The geogblog has been getting a bit neglected of late as Eco Club has been taking up a lot of our time recently, you can read all about our latest projects on the Eco Club blog. Eco Club is all about the practical things we can do around the school to protect our amazing planet, year 7 have been especially active Eco Clubbers as we have been studying the impact that people have on the environment. Mr. Batchelors classes are handing in their Endangered Species projects this week and starting the design an eco house mini project in class. We will be going on to look at the issue of "food miles" the end of which may just precede the start of the Big Green Grow allotment project which starts in March.
In year 8 we are just undertaking the Toyota work which is due to be finished next week and year 9 continue exploring Japan. It is a big few weeks for all of you in year 9 as you think about your options, I'm doing my best not to sway those of you seeking advice on whether to take Geography -the best and most useful subject in the world. I think I'm doing quite well so far.
After the improvement to Leicester's coverage in Google Earth we were still left with imagery that was seven years old. Now this has been updated with images that are just a couple of years old. You can now clearly see the blue roof of the school(still under construction) and Bradgate Park in the distance. Notice the sky now has clouds, this is because Google Earth has a new weather layer which is updated in near real time, but much more detailed than the overlay we have used in class. Could be useful for the year 8 weather benefits and hazards project.
As the time grows closer for year 9 to choose their options, you may want to take note of the following:
"Geography in the widest sense of the concept remains to me the queen of sciences. It holds the key that unlocks the coherence of the physical world as its sister, history, unlocks that of mankind's occupation of it. Without geography's mapping of planet Earth, the work of chemists, biologists and physicists is disjointed, mere technique.
It is geography that applies common sense to the statistical hysteria of the climatologists. It is geography that brings global warming into context and applies the test of feasibility to whatever political priorities are deemed necessary. It is geography that explains why each of us is located where we are, in neighbourhood, nation, continent and planet, and how fragile might be that location. Without geography's instruction, we are in every sense lost - random robots who can only read and count."
Simon Jenkins in the Guardian newspaper today (full article here)
Of course I don't want to influence your decision...
For those who followed the disasterous adventures of Mr Notleys tree "Twiggy" and the slightly less dire tales of "Twiggy II" will be pleased to hear that "Twiggy III" is now safely growing in our grounds. Twiggy III - like its predecessors is an Oak tree and was kindly donated by the family of a Year 6 student.
Warnings of a big storm surge in the North Sea tonight. Those of you in year 8 doing your weather benefits and hazards projects will want to keep an eye on this. Notice the causes. Lets just hope we don't now see the effects. For more details the BBC website reports on this here.
In Year 7 we are thinking about where we can fit all the extra homes Leicester needs. Many of you have been asked to produce a poster for homework promoting either your greenfield or brownfield development from the point of view of the developer. Above are the examples we looked at in class.
In year 7 we are looking at whether the city model can be applied to Leicester using Google Earth. The KMZ file can be downloaded here. If you want to check the powerpoint just click above or click on the link for full screen. We found that Leicester does fit the city model surprisingly well though Oadby was perhaps an exception. Some sets got as far as discussing the changes we could make to the model so it explained Leicester more fully.
Lots of you have asked for the file to make a larger version of the Blue Marble globe from lessons. Click here to open the PDF file ready for printing.
Alternatively try a model of the Ozone layer (click here) , or the continents (click here). If you want a further challenge why not create an origami globe (a good chance to brush up on your paper folding skills if you are in year 9!)
Now that the floodwater is going down in the North it is a good time to reflect on what has happened and look at the effects of our wet June. Ajp on the sln geography forum has posted an excellent presentation on slideshare, have a look and see what you think. It feels like a good time to live in the Midlands even if the weather outlook is for more rain. Those of you in year 7 bear in mind that this will make a great study for your weather benefits and hazards project in year 8.
After playing the trading game in year 9 we have been reflecting on what we have learned. We used the excellent site Gapminder to look at the real progress made by Bangladesh, Kenya, India, China, USA and Japan and we found that unlike our game where the poorest nations could sometimes overcome disadvantage real life less developed nations tended to stay poor.
We also looked at trends and patterns examining positive and negative correlations between different indicators some of you noticed for example that urbanisation seemed linked to incresed wealth. This led us on to the idea of cause and effect. One interesting trend was noticed by LOE3 who spotted that the number of children women had went down as more girls went to school.
So what do you think, is there a link? Is it a cause or effect and why do you think there is a link? We will discuss this in class or you could leave a comment. For those of you who we will be seeing for the last time this week, we wish you well for the future and remember to keep checking back here to find out whats going on at your old school. We'll be sad to see you go :-(
