A quick for Mark Warner’s Ideas To Inspire mini-site. Collaborative presentations of good teaching ideas contributed by educators around the world have been neatly organized into a really useful reference resource that’s bound to grow over time. Cheers Mark!

New participants are very welcome. The next meeting is Thursday 21st May. To take part please request permission to edit the wiki. Then add your name to the list of attendees.

Hazards on way to school
Land-use in a rural area
Micro-climate study
Affective mapping of local area
Geo-located poems photos or artwork
Geo-located story
Guide for local visitors
A parkour / BMX / skate map
A “know-where” hang out map
A best dog walking route

For example:

map link

Thinking about the skill progression required to elevate younger students into fully qualified neo-geographers would go something like this: (some of the steps require just a few minutes to consolidate, others would need a lesson or two) Google Earth / Maps required!

1. Find a place / use postcode look-up / search box
2. Create a placemark / select appropriate icon
3. Measure distance using ruler – e.g from home to school
4. Create a path e.g from home to school
5. Collaborate with others e.g. save placemarks / paths to a shared folder / collaboration tool in My Maps
6. Organise the Places folder
7. Use layers to add information to the map e.g roads / Wikipedia / Panoramio / 3d buildings / real-time data e.g weather / earthquakes
8. Be able to turn terrain on and off and adjust exaggeration
9. Take a photo with a phone / digital camera and upload to Flickr (issues in some schools – need for parent’s permission?)
10. Add photos to a place mark (from Flickr  etc) using img tag (from Flickr)  <img src=” replace this text with the link to the photo “>  and use You Tube embed code to add video
11. Create multimedia tours / be able to adjust tour settings
12. Add polygons to represent land use / data etc. Be able to adjust colour and opacity
13. Be able to import data from GPS (optional)
14. Create simple geo-located graphs using Google Spreadsheets or even easier, Rich Chart Live (see this post)
15. Complete a decision-making exercise using multiple data sources e.g my San Francisco lesson
16. Understand relative advantages / disadvantages of different mapping systems for example by using Where’s The Path?
17. Create a Google account (with parent’s permission) and be familiar with My Maps
18. Create an original map as a final assignment. More able students could create Sketch Up models / use GE Graph / create overlays to demonstrate advanced neo-geography skills.

The core geographical concepts are based on location, scale and place. Students should be able to collect field data and create a map for a real audience. The learning sequence offers the opportunity for some highly personalised, participatory geography. The best outcomes would see students sharing their work on a blog or some other public community. Any thoughts?