Archive for February, 2007

Teaching climate graphs

I mentioned the Interactive Climate Map last month. I used it with a class yesterday and devised a simple exercise that I’ve written up on Juicy Geography

climateman

Students interpret climate graphs and then quickly design an appropriate costume based on the data in the graph. I sold it as a kind of Project Geography Catwalk and it was very successful!

The Magazine Factory

It is many years since I first got students to produce a collaborative website (see The Unfair Trade story at Juicy Geography) Ewan McIntosh recently mentioned the  Magazine Factory, a free online application which lets students publish their work as a web magazine. The teacher takes the role of editor in chief, and the students are the journalists. The magazine can be a one-off project, or edited continuously over the year. Multilingual features allow students from different schools and countries to collaborate on a project.
The Magazine Factory cetainly looks interesting enough for me to consider giving it a trial, once I’ve thought of a suitable project.
Here’s an example magazine: Eye Spy on Europe

Year 7 models on You Tube

It was great to see SLN user Melanie Richards using the photographs of my Year 7 homework to inspire her own students. This is precisely why I continue with the whole blogging lark! Melanie posted an excellent video on You Tube. Her blog Gorgeous Geography is here.

BBC Bitesize podcasts

A range of Geography revison “audiobite” podcasts have appeared at the Bitesize site They are quite informal and incorporate sound effects  and dialogue by actual actors! More podcasts should be added in due course.

bitesize click to visit

I wrote the human geography scripts so that’s why there is a slight South West bias (check the Sidmouth accent on the Aging Populations podcast!)  Here’s one example: download Foriegn Aid.mp3

Since I don’t really listen to podcasts, I’d be interested in feedback. Personally I think they’ve turned out rather well!

New Juicy Geography

 new juicy geography

After many hours of work, the new version of my static website, Juicy Geography, where I share some lesson ideas and resources is ready. I’ve deleted quite a lot of outdated content, improved the navigation and accessibility and created a dedicated print stylesheet.  I can host resources by other teachers on request.

The Darfur Wall

Combining an interesting visualization of the 400,000 victims of the Darfur conflict, with an original approach to fund raising, the Darfur Wall is a great way of impressing the seriousness of this humanitarian disaster on your students.

1851

While researching a lesson I came across a superb case study example of appropriate technology in the region from the Practial Action NGO.

Play the Darfur is Dying game for a glimpse of the daily struggle for many refugees. [Via Tony Cassidy]

Darfur