This excellent website is maintained by the Royal Geographical Society and contains articles which explore news items of geographical interest. Many of them are related to aspects of the Higher course. If you explore it by clicking on the image above, you will discover that much of the material is only available to 'members'. The good news is that you are a member as I have paid for a year's subscription for the school. This means that all pupils and members of staff can access the site. If you ask me, I will give you the username and password. (Now I will find out how many of you are actually reading the blog!!)
Thursday, August 31, 2006
RGS Geography in the News website
This excellent website is maintained by the Royal Geographical Society and contains articles which explore news items of geographical interest. Many of them are related to aspects of the Higher course. If you explore it by clicking on the image above, you will discover that much of the material is only available to 'members'. The good news is that you are a member as I have paid for a year's subscription for the school. This means that all pupils and members of staff can access the site. If you ask me, I will give you the username and password. (Now I will find out how many of you are actually reading the blog!!)
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
AH Fieldwork
The AH Geography and Higher MER classes joined forces with the AH biologists today to study plant succession on the sand dunes at Tentsmuir. 
This is an important topic within the Biosphere Unit which we will be studying in the Higher course later in the year. The photos should give you a flavour of what is involved in this type of fieldwork. .... Firstly, you persuade the guys to carry all the gear!!
... before recording the % abundance of individual species
Back at school the data will be used to construct accurate cross sections of the dunes and kite diagrams will be drawn to show how the abundance of different species changes with distance from the high water mark.
This is an important topic within the Biosphere Unit which we will be studying in the Higher course later in the year. The photos should give you a flavour of what is involved in this type of fieldwork. .... Firstly, you persuade the guys to carry all the gear!!
Then you set up transects using ranging poles and measuring tapes and record the changes in slope by using a clinometer. This lets you draw an accurate profile of the dune system.
Then you lay out quadrats systematically along the transect and record some abiotic factors like soil moisture and pH.......
... before recording the % abundance of individual species
Always assuming you can identify them, that is!
Back at school the data will be used to construct accurate cross sections of the dunes and kite diagrams will be drawn to show how the abundance of different species changes with distance from the high water mark.
Monday, August 28, 2006
New Physical Geography website
I have recently discovered this new website (click on the image above) which is being developed by Peter Knight, a physical geography lecturer at Keele University. It includes a section written specifically for school pupils and their teachers, which includes some excellent photos, quizzes, games and virtual lectures relating to many aspects of Physical Geography. Of particular relevance as we begin our studies of glaciation is this virtual lecture described as ....A virtual lecture" of 24 illustrated web-pages for a non-expert audience. Broadly illustrates how glaciers affect landscapes as part of an interconnected global system.
But if you really want to look at glaciers, I will share my all-time favourite with you. Click on the image below to be transported to the coolest website on glaciers and glaciation.....
Enjoy!
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Welcome to the Higher Geog Blog!
While adding postings to 'Geography : My Place and Yours' over the last few days, I have been working on the idea of having a blog which is aimed specifically at Higher pupils. (Some of the latest postings have been quite 'heavy' and I don't want to to put younger classes off reading 'My Place and Yours'.) So here it is, the infant Higher Geog Blog..... designed specially for you!
I have also converted to an up-graded beta version of Blogger which has a lot of new features. I will be able, for example, to label postings within categories which relate to sections of the course and once the blog is 'up and running', I plan to post links to resources you can download such as PowerPoint presentations used in class and homework assignments. I may even investigate the possibility of some on-line dialogue between us!
I have also converted to an up-graded beta version of Blogger which has a lot of new features. I will be able, for example, to label postings within categories which relate to sections of the course and once the blog is 'up and running', I plan to post links to resources you can download such as PowerPoint presentations used in class and homework assignments. I may even investigate the possibility of some on-line dialogue between us!
The parts of the course on which we are currently focusing are Lithosphere (specifically glaciation - hence the photo which includes some of you scrambling on the lateral moraines of the Gigjokul a couple of weeks ago) and Population. If you have not yet done so, try to read the postings on www.gmpay.blogspot.com for the 24th, 25th and 27th August.
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