Geography and all that Jazz

One of the things I'm proudest of in the last few years is my involvement with the Geography Collective , and our Mission:Explore books, iPhone app and other activities... We can now announce our latest project, thanks to the project leadership of Daniel Raven Ellison. We are very pleased to say that we will be delivering a major project for the Cultural Olympiad as part of the Discovering Places programme called  Discover Explore . Discovering Places is funded by a grant from Olympic Lottery Distributor (OLD) through the London Organising Committee of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). It is delivered by The Heritage Alliance with the support of key partners.. one of which is us. We will be working closely with  The Workshop  to create something very beautiful and cool which will be launched this summer. “The project aims to inspire young people and their families to discover hidden, extraordinary and important historical sites and ...

Gathering ideas for a future project on iPhone applications that would support geographical learning... whether outside or inside the classroom... As well as the obvious MISSION EXPLORE app, there's also the RORY's STORYCUBES APP that I have poised and ready for business (although the actual dice are more tactile...) Image by Alan Parkinson - cubes by Creativity Hub ... If you have other thoughts on iPhone apps that you particularly USE (rather than just having on your phone for visual impact), please let me know or add a comment below...

My earlier blog post about the Christchurch memorial service was a reminder of the many connections that exist between the UK and New Zealand. My friend Simon Hathaway , who now lives in Wellington (which is a major improvement on Rotherham) sent me a pack of newspaper and magazine articles this week to add to the other resources that I have gathered to help teach about the resilience of a major city following an earthquake. I was interested to read the 'North and South New Zealander of the Year' piece, which awarded the Supreme Winner to the people of Christchurch... and that was following the earlier September 2010 quake... There was also a really useful piece from the Dominion Post by Chris Kalderimis on the most useful items to have in a home emergency survival kit, and lots of personal stories. The  #blog4nz campaign  is encouraging bloggers the world over to focus on New Zealand for a while, and this post is part of the effort. Although my work involves me in tran...

Earlier in the week, picked up on this story from the Guardian , as one of the impacts of last week's earthquake and tsunami... It describes the particular impact that shortages of food, water and power are having on those who survived, or were evacuated from the areas affected by the combination of hazards that have hit the country. The elderly are apparently being affected particularly badly. The second story was from Friday morning's BBC news. Despite the rise in obesity, the UK population is still enjoying longer life expectancy. The third was prompted by a conversation with Carl Lee in Sheffield on Wednesday. He put me on to the latest Danny Dorling book, which I promptly ordered, and it arrived on Friday. There are plenty of interesting sections which could translate into the classroom. I liked the introduction: "Geography Matters", which includes the useful reminder for adult readers of the book that: "The geography you may have been taught l...

The GA will have a stand at this year's  Education Show 2011 at the NEC. We will be in Hall 6&7 on Stand P30A - the subject association area (as at BETT) - the show starts later this week... Come along to pick up the latest catalogues, see some of our new publications, browse some GA resources and be told about the support for Primary and Secondary colleague that members can expect, as well as our CPD support and online networks. We would be interested to hear your views on the curriculum review, English Baccalaureate, and other challenges facing geography in schools, as well as the opportunities presented by these 'interesting times'. I will be setting up and manning the stand on the first day of the show: Thursday the 17th of March Alternatively, come with a USB drive and I'll let you have some free resources from my hard drive... I'll also be handing out various bits for those who get there early... My colleagues Nicola Donkin and Paul Baker wil...

I asked my Twitter followers to suggest/nominate a natural and a man-made "Wonder of the World" that (importantly) they had seen themselves... and to add the hashtag #nqtgeog11 Here are the results: Natural Wonders Colca Canyon, Peru Solheimajokull Glacier, Iceland Here's a picture of me on that very glacier in 2010: Jostedalsbreen, Norway Cheddar Gorge Tropical Rainforests Yosemite Valley The Cuillin Ridge, Skye Here's one of my images of a section of the said ridge: The Cenotes of the Chicxulub meteor impact in Mexico Cwm Idwal Landmannalaugar region of Iceland Valle de Mai, Praslin, Seychelles - home of the Coco de Mer Fingal's Cave Bryce Canyon, Utah The Alps Grand Canyon Man Made Wonders Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao Here are some pictures that I took when I visited.... Petra, Jordan (2 votes) Great Wall of China Serapeum, Temple of the Bulls near Cairo The CERN Large Hadron Collider Sydney Harbour Bridge (3 votes) The Londo...