Geography and all that Jazz

In just over a month's time, there are two new Mission:Explore books launched on the world by The Geography Collective and Can of Worms Press. Here are the front covers for those who are interested. They are already available to pre-order on Amazon so make sure you buy at least one copy.... There will be launch events in London on the 1st and 2nd of April, but if you are around in London on the evening of the 31st of March, you can join us at the Old Explorer, just a short walk from Oxford Circus. Sign up to join us .... Plenty more to come in a month's time...

Thanks to John Widdowson for alerting me to the existence of this website from the LEGACY COMPANY , which acts as a tremendous additional resource for those teaching (or planning to teach) about the Olympics 2012. It includes an excellent interactive map with a number of 'layers' which shows the true scale of the Olympic park, and the various developments that are planned. The GA will be producing a whole range of resources for the Olympics nearer the time , and we have already had a range of Olympics activities including a teacher conference, and of course Bob Digby's ongoing tours of the Olympic Park (there is a chance to take part in one of these on day one of the conference) There is a large section on the Sustainability of the Olympic site in John Widdowson's GCSE toolkit book, which is now available from the GA shop. There is also a Top Spec Geography title which is forthcoming, and a KS3 toolkit publication too. With the opening of the velodrome today,...

You have a chance to book a place on a weekend with a difference... thanks to the Geography Collective. A re you playful and creative,  with a conceptual interest in space? Devel op new pers pectives on the philoso phy, production, exploration and representation of space by attending our  Master In Space  course and gaining a  Master In Space  qualification. The  Master in Space  course is carefully (un)planned around a series of semi-structured units. All units are ‘unknown’ before the course begins, but are likely to include free, thinking, restricted, open, public, child-like, bound, exciting, eventful and other forms of space. While no specific skills are needed you can expect to immerse yourself ‘in space’ by working with paint, ink, typewriters, string, projection, sound and many other tools, mediums and approaches. You must successfully complete three units to become a Master in Space . Take this course to: ·      ...

If you're a geographer, and are reading this, and also use Twitter, you need to send a tweet with the hashtag here: #OneOfOneThousandGeographers . This will then be picked up by Dan from the Geography Collective, and we'll add you to the list... We're well over 100 now, and next stop, 1000 !

Just ordered my DVD copy of this amazing series, which should perhaps be an essential part of every geography department's multimedia library... It should perhaps sit alongside Planet Earth, Coast, and various other DVDs which I bought... There are so many clips and aspects of this series that should find their way into the curriculum in lower school, as well as supporting many GCSE contexts. There are 8 episodes in the series. There are chances to watch some of the previous episodes that haven't yet been broadcast on the iPlayer page Check out the BBC HUMAN PLANET EXPLORER for more details. Some fabulous images and other media on the HUMAN PLANET BLOG. Check out the SURVIVAL SKILLS resource too... splendid.. Following on from last week's FORESTS episode, there's an excellent GUARDIAN INTERACTIVE on the world's endangered forests. Finally, don't forget that you can get embeddable videos from each programme too, such as this one of the CEMETERY d...

The new OFSTED Subject report for Geography will be released tomorrow morning. Professor David Lambert has already had a letter / report published in the Daily Telegraph today , and it is well worth a read. As always, a well informed and passionate defence of geography.... David references the late Rex Walford and explains the importance of geography, which is... "... the subject that contributes more than any other to young people's knowledge of the world, their understanding of the relationships between people and places, and their ability and propensity to think critically and creatively about the ways in which we affect the planet we live on. Given the vast ambition of the topic, it is easy to see how it can be badly taught. But it would be a betrayal of young people to give up on what geography can contribute to their education, just because it is hard to teach well." Don't forget to add your comments to the GA website tomorrow morning when you've had the...