00.003Z

By now you will no doubt have heard about the 8.8 earthquake that hit central Chile yesterday, triggering tsunami warnings in 53 countries around the Pacific. There are lots of news reports, and there are location maps and more details from the BGS, USGS and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

This map from the BBC shows the tsunami spreading across the Pacific Ocean:

The Boston Globe Big Picture, as ever, has some amazing images.

How Earth Made Us

2010-01-19T18:31:00.002Z

New Iain Stewart series starts this evening on BBC2, 9.00pm.

Professor Iain Stewart tells the epic story of how geology, geography and climate have influenced mankind.

Earthquake in Haiti

2010-01-13T13:36:00.003Z

Awful situation in Haiti at the moment as a result of a M7 earthquake - the worst in the area for 200 years - that struck the capital, Port-au-Prince, last night.

Haiti is one of the world's poorest countries, with many people living in poorly constructed slum dwellings. The death toll is already thought to be in the thousands, and the Red Cross estimate that up to three million people have been affected. The lack of infrastructure is a major issue, and the absence of ambulances, fire engines and emergency rescue teams is noticeable in the images that are appearing on the various news websites.

Emergency response teams from various countries including the UK, together with aid agencies such as Oxfam and ActionAid are preparing to fly out to Haiti, and the UN have released £6 million from their emergency relief fund to help the victims of the earthquake.

BBC
CNN
Sky News

Montserrat "explosion"

2010-01-10T18:11:00.002Z

Just noticed that the Montserrat Volcanic Observatory have added some new photos to their Flickr page, so had a look at their website to find that the alert level has been upped to 4 (5 being the highest) and that there was an explosion which caused a large pyroclastic flow on Friday.

Some excellent images and a range of videos (including some thermal ones) of pyroclastic flows on the MVO website...

What happened to global warming?

2010-01-08T11:12:00.003Z

Lots of people have been asking in the past few days why it is so cold when people keep banging on about global warming... A nice little video clip here from the BBC, which emphasises the difference between weather and climate.

Brrrr!

2010-01-07T20:24:00.005Z

Fantastic satellite image of Britain this morning from Nasa's MODIS Rapid Response Gallery...

And a nice interactive from the Guardian looking at the causes of the weather and summarising the impacts... (Thanks Alan Parkinson!)

What's it like where you are?

And don't forget to send your snow photos in...

Snow...

2010-01-05T17:12:00.005Z

Lots that I could say about the snow which seems to be everywhere at the moment (although not so much here as other parts of the country by the sounds of things...).

Check out the Met Office website here - with severe weather warnings covering pretty much the whole country today and tomorrow...

If you've been out and about, or watched/listened to news or traffic reports, you'll already know plenty about the effects that this "cold snap" is having. I was surprised to hear that Meadowhall was closing early:
If you want to know more about why the snow is happening, check out the pressure charts on the Met Office site - there is a big area of high pressure sitting over Greenland, and low pressure over the Atlantic, causing very very cold Arctic air to keep heading in our direction. An explanation here from the BBC about what snow is and how it forms...

Snow Photo Competition

There will be a small prize for the SHS person who takes the best snow photo and emails it to me by 3.20pm on Monday... To send your pictures, log into your school emails, and then type vel into the address bar.

Enjoy!

Santa Tracking....

2009-12-20T12:08:00.002Z

Don't forget to keep track of Santa's progress on Christmas Eve...

Highlights from last year here:

Merry Christmas!

Philippine volcano fears....

2009-12-15T21:47:00.003Z

I still remember Mr Munday, one of my A Level Geography teachers, telling us that whenever he taught natural hazards/plate tectonics, he could pretty much guarantee that there would be an earthquake or a volcanic eruption somewhere in the world, and I have certainly found that to be the case every time that I have taught hazards/tectonics.

The most recent news is that more than 20,000 people have had to evacuate their homes in the area around Mayon in the Philippines, following a series of ash explosions and lava flows.

More from the BBC here...

Copenhagen...

2009-12-07T22:12:00.002Z

I'd be surprised if you were not aware by now that today was the first day of the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.

About 100 world leaders are meeting to discuss climate change and try to reach an agreement about what can be done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help developing countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change that they are experiencing already.

There are lots and lots of news articles I could post, but I'd be here all night so....

- do a Google News search for Copenhagen
- check out COP15's YouTube channel
- have a look at the BBC's Copenhagen Summit pages
- visit the official COP15 page

AND.... do your bit - how can you help???

Pompeii...

2009-12-04T19:33:00.001Z

Most of you will know about Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD. What you might not know, however, is that you can explore the ruins of Pompeii in Google Streetview... Click on the picture below!

Switzerland!

2009-11-19T18:15:00.007Z

Time is running out to get your money and permission slips in for the Switzerland trip in Summer 2010. We will be leaving school on Monday 26th July, and returning on Sunday 1st August, and the trip is open to geographers currently in Years 10-13. Travel will be by coach, and we'll be staying at the Hotel Le Relais Alpin, in the village of Les Mosses. Excursions during the week will include cheese and chocolate factories, thermal baths and Chamonix and the Mer de Glace. The cost of the trip will be confirmed once the itinerary has been finalised, but will not be more than £600.

The photos below show Les Diablerets and the Mer de Glace, and were taken by Val Vannet when she took a group from the High School of Dundee on this trip a couple of years ago.

If you want to come on the trip, you need to get your permission slip and a £40 deposit to me as soon as possible. If you didn't get a letter, or you've lost yours, come and see me for a new one.

It promises to be an excellent trip - make sure that you don't miss out!!

Penguin!

2009-11-14T11:28:00.002Z

Well done to Tanith who spotted a penguin last Saturday morning...

None about this morning, but a fair few seals on the beach...

South Georgia!

2009-10-31T10:14:00.004Z

It's been far too long since I've had a look at the fantastic South Georgia webcams... It's looking pretty cold and miserable there today, but there are plenty of seals about! Prize for the first SHS person to spot a penguin and send me a copy of the image with the date and time....

For those of you who've not yet seen the South Georgia webcams (why not?!), click on the South Georgia tag at the bottom of this post to find out more...

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T09:56:00.004Z

Celebrate Halloween by turning Google Earth into a giant pumpkin.... Click here to go to the GE Blog, and download the .kmz file from the link in the first paragraph. Thanks to Kenny O'Donnell for the tipoff.

This is also fun, though not especially geographical...

8BL - Earth as Art challenge...

2009-10-21T15:58:00.002Z

Good morning 8BL! Your challenge for today is to use Google Earth to produce a fantastic piece of art work... Below are two of my favourite examples from last year's Year 8 groups, and you can see some of the others by clicking here.

To make your own...

1. Open Google Earth (Start, Swanwick Hall, Humanities, Google Earth).

2. Spend some time exploring, and find yourself a beautiful view.

3. Open a new Ppt presentation.

4. Back in Google Earth, make sure you are happy with your view (do you want to zoom in or out, or tilt it?), then take a screenshot (hold down Ctrl + press PrtScn).

5. Paste your screenshot into your Ppt slide.

6. Crop your screenshot until you are happy with it.

8. Go to the Big Huge Labs website. Upload your picture, and then experiment with colours, etc. and give your work a caption.

10. Open your school emails. Type vel into the address bar, and then attach your finished work (not the screenshot from your ppt). Send!

I am expecting two brilliant pieces of work from each pair, and we will have a look at everyone's work on Friday morning. Have fun!

Blog Action Day - Climate Change Conference

2009-10-12T21:17:00.006Z

Today is Blog Action Day - where bloggers across the world blog about the same big issue... This year, it is climate change... So a good time to write about the Oxfam Climate Change Conference that I went to on Monday with two Yr11 and two Yr12 geographers.

Oxfam are running a series of conferences for young people in the run up to the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December, and we were lucky enough to get places at the Birmingham Conference.

After an introduction to some of the impacts of climate change on communities in Malawi from Elvis (yes, really), the day was spent taking part in various workshops - looking at how to take action and plan events in the community, understanding some of the politics of climate change, and putting together a message for Gordon Brown to take to Copenhagen.

We all had an excellent day, and the girls came back with lots of ideas about "blue days", mini-Oxjam events and an eco-fest... Watch this space for more!

This is the fantastic collage that the girls put together to take to the conference (which was most definitely the best piece of work in the exhibition!):

And the "photo shoot" for the Derby Telegraph and Ripley & Heanor News...

People Powered Maps...

2009-10-03T11:13:00.004Z

Most of you will, by now, have seen the fantastic Worldmapper maps, put together by a team of geographers from Sheffield University. (If you haven't, you should go and have a look now... And even if you have, go and have another look, as there are now almost 700 maps available.)

However, Professor Danny Dorling has been busy producing a new set of cartograms showing population density for various different countries. This is the UK one, and you can find out more about the project and look at some of the other maps in this BBC article, or view the full set of maps on the Worldmapper website:

Indonesian earthquake and Samoan tsunami

2009-10-03T11:03:00.002Z

Lots of you have come into lessons over the past couple of days talking about the tsunami that struck Samoa and American Samoa and the series of earthquakes around the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

The events are still in the news, with international relief teams being flown in to help in the rescue and clean-up efforts.

The BBC has lots of information, images and video clips about both - with In Pictures series here for the tsunami and here for the earthquakes.

We picked up all the activity on our seismometer - I haven't managed to get screenshots of the seismographs yet, but when I do, I'll post them on the Swanwick Seismology blog here.

Svalbard

2009-10-02T17:38:00.003Z

Some reminders for 8BL...

Laurel McFadden's Cold Photo blog...

Flickr

More Svalbard stuff here:

www.svalbard.net/
www.svalbard.com/

Dancing Matt...

2009-09-29T19:40:00.004Z

I've posted about Dancing Matt before, but this is for the benefit of Year 8, especially 8BL, who enjoyed watching Matt's 2008 video this morning...

If you want to have a look at the other videos, including out-takes, and also check out maps and Google Earth files of where Matt has danced, they're all on his website here. (I have not read all of the comments on the website, or posted on the YouTube videos, and so I cannot guarantee that there aren't any rude words there.... If there are, I am very sorry!)

Journey Sticks...

2009-09-26T09:29:00.004Z

My Nature Explorers group spent their first Enrichment session last week making some journey sticks... This was another great idea that I picked up from Twitter, and seems to be well-used in primary schools as a way of introducing maps. I've since found out though, that journey sticks began with aboriginal people who put them together when they went on long journeys, and then used them on their return as prompts when telling the rest of the tribe about their journeys.

Our journey was not so long - 40 minutes or so in the school grounds - but we were amazed at the number of interesting objects we managed to find...

Thanks to Miss Breider (former SHS student and prospective Geography teacher) for putting this brilliant display together!

The Climate Mystery...

2009-09-17T20:12:00.003Z

Have a look at this and see if you can work out what's going on!

www.climatemystery.com

More congratulations!!

2009-08-27T14:02:00.003Z

More congratulations - this time to the Year 11 geographers who achieved a FANTASTIC set of results... A*-C grades for 73% of the group... Very very well done!!

Photo ChrisIrmo (Flickr)

Good luck to those of you going elsewhere, and I look forward to seeing lots of you again in the AS Geography group in September!!

I hope you'd be able to do better than this...

2009-08-26T16:21:00.003Z

I have made a point of avoiding Big Brother, but a fellow geography teacher has just pointed this out... (Click on the A Wonder of the World link)... And if you can't do better, get the globe or the atlas out and spend the last week of your holidays practising, if only so that you don't show yourself up on a reality TV show!!

Congratulations!

2009-08-20T16:03:00.004Z

Congratulations to the Year 12 and 13 geographers who received some very good exam results today, as a result of lots of hard work.

Photo ChrisIrmo (Flickr)

The very best of luck to Year 13... even those of you who are not doing Geography at uni ;-) Keep in touch, come back and visit (the blog and the dept!) and don't forget to send me some good geographical photos from all your adventures!

Weather....

2009-08-05T08:47:00.003Z

Not the greatest of weather for this time of year at the moment, but what is quite great is this new Met Office/Google Maps mashup...

The "Weather Visualisation" is part of Invent, which is the Met Office's showcase of some of their plans for new ways to present weather information and forecasts, and allows you to turn a variety of layers (the one above shows the rainfall forecast for 10.00am today) on and off, and also to view forecast and weather warning information for specific regions.

Thanks to Ollie Bray for the tipoff.

An experiment...

2009-08-04T16:52:00.006Z

I've been thinking for a while about the potential for using mobile phones in lessons, and planning to try out some ideas next year... One of which, is getting you to use mobile phones to respond to polls/answer questions, using something like Poll Everywhere (thanks Ollie Bray).

Good idea?? Text your response to the number below. (It will cost your usual text message rate... which might be nothing, depending on your contract, etc.)

Make your own poll voting question with Poll Everywhere

Google Timeline

2009-08-04T15:49:00.004Z

I think that this feature has been about for a while now, but I have only just discovered (via Tom Barrett on Twitter) Google Timeline... Essentially, you type in your search term as usual, but can then view a timeline of the results...

This was my first try... What do you think the search term was??

Happy Yorkshire Day!

2009-08-01T10:14:00.001Z

(Image: Flickr user The Killer Biscuit)

Should the Met Office be sued?

2009-08-01T10:01:00.004Z

Yes, according to the author of this article from The Times. Earlier this year, the Met Office announced that we were in for a "barbecue summer"... But there has not been much evidence of that so far - in fact, it's been quite the opposite!

The Met Office revised their forecast earlier this week, claiming that they had only said that there was a 65% chance of a hot summer, and that the media had mis-reported the seasonal forecast. Here is their response to the recent criticism they've received...

Nice article here, with some excellent photos.... Kayaking round a campsite anyone?

Disappearing Derby shops...

2009-07-31T14:29:00.003Z

Some of the many boarded up shops in Derby which, according to a new report out today, has a retail vacancy rate of 22%. 19,000 independent shops and 7000 branches of chains have closed this year across the country, with Margate in Kent being worst affected, and Derby second. Although the recession is a major factor, the Westfield Centre - which opened in 2007 - has played its part.

More from the BBC here.

Buy local?

2009-07-27T07:50:00.003Z

Year 8 have had some interesting discussions over the last term about food miles and the surrounding issues... including whether it's really always as straightforward as "the further it's travelled, the worse it is..." so I was interested to read this article about strawberries and tomatoes from Spain perhaps being better from an environmental point-of-view than local ones...

What do you think?

Nottingham 2018?

2009-07-16T18:55:00.002Z

FA inspectors were in Nottingham today, finding out more about the proposals for new stadium which is at the centre of the bid to bring the 2018 World Cup to the city.

Nottingham is one of 15 cities (together with Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Sunderland) bidding to be a host city... Find out more about Nottingham's bid here.

Eco Towns

2009-07-16T18:39:00.003Z

You might well have heard in the news that the go-ahead has been given for four new "eco-towns" in England. The idea is that the four new towns will provide an extra 10,000 homes by 2016, and will "showcase environmentally-friendly living" - with charging points for electric cars, zero-carbon buildings, new public transport links, and solar and wind energy.

Full story from the Guardian here, with a nice interactive to show the locations of the four new eco-towns (and the other proposed sites that were rejected).

Nottingham Riviera

2009-07-16T18:28:00.001Z

Fancy a trip to the seaside? Well, as of next Wednesday, you will not have to travel quite so far... Watch the transformation of Nottingham's Market Square below!

Your neighbourhood?

2009-07-11T09:50:00.003Z

Thanks to Ian Murray for pointing out this really interesting set of "mental maps" created by teenagers in cities around Britain. The maps were part of a research project by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, looking at young people and territoriality.

Click on the picture above to look at the maps properly, and here for the full research report.

What would your map look like? Are there areas of your neighbourhood where you feel particularly safe or unsafe? Why do you think this is?

A day in the life in logos...

2009-06-26T20:02:00.004Z

Another nice discovery via Twitter... This is part of 'A day in the life in logos...' Click on the image for the full version. Why not have a go at making your own? Who uses the most - or the fewest - "logos" in a day?

SWAN!!

2009-06-23T18:21:00.003Z

Exciting news!!!

SWAN is our new seismometer, and will be appearing in the Science Block later this week.... Find out more on the new Swanwick Seismology blog...

A mystery for you...

2009-06-06T08:13:00.005Z

This computer-generated image shows something that could be coming to a city near you in the next few years... What is it? What will it do? And is it a good idea??

A new type of cloud?

2009-06-02T19:50:00.003Z

Some fantastic images here, with some interesting ideas from the Cloud Appreciation Society about how clouds should be classified...

How fast is your broadband?

2009-05-29T08:27:00.002Z

You might well have seen reports in the news over the past couple of days about the speed - or lack of - of broadband in various parts of the country. This "heatmap" shows broadband speeds across the UK... Is there a pattern to it?? Surprises?

Honduras earthquake

2009-05-28T16:41:00.001Z

Four people were killed and tsunami warnings were issued this morning when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Honduras.

More from the BBC, including some reader accounts, here.

Cycling the Americas

2009-05-23T08:57:00.003Z

I posted the other day about Mark Beaumont's new adventure, and you can find links to his blog and Twitter feed there.

Some more good news though is that Mark's former Geography teacher, Val Vannet, will be writing a parallel blog, looking at the geography of the places Mark visits on his journey from Anchorage to Ushuaia. You can follow the blog here and if you missed the blog that Val wrote as Mark cycled around the world then you can catch up with that one here.

Climate Change Competition...

2009-05-20T18:05:00.003Z

Care about climate change? Fancy a trip to Copenhagen? Then watch this video and enter the competition!! Come and see me if you want more details or help with your entry...

Is it raining?

2009-05-17T10:00:00.003Z

Miserable weather here all weekend, and elsewhere in the UK too, according to Twitter. So, as a little experiments/investigation, I set up a wiki map which can be edited by anyone - add a marker with details of what the weather is like where you are...

Oh, and if you haven't already seen it, check out the brilliant Is it going to rain? which I discovered a while back but had forgotten about until it appeared in the latest GA Magazine...

J'aime la Tour

2009-05-16T15:30:00.005Z

Thanks to my sister for this video... Brilliant!

The Man Who Cycled The World...

2009-05-16T09:09:00.004Z

Those of you who enjoyed following Mark Beaumont's progress as he cycled the world will be pleased to hear that his book, The Man Who Cycled The World, is out now...

And... even more exciting is that Mark is about to embark on his next adventure - on 27th May, Mark will set off from Anchorage in Alaska - on his way to Ushuaia, 15000 miles away in southern Argentina.

The BBC will be filming Mark's journey for a documentary series, The Man Who Cycled The Americas, and you can follow Mark's progress here.

Editing to add a link to an interview with Mark for The Scotsman.

If the Earth were a sandwich...

2009-05-16T08:59:00.005Z

Have you ever wondered where you would end up if you dug a hole all the way through the earth?? Some of you will have seen Holey Moley before, but this new Google Maps mashup is a more recent discovery (yes... via Twitter!) and is fab...

Swine Flu

2009-05-10T07:58:00.001Z

Nice BrainPop video explaining swine flu...

A Visual Dictionary

2009-04-09T11:01:00.003Z

Just discovered Shahi, which is a dictionary that comes up with definitions but also Flickr (or Google or Yahoo) images tagged with your search term... Fab!!

Earthquake!

2009-04-06T20:06:00.005Z

The screenshot below shows the earthquakes that have struck central Italy over the past day or so, courtesy of a new Google Maps mashup pointed out by Alan Parkinson (aka GeoBlogs):

Also interesting (and perhaps somewhat worrying) are news reports such as this one from the Times, suggesting that the earthquake was predicted, but warnings were ignored...

Latest reports suggest that the death toll is now nearing 150. There've been lots of updates to the coverage on the BBC website, and a Google News search will bring up lots of articles.

Earthquake in Italy and Chilean volcano

2009-04-06T07:21:00.004Z

I was reminded when I switched the news on this morning of my A Level Geography teacher, who used to say that every time he taught plate tectonics, he could almost guarantee there'd be an earthquake or a volcanic eruption somewhere in the world. That's certainly seemed to be the case every time I've taught it, and just the other day I told Yr13 to watch the news over the holidays.

Sadly, the first news item I saw this morning was that an earthquake in Italy had killed at least 16 people. According to the BBC website, the death toll is now 27. The magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the medieval city of L'Aquila in the early hours of this morning, causing many of the city's 70,000 residents to run out into the streets in panic. The age of the buildings meant that many of them were unable to withstand the quake, and the narrow mountainous roads are making rescue attempts more difficult.

The Google Earth screenshot below shows the area, with the USGS earthquakes layer enabled.

More from the BBC here.

Also on the same news bulletin was that the Llaima volcano in Chile has been "spewing lava, ash and gas" overnight, causing many people from the surrounding area to be evacuated. As well as the danger from the eruption itself, melting snow is increasing the risk of mudslides, and volcanic ash has caused river levels in the area to increase. More here.

Mobile Phone Revision Quizzes...

2009-04-05T13:55:00.004Z

I've been intending for a while to have a go at this, and decided this afternoon that it would be far more fun than cleaning the bathroom... This folder contains a GCSE Coasts Revision Quiz - ten simple multiple choice questions, in the form of .jpegs. The idea is that you download the pictures to your mobile, and then view them in slideshow mode on your phone... Geography revision, wherever, whenever!

How you get the pictures onto your phone will vary from phone to phone, and although I have got them to the right size so that they display properly on my phone, I am not sure whether or not they will work properly on other phones...

So, have a go at downloading them and then leave a comment telling me:

- how easy it was to get the quiz onto your phone
- whether it displays properly on your phone
- whether you think revision quizzes like this are a good idea
- any suggestions for improvements

Enjoy!!

Young Geographer of the Year

2009-04-05T10:03:00.003Z

Not long until the closing date for the Young Geographer of the Year competition - the theme is Arctic Journey and the prizes are fantastic!

More details about what's involved here - closing date is Wednesday 15th April... get your skates on!!

Mt Redoubt

2009-04-04T08:56:00.005Z

Although the alert level has been reduced, there's ongoing Mt Redoubt activity... And a fantastic panoramic image (view full size):

London Futures

2009-04-04T08:45:00.006Z

An interesting set of images showing how climate change could affect London...