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British Identity…

Published at February 19, 2007 in Lesson evaluations and My place. 0 Comments

Welcome Miss Fallows to the Pilot gang! Shame I had to show some teeth today , hard work defines success etc…. I had no sleep last night, so this will be short and sweet. Make sure your homework is completed for tomorrow, see work set.

Today we started to look at British identity. We discussed some images associated with Britain, such as pubs and the white cliffs of Dover, gathered by a Google Image Search. We discussed how these images were

Mainly English.
Showed only the good parts/aspects of British life, hence bias.
Were mainly traditional.
Ignored the different groups that make up British society.

Using some alternative images, we discussed that the concept of Britishness, may be different depending on the perspective of the individual. A British Muslim, may have a different perspective, to a Welsh farmer, of course they could have similar perspectives.

We then discussed how we can define Britishness by space, i.e. living within a particular landmass, or by heritage, a linkage with past Imperial ambitions. Hence, even if a person does not live in Britain, they may feel a strong sense of Britishness. We therefore started to realise that identity is a layered concept for some people, they may have multiple identities.

We then took a slimline version of the new British citizenship test, based on the book, ‘Life in the U.K.’ .After not doing very well , we concluded that

The test my be difficult and challenging for potential immigrants.
But, that it should be, to encourage study.
Citizenship should not be a cheap prize.
That the test is slightly ‘random’ in the knowledge required.
But new immigrants to the country must have a basic understanding of British culture, in order to participate in society.

From the test, we deemed that British people value

Tradition and custom.
A sense of history.
Politeness.
Manners.
Respect for the law

Which leads us nicely to the question, what are British values? You might want to have a quick look at the previous thread.

Bed-time!

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Some local living…

Published at February 6, 2007 in Lesson evaluations and My place. 2 Comments

Nice lesson today, got a bit excited about identity at the end!

I started the lesson with homework (strange, I never know what audience to write for…), it is the collaborative write-up of our ‘My Place’ questionnaire, see under ‘Work Set’.

We then used a selection of newspaper articles to discuss the local issues that Ilkeston faced, along with this we considered the different groups of people that may be concerned with such issues.

From the articles we devised a list of local issues facing the community

The impact of Tesco on the health of the High Street, including the loss of some well-known multiples.
The prospect of the train station reopening in the town.
The problem of Ilkeston’s built environment, and the need to balance redevelopment with heritage.
The impact of the decline of secondary manufacturing, particularly Stantion Steel and the less recent decline of the textiles industry.
Issues related to low order crime, gangs and drugs culture.

We then considered our notion of ‘local’. I showed my local area that I produced using Maps Live. Oh, I’m not that draft to put a pin on my actual house.

Basically, we mapped places that we used regularly and felt particularly comfortable within. We used coloured dots, it was exciting! We then drew lines from our homes to the selected places, finally we constructed a boundary to show the area covered by our ‘local’ places. The results were fascinating.

Some people had small, concentrated and localised areas, I suppose ‘immediate local’.

Whilst some people reflected my ‘wider local’.

Others though, had a number of factors that influenced how they defined local, including family, clubs etc, this resulted in quite large ‘local’ areas.

Of course, we considered two issues with this exercise

The area covered by our ‘local’ construct, may not necessarily include areas that we know or feel comfortable within.
The maps may have limited some of our ‘local’ areas.

I really enjoyed this afternoon and the handing in of some good homeworks finished it nicely.

Remember your part of our survey write-up needs to be completed by 20th February 2006. The task and excel sheet can be found under ‘Work Set’.

Snow is on its way… Snow is on its way…;)

Popularity: 16% [?]

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A less than flattering …

Published at February 5, 2007 in Lesson evaluations and My place. 0 Comments

We didn’t really do much today to be honest. We looked at two, less than flattering, accounts of Ilkeston, one from a well-known site about ch*vs, which is foul, and another from a book called ‘Cr*p Towns’, Ilkeston’s entry can be found here.

We did a bit of a discussion about whether there were any points in the accounts that were true, what we found offensive, and considered the issue of bias. We then completed a survey as a class, this has two purposes, the first is to model the format of a good questionnaire. The second is to model how easy and effective Excel is when graphing your results. You’ll find more about this tomorrow.

We’ll also move on to look at some local issues concerning ‘Illson’ folk and where your ‘local’ area actually is…

What a surprise, homework not completed on the first asking, tomorrow, or a future of global warming will feel a pleasant distraction. Just be glad I was distracted with Year 11 coursework!

Popularity: 11% [?]

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Shall we develop? Meet Ozzy.

Published at January 9, 2007 in Extreme Environments and Lesson evaluations. 0 Comments

Members of Mrs Marston’s group may notice a slight difference in the content here, we are studying the same topics, just in a slightly different order. Don’t panic!

We had a guest today, welcome Miss Wicher, who will be joining us on our Pilot Journey. Excellent discussion today to round up Antarctica, as we considered the arguments for and against the future development of the continent. Lots of Geography came out, including the hot topics of migration and the development of LEDC countries. Don’t know how, but it did!

Congratulations to Laura at the end of the double lesson, who remembered FUGIS, in my escape home by providing me with ‘knowledge’ at the door quiz!

We then studied this image and discussed if/how they were associated.

I was quite surprised that many of you had a good background knowledge of Ozone depletion, its causes and impacts. We then watched Ozzy Ozone to bring everyone up to speed on the issue. We then discussed the chemical composition of Ozone and how it is formed.

In Monday’s lesson we’ll consider how Ozone is destroyed and the impact of this on human life in the Southern Hemisphere. We’ll also discover why the depletion is greater over Antarctica. If you want to read more on Ozone, please refer to my previous post.

Sadly, our network is too slow to show an excellent Google Earth animation of Ozone levels over time. For those of you without Google Earth or the updated version, you can view a video clip. Notice how Ozone depletion migrates to and from the Polar regions according to the seasons. I wonder why?

There are some other great animations here as well, including the collapse of the Larsen Ice Shelf.

Finally, thanks to the individual who left me the secret messages hidden on my desk. I laughed.

Popularity: 12% [?]

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New Year Treaty Blues…

Published at January 8, 2007 in Extreme Environments and Lesson evaluations. 0 Comments

I hope my students know the lengths I go to… I carried on with the root canal treatment this morning, before returning to College for the Pilot lesson. We completed a bit of work on Antarctica, finishing our look at the Treaty, of course, after my story of dental tragedy. Basically we discussed the articles of the Treaty and pyramid ranked them. We offered explanations for what we thought were the most important articles and then offered some of our own additions. Basically that’s it! Not the most inspiring.

Currently marking your tourism homeworks, some nice stuff. Also in the process of marking your coursework, some nice stuff

I wish I had the energy for more…

Tomorrow our own future opinion on development to complete the topic, then a mini-environmental issues unit.

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Women in Antarctica and Resource exploitation.

Published at December 12, 2006 in Extreme Environments, Lesson evaluations and Resources. 3 Comments

I really enjoyed this afternoon. We started by listening to a B.B.C Radio 4 Woman’s Hour interview entitled ‘Women in the Antarctica’. As we listened, I displayed images from Gemma Clarke’s (sadly no longer live) and Alex Gaffakin’s websites via a PowerPoint. Searching Flickr also comes up with some beautiful photos of Halley and its surrounding location.The interview discussed their experiences at the British Antarctic Survey’s Halley Base.

I think it was interesting to have a female perspective of life in Antarctica and the challenges it brings, after all the heroic man talk… funnel anyone?

The interview is excellent because it discusses at the everyday life in Antarctica and some of the scientific activities that take place, it allowed us to consider the issues of Ozone depletion and Global Warming, and the reasons why Antarctica is such a good place for scientific research. It also discussed some of the challenges of maintaining appropriate living and working space, Halley is up for a rebuild, as I discussed earlier in the blog. It also linked nicely with our discussion of ice sheets and the development of ice shelves.

We also took the time to look at the position of Halley and the range of other research bases on the continent, through our upgraded Google Earth, thanks Nick! This link provides a Google Earth file with the current research stations, a clear geographical distribution here, I wonder why, the place mark labels also provide links to available websites and the summer and winter populations.

After this we then went onto discuss resource exploitation, of course mineral exploitation is banned till 2041, with the exception of scientific purposes, under the Antarctic Treaty. Firstly we defined the term natural resource, as one being from the earth and of value to man, we then discussed why resource exploitation would be difficult anyway, common-sense really; climate, landscape, working conditions, inaccessibility etc and why exploitation may become cost-effective in the future.

A resource such as oil is non-renewable, therefore finite, as it runs out prices will rise, potentially making exploitation cost-effective.

Many of our natural resources, such as oil, come from politically unstable regions, Antarctica presently doesn’t have this problem, though the value of such natural resources may make this problematic in the future.

If global warming does result in environmental degradation on the continent, people may be more willing to accept the exploitation of natural resources on the continent.

A growing world population may demand the exploitation of natural resources in the region, to support improvements in quality of life.

Of course, there is a sustainability issue here, could any exploitation, see tourism, be possible without damaging the fragile ecosystem for future generations.

Changes in the climate of Antarctica may also make resource exploitation more cost-effective, warming of the continent, may make drilling, accessibility and working conditions more suitable; but of course, this is balanced with the potential subsidence of the land due to melting ice sheets and permafrost, which will also result in flooding hazards. Such changes would have to be massive to be cost-effective and potentially would have huge environmental implications for the world. Another example of Antarctica’s interdependence with the rest of the world.

A very thoughtful discussion and then some resource mapping!

Thank you for the late homeworks, back again to your old quality :), though I need to catch up with some people who were away.

Please remember that your work must be original and not cut and pasted, a good Geographer will be able to draw out the relevant information and package it in a readable format!

Now, no copying bus tickets…

On my last legs, sorry the lessons aren’t inspiring, though I never promised they would be!

Popularity: 20% [?]

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Who owns Antarctica?

Published at December 11, 2006 in Extreme Environments and Lesson evaluations. 1 Comment

Just coming to the end of the extreme environments unit now and tying up some loose ends. Today we discussed who owned Antarctica, I think we discovered that though several countries make claims on the continent, the Antarctic Treaty means that these claims are not legitimate or presently recognised, hence no-one really! We had a good discussion about whether Antarctica should be owned by anyone, and the reasoning why a claim to Antarctica may be important. We considered…

Historical links and national pride, for example Scott and Shackleton.

Strategic value in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly important for the U.K. with South Atlantic dependencies.

The ability to collect scientific data which may provide a country with an economic competitive edge and also bring international prestige.

The possible future use of mineral resources, though currently banned under the Antarctic Treaty.

We also discussed, in an historical context, why the United States, Russia and China, had not laid claim to land in Antarctica; though both Russia and The United States reserve the right to do so, if they feel necessary in the future.

Finally to quote Michael Palin

‘And when you get to the end of the Earth you find it’s American.’

We discussed why the United States may have wanted a research station, the Amundsen-Scott, at the South Pole, in relation to the Cold War, get it? We also discussed why the international community may have allowed this to happen.

I have produced a worksheet (Word 134kb), map (Word 127Kb) and PowerPoint ( 2Mb) which accompany this lesson, though the presentation will also be used to support two further lessons.

On a sad note :(, I was extremely disappointed with the hand in rate for the tourism research, last week or not, the course is not a hundred metres race, but a good middle distance run. I expect the rest of the work completed for tomorrow.

With the first coursework task you have set the bar high, you can not now expect me to lower it!

Ho Ho Ho and all that!

Finally…

Who should own Antarctica?

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Coursework Update

Published at November 22, 2006 in Extreme Environments and Lesson evaluations. 3 Comments

Just a quick one to say congratulations to team Cassidy with regards to your coursework so far, your enthusiasm, questioning, ideas and work ethnic were brilliant and if the finished product reflects this, then you should be in for great marks

Remember you need to be researching over the weekend, ready for your final prep lessons next week, then it must be handed in on the 4th of December. Remember that computer access will be limited, so bring images to annotate and mount etc.

Please send me any good links you find and I’ll put them on the wiki. Also feel free to email me for advice. Stringy has set up his own student help wiki, which you may also find useful. He was looking a bit tired today in R.E., either my explanation of Big Bang theory, or staying up late and watching the new Bond!

Any feedback on the coursework task? Good task or bad task?

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We started!

Published at November 20, 2006 in Extreme Environments and Lesson evaluations. 0 Comments

And all seems well! I introduced the task today and we discussed a number of points about Wanda’s arrangements. Tomorrow, a little discussion about presentation and then you’re off on your own voyage! Tonight and over this week you should be doing some serious research. Some great ideas already, I can feel this being good. Remember to share any great links you find.

I’ll be working on some new pilot lessons.

I’m having trouble with my AOL email, anyone else have the same problem? There seems to be a new text feature on email that is causing the hassle!

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Processes, Processes, Processes, Ice Weeeedge!

Published at November 14, 2006 in Extreme Environments and Lesson evaluations. 12 Comments

Well it was all a bit strange today, it was intense, then mad, then it spiralled to an ending. These comments aren’t about the students, they are just about me!

We started with the famous starter for ten, this time guess the landform or feature. The Japanese albedo cartoon caused some murmurs! Finally we completed Palin, interesting fact today was his ability to walk around the world in eight seconds at the South Pole. There is a quick video on this website here. There were ironic cheers when I announced that his was the last episode, not the way to treat the ambassador for school Geography!

We then looked at Ventifaction in more depth, we started with the excellent image at the start of the post, source here. Matron! They cried. We discussed how sand particles and small rocks abraded rocks in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Ricky Rock was used as an example. Remember Ricky’s bottom was abraded but his face was left smooth, all to do with the wind direction. I became over animated at one point and Axl destroyed my chalk saucer! We also discussed how ventifacts are classified according to the number of faces that are abraded by the wind. During this we took some notes and produced some annotated diagrams. Not very pilot, but hey! Remember, ventifacts are rocks eroded by the wind.

We then went onto look at another process, permafrost contraction, which leads to the formation of ice wedges and patterned ground in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. We said that in Antarctica the ground is made up of an active layer that defrosts in summer, because the temperatures rises slightly above zero and a permanently frozen permafrost layer.

In winter this permafrost layer contracts due to the cold temperatures, this also produces cracks that occur in the active layer.
In summer the active layer defrosts and water makes its way down into the permafrost, where it freezes to form ice wedges.
In winter the permafrost again contracts and this enlarges the cracks, allowing larger ice wedges to form and so on…
As the ice wedges form, some material is forced up and to the sides of the cracks, this forms little piles along the edges of the cracks, this help demark the distinct polygon shaped surfaces. (See image below) These little heaps also act as barriers for any wind blown material.

I don’t think I really explained this well, and I was a bit manic over the contraction, did you understand this?

Finally, we started work on our story of an iceberg. I think we could have got more out of this lesson, but to be fair, some of you did start drafting your Antarctic scientist job adverts.It was also nice to be a little more relaxed, remember next week you will be under examination conditions as you begin your coursework! I’m looking forward to what you produce, you are all very capable, so your mark will reflect your effort!

I suggest that you may wish to go over and look at Alan’s Pilot Blog, they have also been looking at processes, but in the context of the Arctic, it would make a nice comparison read.

Remember on Monday that your iceberg sheets need to be handed in, as does any Bangor money or outstanding coursework letter.

Finally, remember three processes in Antarctica you have studied for the exam…

Ventifaction erosion.

Basal Slippage.

Permafrost contraction.

P.S.

Ice weeedge! (Not a process ; )

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