An extra challenge for your last 3 weeks in school...
Each morning, Miss Fryer's form will be revealing a photo of a location or landmark in England/Scotland/Wales - it will also be uploaded to this blog as well as in her classroom (room 50).
Your challenge?
a) To name the location or landmark
b) Which Ordnance Survey Landranger (1:50,000) map can it be found on?
(One point each)
The grid of Landranger maps can be found at the link below and on the poster on Miss Fryer's wall.
http://www.shop.ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk/products/paper-maps/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain-os-landranger-map
You need to submit your answers by email (LFryer@kegs....) or on a piece of paper with your name on it to Miss Fryer directly. Deadline = by 8:45am (start of registration) the next morning. For a Friday photo, the deadline is still 8:45am Saturday morning. There will be no photo on Friday 21st - this is when the prize(s) will be awarded. If a large number of students achieve the top number of points, then names will be drawn out of a hat.
Good Luck!
Friday 30 November 2012
Thursday 22 November 2012
Year 10 Settlement patterns....with Play-doh!
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| Joe and Ally's "Nucleated settlement" playdoh poster |
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| Haris and Lewis' "Nucleated Settlement" playdoh poster |
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| Harry and Michael's "Dispersed Settlement" playdoh poster |
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| WeiNan and Callum's "Dispersed Settlement" poster |
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| A "Linear Settlement" example including coastal theory from the previous unit (e.g. Longshore Drift) |
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| Jonathan and Matthew's "Linear Settlement" poster |
Saturday 17 November 2012
Y8 student complete WWWonderful ecosystem studies
Congratulations Ollie Barnard 9S
Huge congratulations to Ollie Barnard 9S on being awarded the RGS with IBG Young Geographer of the Year award for the 11-14 age group for 2012. To win this national award is a fantastic achievement and reflects the outstanding quality of his "Walk the World" entry for the competition. Over 1500 students entered instructions for walks that linked their home town to countries of the Olympics and Paralympics for the competition, five in total from KEGS.
This is, incredibly, the third year running that KEGS has achieved success in this competition with the previous winners being Ethan Harradine in 2010 and WeiNan Zhou in 2011.
This is, incredibly, the third year running that KEGS has achieved success in this competition with the previous winners being Ethan Harradine in 2010 and WeiNan Zhou in 2011.
Well done to Y12 students
An excellent trip with top geography being observed and recorded throughout. The study of the redevelopment of the Birmingham Inner City and CBD areas will support your case stduies whilct increasing your understanding of how and why change has taken place.
The rivers day allowed you to see the changes that can take place in an upland area where there are sttep slopes with an impermeable underlying rock type. All this linked well to the infiltration work that you carried out and provided a practical experience of the theory covered in class.
The flood risk and management day introduced you to calculating risk and severity in an urban area and closely linked to the work you have been doing in class recently.
Rural villages allowed you to assess the validity of Cloake's model and also to be aware of the changes taking place in rural areas as a result of sub-urbanisation.
Working together as a group was very important and using the randomiser you were able to experience working with different people over the course of the four days.
Hopefully you will be able to apply these experiences in the exams next summer.
The rivers day allowed you to see the changes that can take place in an upland area where there are sttep slopes with an impermeable underlying rock type. All this linked well to the infiltration work that you carried out and provided a practical experience of the theory covered in class.
The flood risk and management day introduced you to calculating risk and severity in an urban area and closely linked to the work you have been doing in class recently.
Rural villages allowed you to assess the validity of Cloake's model and also to be aware of the changes taking place in rural areas as a result of sub-urbanisation.
Working together as a group was very important and using the randomiser you were able to experience working with different people over the course of the four days.
Hopefully you will be able to apply these experiences in the exams next summer.
Friday 16 November 2012
Yr12 fieldtrip final day!
Well....the final day of the Yr12 fieldtrip is over for another year....we made it back almost 2hrs early which was a bonus!
The morning was spent assessing different settlements in Shropshire regarding their rurality. This included housing mapping (age and type), questionnaires, environmental quality surveys and more!
We then said goodbye to Jess, the Field Study Centre staff member who has been with us all week - she was absolutely fantastic and led us through lots of activities. The other staff at Preston Montford have also made it an excellent trip, particularly Ross who helped us on the rivers day and the kitchen staff who produced some excellent food!
Dr Hitch and Miss Fryer are looking forward to seeing the write ups using the data from this trip in coming weeks!
The morning was spent assessing different settlements in Shropshire regarding their rurality. This included housing mapping (age and type), questionnaires, environmental quality surveys and more!
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| Students investigating Longden village |
We then said goodbye to Jess, the Field Study Centre staff member who has been with us all week - she was absolutely fantastic and led us through lots of activities. The other staff at Preston Montford have also made it an excellent trip, particularly Ross who helped us on the rivers day and the kitchen staff who produced some excellent food!
Dr Hitch and Miss Fryer are looking forward to seeing the write ups using the data from this trip in coming weeks!
Thursday 15 November 2012
Final evening
The final evening for the Yr12s is almost over (or so Dr Hitch and Miss Fryer hope!) - it has ended with an enjoyable quiz which ended in some close results.
The evening work involved playing with GIS computer programs on the laptops creating maps to overlay onto Google Earth - these being very successful.
Then for the quiz! It involved rounds such as "Sporting Change", "Flagging Yet?" and "Spotters guide to this week" - all with a geographical theme! The number of cereals became debatable as to whether Weetabix had been included in the original calculations! In the end Max, Libby, Annie and David were narrowly beaten by Michael, Adam, Ben and Joe!
One of the questions - which animal is there a statue of outside the Birmingham shopping centre we studied on Tuesday? Well they had a photo of them pointing at it!
Some final work looking at rural settlements tomorrow before heading back to KEGS. In the meantime, dates for next year's Yr12 trip are being considered!!
The evening work involved playing with GIS computer programs on the laptops creating maps to overlay onto Google Earth - these being very successful.
Then for the quiz! It involved rounds such as "Sporting Change", "Flagging Yet?" and "Spotters guide to this week" - all with a geographical theme! The number of cereals became debatable as to whether Weetabix had been included in the original calculations! In the end Max, Libby, Annie and David were narrowly beaten by Michael, Adam, Ben and Joe!
One of the questions - which animal is there a statue of outside the Birmingham shopping centre we studied on Tuesday? Well they had a photo of them pointing at it!
Some final work looking at rural settlements tomorrow before heading back to KEGS. In the meantime, dates for next year's Yr12 trip are being considered!!
Yr12 Fieldtrip Day 3
Today the Yr12s have carried out a variety of different activities to consider flooding influences, impacts and mitigations.
We started off by carrying out experiments on three infiltration tables - slopes of brick, soil or grass built on brick foundations - a gutter with holes in along the top provides the "rain" and guttering at the bottom enables runoff to be collected and measured at certain time intervals. The students predicted what happened, carried out the experiments then considered the results afterwards using their previous hydrograph knowledge.
The next activity involved measuring infiltration rates of the lawn outside the house. Groups of 3 picked a random spot, hammered a metal tube into the ground, poured in specific amounts of water and recorded the time it took to infiltrate into the ground. On considering the results later they ranged from 1847mm/hr to 30mm/hr - the students concluded the moles were most likely to blame!
The afternoon was spent conducting investigations in Shrewsbury - land use mapping of different areas, risk/severity ratings for the different areas and questionnaires about locals' knowledge and opinions of the flood defences. Before returning to the field centre they had a short tour of sections of the flood defences and mapped them.
We started off by carrying out experiments on three infiltration tables - slopes of brick, soil or grass built on brick foundations - a gutter with holes in along the top provides the "rain" and guttering at the bottom enables runoff to be collected and measured at certain time intervals. The students predicted what happened, carried out the experiments then considered the results afterwards using their previous hydrograph knowledge.
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| Students gathering data about infiltration of a ploughed field scenario |
The next activity involved measuring infiltration rates of the lawn outside the house. Groups of 3 picked a random spot, hammered a metal tube into the ground, poured in specific amounts of water and recorded the time it took to infiltrate into the ground. On considering the results later they ranged from 1847mm/hr to 30mm/hr - the students concluded the moles were most likely to blame!
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| Students measuring infiltration rates on the lawn |
The afternoon was spent conducting investigations in Shrewsbury - land use mapping of different areas, risk/severity ratings for the different areas and questionnaires about locals' knowledge and opinions of the flood defences. Before returning to the field centre they had a short tour of sections of the flood defences and mapped them.
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| Students observing the Frankwell flood defences on the River Severn at Shrewsbury |
Wednesday 14 November 2012
Yr12 Fieldtrip Day 2
Today the Year 12's have been testing out the theory that river discharge increases downstream by taking lots of different measurements in Ashes Hollow valley near Church Stretton. Once data had been collected from 8 sites (around 4 different tributaries) they returned to the classroom to consider their methods and the results.
We were very lucky with the weather...only donning the waterproofs as we headed into the cloud near the river's source. There was even a fine rendition of a number of "Joseph" songs on the way back down the valley from some of the girls!
Tomorrow we are looking forward to a morning of experiments here at the Field Studies Council Centre then an afternoon in Shrewsbury to discover more about the flood defences that we have started discussing in class.
We were very lucky with the weather...only donning the waterproofs as we headed into the cloud near the river's source. There was even a fine rendition of a number of "Joseph" songs on the way back down the valley from some of the girls!
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| Bliss taking a "Dumpy Level" reading to work out the gradient |
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| The 7 groups taking measurements along the river at the sites furthest downstream |
Tuesday 13 November 2012
Birmingham investigations
The Year 12s are currently on their fieldtrip to Preston Montford (Shrewsbury) to study both human and physical geography. Today was spent looking at the land uses in Birmingham city centre, focussing on Brindley Place (near National Indoor Arena and International Conference Centre) and the Bull Ring.
This evening they were given just under an hour to produce a poster outlining their findings. See one of the results below!
KEGS geography also added two geocaches to their 'finds' en route - including finding out about the history of an interesting canal junction.
We're looking forward to testing our theories of river changes tomorrow!
This evening they were given just under an hour to produce a poster outlining their findings. See one of the results below!
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| Poster created by Megan, Sean, Abi and Josh |
We're looking forward to testing our theories of river changes tomorrow!
Thursday 8 November 2012
Chalara fraxinea
A key issue affecting South East England and Europe as a whole...a fungal disease attacking our ash trees. Chalara fraxinea has been traced from Europe (current pathogen has evidence dating back to Poland in 1992). It will be very interesting, as geographers, to follow what happens regarding the spread (time and distribution), the effects on surrounding ecosystems, and the politics behind it. A summit occurred earlier this week in London and government's COBRA are meeting tomorrow morning (Friday 9th November). Keep an eye on local and national news for development along with key groups such as the Forestry Commission. Importantly, make sure you do your bit by cleaning shoes and clothes if you've been anywhere that might have been affected!
Map of sites: 9th Nov 2012
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Map_2b_12_11_06_UK_outbreak_map.pdf/$file/Map_2b_12_11_06_UK_outbreak_map.pdf
Map of sites: 9th Nov 2012
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Map_2b_12_11_06_UK_outbreak_map.pdf/$file/Map_2b_12_11_06_UK_outbreak_map.pdf
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