University of Leeds: 21st Century GeographyMore details are now available for this day, which I am attending in a couple of weeks time, and looking forward to it !
There will be four main sessions presented by active researchers in each field. Every session should be of interest in itself and will also be of relevance to various examination board syllabuses with material that you can use within the classroom.
1. Natural Hazards & Risk Perception: Snow Avalanches in Iceland
Dr Chris Keylock
The study of natural hazards is at the interface of physical and human geography and is an integral element in many of the A-level syllabuses. In this session we will start by looking at the scientific issues behind the initiation and dynamics of avalanches and strategies used for risk mitigation. In the second half we will consider the perception of avalanche risk and how this is mediated by social, economic, political and cultural factors. This will involve a practical introduction to the use of ethnographic methods in (human) geographic scholarship, which often give a more nuanced understanding of a phenomenon than is possible using a traditional questionnaire. Our example will be the catastrophic avalanches in Iceland during 1995 that claimed the lives of 34 people.
This session links to: Mass Movement Processes in AQA A and OCR A, Geomorphological Hazards, Cold Environments sections of AQA A; Human Environments and Glaciation in EdExcel A, Living With Hazardous Environments in EdExcel B, Natural Hazards and Human Responses as well as Cold Environments and Human Responses in OCR B, Management Strategies and Geomorphic Processes, as well as Climatic Hazards in WJEC.
2. Urban Regeneration
Dr Rachael Unsworth and Dr Paul Waley
Geographers have written copiously about the phenomenon called gentrification, or the smartening up of previously run-down inner city neighbourhoods. It all started with an entertaining but significant spat between Marxist geographers who believed that gentrification was essentially the result of landlords maximising the value of their properties and others who attributed gentrification primarily to the cultural tastes of the new middle class of urban professionals. The debate has moved on considerably since then, and discussion about gentrification is much better contextualised today. It does, however, remain central to the way in which many geographers understand urban change in the contemporary world.
In this session, after a brief introduction to gentrification and the debate about what it represents, we will look more specifically at the example of Leeds. We will explore together questions such as whether gentrification exists at all in Leeds and whether the new boom in city-centre living can be understood as a variant of gentrification.
This session links to: Urban deprivation in AQA A, Settlement Processes and Patterns in AQA A, Urban Change in the UK and the Wider World in the Last 30 Years AQA B, Settlement Patterns EdExcel A, Rural-urban interrelationships EdExcel A, Problem Solving Level 3 EdExcel A, Urban environments EdExcel B, Rural and urban settlement: pattern, process and change OCR A, Managing Urban Environments AQA A, Study Section B: Settlement Dynamics OCR B, Processes and Issues in Human Environments WJEC, Sustainable Development WJEC.
3. GIS without Tears
Dr Steve Carver and Professor Graham Clarke
Geographical Information Systems or GIS have been around for some time now, such that in many ways they are considered as a mature technology. Nonetheless, the study of GIS, its use and software has remained confined to higher education largely for reasons of cost. With the advent of the Internet there is now little reason for such a situation to persist as there are now many GIS tools, datasets, texts and exercises available online that are either free of charge or available at very modest cost. This puts the practical teaching of GIS well within the reach and budgets of secondary schools.
This workshop will introduce GIS and sources of free data/software that could be exploited to promote the teaching of this fascinating subject within secondary schools. After a joint talk by two leading exponents of GIS in both human education and physical geography, there will be an opportunity to explore and test drive some example software/datasets in the computing lab.
The practical session will focus on two similar online GIS teaching tools, one on nuclear waste disposal and the other on wilderness mapping, that have been developed in the university with the express aim of gently introducing students to the principles of GIS through these topical case studies without the need for specialist software, data or training. Sample texts suitable for secondary schools and a resource pack of links to data and software will be made available to take away.
This session links to: ICT skills in AQA A, Assessment Objectives (skills) in AQA A, Assessment Objectives AQA B (skills), Practical Skills and Techniques AQA B; Knowledge, understanding and skills EdExcel A, Knowledge, understanding and skills EdExcel B Researching Global Futures EdExcel B, Global Challenge EdExcel B, The Human Environment OCR A, Assessment Objectives OCR A, , Geographical Investigation OCR A, Assessment Objectives OCR B, Geographical Investigations 1 OCR B, Key Skills WJEC, Personal enquiry WJEC, Assessment objectives WJEC.
4. Scorched Earth or Green and Pleasant Land:
Policy Relevant Geographical Science for Water Management.
Professor Adrian McDonald
It takes about 25 years to develop new major water resources. The country has experienced more frequent rainfall deficits. These statements don't make happy bed-fellows! What is the government's thinking about decisions relating to water management? How are decisions arrived at and what is the role of geographical skills, in both science and socio-economics? In this final session we are trying to explore why geography matters and how it is relevant.
We will do this through 3 cases:
1. The water management issues relating to housing development in the SE of England.
2. The new bathing waters directive.
3. Modifications to agricultural management to improve water quality.
This session links to: Political Responses to Climate Change (AQA A, OCR B): Population Pressure and Resource Management (AQA A): Environmental Issues in City Management (AQA A):Coastal Problems (AQA A): Competition and Conflict over Resource Use (AQA B) Population and Resource Availability (AQA B, EdExcel A): Management of the Hydrological Cycle (EdExcel A, OCR B): Coastal Management Schemes (EdExcel A, EdExcel B, OCR A), The Management of Waste in Cities (EdExcel A, OCR A), Social, Economic and Political factors affecting agricultural land use (EdExcel A), Water Quality issues (EdExcel B), Over extraction for domestic, agricultural and industrial use (EdExcel B), Resource development in rural areas (EdExcel B), Agriculture and irrigation/hydrology (OCR A), Floodplain Management (OCR B) Freshwater supplies (OCR B, WJEC), Planning policy in rural areas (WJEC), Long term planning to reduce the impact of climate hazards (WJEC), Economic activity, environmental benefits and costs (WJEC)
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