Soils resources

Over the last few years, the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen has produced a number of excellent resources to support Higher Geography. Of particular relevance to the work we have just started on soils are the following 'posters' on soils which were produced for the classroom but which can also be downloaded as A4 pdf files.

In class this week we have been looking at ways of studying soils, the terminology of pedology (soil science),the factors which influence the development of soils and the processes by which soils are formed. The following would be good resources for you to download and add to your notes:
1. An Introduction to Soils and Soil Forming factors
2. Terminology of Soils including Processes

After the holidays we will be looking at three types of soils - Podsols, Brown Earths and Gleys and there are also materials for each of these which you can download by clicking on the links.

Higher Pupil Conference.

Almost 300 pupils from schools across the central belt attended the Higher Geography Pupil Conference run by the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers at Dalkeith High School today. If you were there, you should be pleased to know that those of us who were lecturing/presenting were particularly impressed with our audience today!

I am hoping that having given you the link to the HigherGeogBlog, you are now going to become regular visitors and I thought you might like to be able to access the presentations I gave today.
Firstly, for the Biosphere Unit and on the topic of sand dune succession......


Secondly, for the Rural Land Resources section of Paper 2, my afternoon workshops were on the topic of Farming in the Yorkshire Dales.....


Sorry, no music on the on-line version.... you'll just have to hum....it was 'Emmerdale' and 'Last of the Summer Wine'!

Although it is now the 24th, I am going to edit this post rather than add a new one for today. Ollie Bray, Deputy Head at Musselburgh GS was one of the presenters at the conference on Friday. He has also kindly made his presentation on Population available to you.
On his own blog, he apologises for the first slide! However, it is only the title page and the rest more than makes up for it!

Dalkeith Higher Conference : Welcome to the Higher Geog Blog!

www.highergeogblog.blogspot.com

I am typing this at 00.35 am. In about 10 hours' time I should be in Dalkeith at the Higher Geography Pupil Conference and with luck, if technology doesn't let me down, those of you who attend my RLR workshop session in the afternoon should be able to read this message... even though I won't have a direct Internet link!

I started this blog with the intention of it being a source of extra information related to all aspects of the Higher Geography course. Originally, I thought only my pupils at High School of Dundee would use it but it has 'leaked' out and I am delighted to know that pupils from all over Scotland are now regular visitors.

Please feel free to link to the Higher Geog Blog - I'll be posting a lot in the run-up to the exam in May.

Today's posting is relevant to the Atmosphere section of the syllabus and, in particular, ocean currents. Every four to ten years, the normal pattern of oceanic circulation in the Pacific is disturbed by an El Nino event which leads to extreme weather conditions around the Pacific and beyond. The 'Guardian' website is currently carrying an excellent interactive guide to El Nino which you can access by clicking on the image below...

You can read more about El Nino in a posting I made here back in the autumn.

GM mosquito bred to destroy malaria

Headline news in 'The Times' today.....


Scientists in America are 'engineering' a new weapon in the fight aginst malaria which kills over 2.5 million people in the world each year. They have genetically modified mosquitoes to resist infection by the malaria parasite and if these mosquitoes are released into areas where malaria is common, it is hoped they would interbreed with native populations of mosquitoes until their resistance to the parasite is gradually spread. In that way, transmission to humans would be reduced.

The idea is not new but in the past the GM mosquitoes were weaker than their 'wild' counterparts and quickly died out. The new breed of GM mosquitoes is much more robust.

Despite the huge potential which this method of controlling malaria offers, there are bound to be protests from environmentalists who believe that it is wrong to replace naturally occurring species with genetically modified 'variants'.

You can read the article in full by clicking here. It includes the following facts and statistics...

— Malaria killed people in the Fens until the 19th century
— It has been predicted that global warming may result in malaria returning to Britain
— Malaria infects between 300 million and 500 million people a year, mainly in Africa
— In sub-Saharan Africa, malaria affects mostly young children, with almost 3,000 dying every day
— Symptoms include neck stiffness, convulsions, abnormal breathing and fever of up to 40C (104F)
— Distribution of the tropical disease mainly affects developing countries. About 90 per cent of cases are in Africa
— It costs £6.8 billion a year in Africa in lost GDP. Death and disability lead to the loss of 45 million years of productive life each year
— Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Oliver Cromwell, Caravaggio and David Livingstone are thought to have died of it
— Those who had it but recovered include Lord Nelson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Gandhi and Hemingway

BBC Scotland Rivers website

You may recall that I was involved with the production of the new BBC Scotland rivers programmes which were broadcast in November. My 'consultancy' also extended to on-line materials which have been prepared to support the Higher Hydrosphere unit and this is the finished product....

You can link directly to the resource by clicking on the image above.

While we are on the subject of BBC's on-line support for Higher and Intermediate Geography and given that your exams are just two months away, you might like to be reminded of the help available for revision..

Firstly there are the other on-line resources shown below. Clicking on the image will link you directly to the relevant page. You should be aware that Environmental Hazards relates to the Intermediate and not the Higher course. However, all of the other topics are Higher related.There are also the Higher Bitesize revision pages for Geography

This excellent resource contains good revision summaries of the three sections of the course - Physical Environments, Human Environments and Environmental Interactions.

How cars cause urban floods

There is an interesting article in the 'Independent' today which explores the connection between increasing car ownership and urban flooding. As car ownership rises, so too do the number of impermeable surface e.g. roads and car parks which accommodate the vehicles. This in turn impedes infiltration and increases surface storge and run-off .... and the flooding risk rises.

Click on the photo above to link to the article.

'Old' Dundee

You have recently been looking at the site, situation and growth of Dundee with Mrs W. Here are some old photos taken back in the 1970s which show how some parts of the city have changed beyond recognition in the last 30 years. The three photos also illustrate major themes of urban change.

Firstly, inner city redevelopment.... this photo shows the back of tenements (now long since gone) in Constable Street which is just to the east of the city centre (not far from 'The Marquee'!)

The second photo illustrates the changing economic base of the city. Education is now the major employment sector in the city.

This was the Hawkhill back in the 70's. Today, the area has seen a complete transformation as part of the university campus. The University sports centre occupies this spot now and looks over to the huge Wellcome building where Dundee's reputation as a centre of bio-medical excellence and research is focused.

And on the theme of redevelopment of the CBD here's the Overgate as it was when 'I was a lass' . The only thing that's the same is grass outside the city churches on the right of the photo! Today the corner is occupied by Debenhams and Next.

Reassuringly (from my point of view at least!), some views of Dundee haven't changed too much though the bank is now now closed permanently and it's up for redevelopment - soon to be another restaurant/pub, no doubt.

More Dales pics..

I thought I'd try this way of letting you see some of the Dales fieldtrip photos....
Slideshare allows you to upload PPT presentations and them embed them in a blog. So here goes!



I also have a lot of very good photos of those of you who paticipated which I will let you see in the privacy of school!

Dales Diary

Here are some photographic memories of our weekend in the Dales.

First to remind you of how much walking you did.......

Swilla Glen on the Ingleton waterfalls Walk

Approaching Thornton Force

Descending into Chapel-le-Dale from Twistleton Scar End

Towards Malham Cove




On the pavement above Malham Cove
Watlowes dry valley
Next, some 'team' photos..

Above Malham Cove

At the Norber erratics In White Scar Cave

And finally, some of my favourite pics from the weekend........

Thornton Force

Ingleborough

Ingleborough and Chapel-le-Dale

Malham Cove

Gordale

Gordale Scar

Norber

Hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as I did!

Development resources courtesy of Noel

One of the most rewarding aspects of this digital world we teachers now inhabit is that there is less and less need for us to 'reinvent the wheel'. Resources can be quickly and easily shared; PowerPoint presentations, digital images and movie files nightly wing their way through cyberspace as Geography teachers exchange resources. Indeed, many of the resources I use in class with you have come from virtual colleagues in other parts of the UK and beyond. It is also pleasing for me to know that some of the materials I produce are being used in classrooms far removed from Dundee.

Many of my virtual colleagues are also writing blogs for their pupils and you can see links to them in the sidebar. I have been watching with interest some recent postings on development by a teacher colleague in Somerset, whose blog you can link to by clicking the banner above.

Those of you who are not in the Dales this weekend (and the rest when you get back) might like to explore them.... Once you have reached Noel's blog, select 'development' from the categories in the sidebar and scroll down the postings until you find the following:
Feb 11th - Darfur Case Study
Feb 4th - Some more Development Questions
Jan 30th - Using Gapminder to measure Development (You have used Gapminder already with Mrs W)
Jan 28th Development Mapping Homework

I never thought I'd be getting a teacher in Somerset to set homework for my class!