As always I’m happy to share resources and ideas.

Examples of Students Work.

View more presentations from Liz Smith.

I’m always happy to see students’ work.

In year 8 will started to look at rivers, I use Victoria Ellis’s rivers introductory video (Nice bit of Enya..) as a starter, we then produce a poem entitled the ‘River’. Reminds me that I want to record some of them and put them online- one for this week to try…

In year 9 we started weather and climate, we considered the difference between the two terms, and then began to produce maps of the average summer and winter temperatures across the British Isles. Good traditional stuff!

To exploit this potential weather event, I thought I would try to extract some Geography.

View How hot is your classroom? in a larger map

The idea is that colleagues record the temperature of their classroom on the Google map. The map is open collaboration, so you just need a Google account to edit it. Hopefully it will be nice to see how temperatures vary around the country, it would also be nice to see the classroom temperatures of other colleagues from different parts of the World. For students, it offers the chance to discuss how and why temperatures may vary, and proves we are not alone!

Why an inside temperature? I’m just wondering how fit for purpose our learning environments are…

I thought some standardisation is needed, therefore

• Temperatures should be taken at midday in your time zone, on any day from the start date.
• Temperatures should be taken in the shade, away from direct sunlight, computer equipment.
• Temperatures can be updated if/when your previous high has been exceeded.

Using the map,

• Place a place mark on your school location, I’m using the sun one.
• Add a photo of your classroom if you wish.
• The place mark title should include the temperature in Degrees Celsius.

I thought temperature readings could begin on Monday 1st of June, but colleagues can join in at any time. In the mean time, please place your classroom marker in preparation.

The map project can be followed by RSS feed. A KML file can also be downloaded and use in Google Earth.

Please feel free to contact me for help.

With possibly the most important decision ever to be made by humanity at Copenhagen this December, ActionAid has teamed up with Queen Mary University to create Teach climate action! This teachers’ event is purposefully timed after KS4 and KS5 exams but ahead of the autumn term.

11:00 – 16:00, 19 June 2009
Queen Mary, University London, Mile End
Tickets £10

Buy a ticket now

Take part in Teach climate action! to:

• act on climate change issues in school
• hear from experts about the fight against climate change
• consider the moral implications of (not) teaching climate action
• discover the new stories and case studies for your classroom
• explore ways to teach climate change across the global dimension
• develop ideas for your teaching
• pick up a free PowerDown toolkit
• meet and create links with like minded teachers and academics

A wide range of speakers have confirmed they are speaking and the list is growing. Confirmed speakers include:

• Yasmin Mcdonnell, Emergencies and Conflict Team, ActionAid on Copenhagen, climatic hazards and responding to climate change
• Professor Susan Buckingham, Director of Centre for Human Geography and Environmental Issues, Brunel University on the gendered nature of climate change and how mitigation and adaptation strategies need to be socially and environmentally just
• Lizzie Gillett, Producer, The Age of Stupid on communicating and acting on climate change
• Dr Victoria Johnson, New Economics Foundation on climate change and interdependence
• Professor David Lambert, Geographical Association and the Institute of Education, London on the moral implications of teaching climate action
• Dr Robbie Sutton, Department of Psychology, University of Kent on the psychological obstacles to the fight against climate change and the prospects for overcoming them
• Dan Box, Journalist and winner of the RGS/IBG and BBC Journey of a Lifetime Award on his trip to the Carteret Islands in the Pacific to meet the world’s first official climate refugee