OllieBray.com

Teaching Earth Science and Physical Geography Outdoors

I had a very enjoyable day today at the Scottish Earth Science Education Forum (SESEF) Earth Science Outdoors Meeting.

The SESEF Earth Science Outdoor Project is about developing educational resources to support outdoor activities for school and community groups, at special sites of scientific interest. The pilot phase of the project (2008-2009) is about developing resources in the Fife/Lothians and Grampian areas of  Scotland. Ten sites have been selected including Barnes Ness and North Berwick in East Lothian. More details about the project can be found on the ‘NEW’ SESEF website.

Here is a brief roundup of the day:

Colin Graham gave a quick introduction to SESEF and then Angus Miller (development officer for the Earth Science Outdoor Project) gave an overview of the pilot phase of the Earth Science Outdoor Project.

We then moved into discussion groups to chat about the benefits and barriers of outdoor learning for all ages. There were some interesting points made here. But for me if geologists want to get more earth science / geology taught in schools they need to start emphasising the societal / social benefits of outdoor and environmental learning as well as the scientific benefits.

Next we moved into development groups where we talked about some of the new materials that have been produced and how they could be improved. In particular we critiqued the one that had been produced on Holyrood Park. It’s a great resource, with huge potential – but it’s not quite ready for school use yet.

The document links well to the new Social Subjects Experiences and Outcomes of a Curriculum for Excellence. I suggested that SESEF may have missed a trick here as I believe it’s important that all new resources that are developed now need to be as cross curricular as possible. The activities suggested for Holyrood Park could also easily be related to the science, literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing outcomes. In the long term this could be a really valuable resource for teachers and school managers.

Over Lunch I met Keith Hoole who is the project manager for the Lochaber Geopark.

Geoparks, ‘work together to conserve and valorise their geological heritage through the integrated and sustainable development of their territories’, there are currently 32 Geoparks in Europe.

Anyway, Keith has got a really interesting project in development involving the use of mobile phones that will allow visitors to the Geopark to find out more information about it. I really hope to visit Keith during the coming year to find out more about this project and how we could start using similar technology with schools.

In the afternoon there was an opportunity to learn more about some of the resources the SESEF offer to schools. They have a new version of the simplified geology map of Scotland and we also talked about the rock kits that they give out with some of their CPD workshops.

During the last session there was further opportunity to re-cap the days discussions and to feedback in the lecture theatre. For me it was really heartening that over 70 professionals had given up their Saturday to take part in such an important discussion / debate. Outdoor learning, geology, place, earth science and geography are all very important in a childes development.

It was also great to catch up gain with the enthusiastic Catherine Morgan (SESEF Development Officer) – Hopefully Catherine and I will get to work on a few exciting projects together in the coming year.

Finally, it is important to remember that membership of SESEF is free – click here for further information.

Google Earth: Vancouver now in 3D

Vancouver is one of my favourite cities in the world and the gateway to expeditions in British Columbia. I wrote about the New York imagery available in 3D Google Earth back in December and now Vancouver also has fantastic 3D imagery.

It really is beautiful and it’s worth just going into Google Earth to have a look around the city.

I wonder how long it will be before we start to see some UK cities like this in Google Earth. Wouldn’t it be great to have Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff and London  in 3D?

Vancouver is also the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics and with London being the venue for 2012 – perhaps we are in for a shout at some point?

Google Ocean rumoured for launch in San Francisco next week

Google Earth and Google Sky have already proved to be powerful classroom resources and now Google Ocean could be on its way? According to cnet news Google put together a group of oceanographers over a year a go where they, ‘discussed plans for creating a 3D oceanographic map’.

Obviously these are just rumours but on February 2^nd 2009 Google is hosting an event at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's newly rebuilt aquarium and natural history museum. They have also secured a number of impressive key note speakers including Al Gore and Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt. One of the other speakers will be the National Geographic Societies oceanographer Sylvia Earle.

The inclusion of Sylvia Earle in the speaker line up and the fact that the event is being hosted at an aquarium has once again got the rumour mills suggesting that the 2^nd February could be the Google Ocean announcement that many Google fans have been waiting for.

Apparently, an invitation to the event in San Francisco described it only as an announcement of "the next big step in the evolution of Google Earth." – my invite must have got lost in the post?

PC Pro Magazine also provides some more information on what Google Ocean might be like:

 ‘[Google Ocean] is expected to provide underwater topography, with a layer showing the depth of the sea floor. It will allow users to search for particular points of interest, such as famous shipwrecks. Google Ocean is also expected to include underwater photography, although experts have stated that it would take hundreds of years of ship time to photograph the entire ocean bed at high resolution.’

If the rumours are true and Google Ocean is launched next week it could provide another excellent resource for classroom teachers. In particular, it will add an extra dimension to the study of place for geography teachers. I’m sure it will also be incredibly useful when teaching oceanic circulation in the Scottish higher geography course!

My eyes will be fixed on the Google Lat / Long Blog next week for any announcements.

Free Running could be taught in UK schools

Heath and wellbeing are a cross cutting theme in the emerging Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. Amongst other things, I hope that this will lead to a diversification of activities that we find being offered by school PE departments. In particular I hope it leads to more outdoor education and outdoor learning in schools.

This interesting article from the Independent talks about how there has been ‘a successful three-year pilot project in London,’ to introduce Free Running into schools the report claims, ‘to have cut youth offending by as much as 30 per cent.’

Free running – the sport based on running and leaping over and across buildings and urban obstacles. Personally, I think this is a great idea and agree with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) when they say, "Anything that encourages young people to be active and try new challenges in a supervised environment will help them learn to manage risk. Free running is like any other activity in that it tests their limits. It is better they learn it in schools than on the streets."

BETT 2009 – Final Summary

It’s been over a week now since I got back from BETT 2009 and I’ve finally got to the end of my notes about the experience. One thing that I have noticed is that there don’t seem to be many people sharing their BETT experiences on the blogosphere? Yes, there has been the one off post, but nothing really comprehensive. I think this is a real shame and I hope that some of people that went to BETT 2009 will at least share their experiences within their own schools or learning communities.

I’ve enjoyed writing this series, I hope you have reading it? But I'm also pleased that it has come to an end. There are lots of other exciting things that have been happening in East Lothian and further afield that I am keen to write about. But until then, here is an index of all of my BETT 2009 posts.

1. BETT 2009 – Four Days, Familiar faces and Sore Feet

2. BETT 2009 – PSP’s and Augmented Reality

3. BETT 2009 – BrainPop UK

4. BETT 2009 – StudyWiz (QT Mobile and their new Google strategic global alliance)

5. BETT 2009 – Microsoft UK Innovative Teachers Network

6. BETT 2009 – London 2012 Olympics Educational Resources

7. BETT 2009 – CEOP

8. BETT 2009 – Txt Tools

9. BETT 2009 – SUMS ONLINE (Maths content for your PSP, Netbook or Mobile Device)

10. BETT 2009 – Open Source Schools

11. BETT 2009 – The National Education Network

12. BETT 2009 – MissonMaker and Elenox

13. BETT 2009 – Cyber Coach (Dance Mats and Exergaming)

14. BETT 2009 – Interactive Multi Touch Tables (RM. SMART, VIPRO and Microsoft Surface)

15. BETT 2009 – RM ‘Shaping Education for the Future’ (1 of 2)

16. BETT 2009 – RM ‘Shaping Education for the Future’ (2 of 2)

17. BETT 2009 – Mini Projectors

18. BETT 2009 – Promethean (1of3): Innovation

19. BETT 2009 – Promethean (2of3): Activsoftware Inspire Edition

20. BETT 2009: Promethean (3of3): Activsound and Activremote

21. BETT 2009 - BETT Awards

22. BETT 2009 - 2Simple 2Do It Yourself (DIY)

23. BETT 2009 - Teachmeet BETT 2009

See you at BETT 2010!

BETT 2009 - Teachmeet BETT 2009

Teachmeet BETT took place on the Friday evening of BETT 2009. Although the BETT Teachmeet was the biggest one I have ever attended and my first Teachmeet outside Scotland. I would still stick by my famous TESS quote and say that it is one of the most valuable events on the CPD calendar.

I’m not going to go into to much detail about the content of Teachmeet BETT 2009. Just Google it and you will see lots of great posts that have already been written about the event. One of my favourites is Alan Parkinson’s summary. It captures the event with Alan’s normal dry sense of wit and humour (I’m just pleased he lent me his laptop!)

As well as catching up with lots of familiar faces and some people who I had never met before the highlights of the evening for me were:

• John Davitt demonstrating his Random Activities Generator (RAG) – I’m looking forward to trying this out on the iPhone. John also showed us his Learning Score resource, which looks like a useful planning tool.

• Drew Buddie reminded me about Glogster – a great way to produce nice looking posters and other stuff.

• Ian Usher showed off Microsoft ZoomIt. ZoomIt lets you draw or write free-hand on the desktop screen in various colours. You can also pan like an on-screen camera or magnify any area of the desktop using either the mouse wheel or the arrow keys.

• Greg Hodsgon presenting on Photoshop Tennis – a great idea and very funny!

• Ian Stuart also presented (one and a half times?) live from Islay about the 2020 Islay Unconference that is scheduled for June.

All in all it was an excellent evening and one of the highlights of BETT 2009 for me. So a huge thanks to all the organisers and all the sponsors. Great work and a great evening.

BETT 2009 - 2Simple 2Do It Yourself (DIY)

It was nice to catch up with Alan Yeoman at BETT 2009. Alan now works as an educational consultant with 2Simple. 2Simple make lots of great stuff and I was instantly impressed with the software that Alan showed me called 2Do It Yourself (or 2DIY).

Among other things the software provides basic games design tools for young children. It’s really creative, easy to use and could introduce young people into a whole variety of learning experiences including design, rules, creativity and competition. The interface is very easy to use and I am sure the software will appeal to many teachers.

I had a quick go at making a game last night.

First of all I picked a game template from the options menu:

The game I picked is a bit like the old fashioned space invaders. You can apply rules to objects to gain points or to loose points.

The next step was to draw my background (notice the care I took with the trees!). I could have also imported an image if I had wanted to.

I then picked the objects to fall from the sky. The theme of my game is ‘Open Source’ so I up-loaded some ‘open source’ and some ‘non-open source’ logos to the game. I set rules against each object so that if you caught an open source logo you gained points and if you caught a non-open source logo you lost points.

Then I designed my ‘catching’ object. I picked a hand form the clip art bank.

I then set some rules about game timing (you just pay for a minutes) and added some sound.

Finally, I created a start page and you can play my finished game below! How simple was that, what a great resource!

To play the game you will need flash installed on your computer. Click start and then use the left and right cursor keys to move the hand to catch the logos.

 

Porchester Junior School has also up-loaded some 2DIY Games to their excellent classroom website.

BETT 2009 - BETT Awards

Photo: Merlin John Online

For some reason I was missed off the complementary BETT awards dinner list for this year? Obviously an oversight on the organisers part :-). And the fact I don’t own a dinner jacket!

Anyway, it was good to catch up on the award results over on my good friend Merlin’s New Site. I was particularly pleased with the winners in the following categories:

Outstanding Achievement in ICT Education
Professor Stephen Heppell – I am a big fan of Stephens work. Not only did he once mention me on his blog! (even saying that my presentation was fascinating!) But we also have a number of other things in common. Most importantly a passion for the sea, snow and……I guess education?

Judges' comments: "Stephen Heppell's contribution goes back to the earliest days of ICT in UK schools (1980 with the national organisation MicroElectronics Education Programme) which is why the judges considered him to be the very best person to receive this inaugural award. Stephen has worked to raise the profile and application of ICT for learning right across education - with learners, teachers, school leaders and even governments.”

Content-Free Tools
Softease for Podium – I think Podium is great! Intuitive, Simple, Effective and Reliable!

Judges' comments: "It supports planning, structuring, creativity and collaboration. It is easy to use and supports a complex area that some teachers may shy away from. The instructions are good, and it breaks down complex tasks into simple and achievable elements."

 

ICT Company of the Year
2Simple Software – I have been so impressed with their 2 DIY Software.

Judges' comments: "This is a company that responds totally to the needs of schools and children. It is a partnership organisation that supports learning and teaching with staff and management that cares about the children and teachers – both here and overseas – that use their products."

 

E-Safety
Childnet International for Know IT All for Parents – another great resource that links nicely to our Internet safety and Responsible Use training that we have been running in East Lothian.

Judges' comments: "It offers comprehensive coverage of the e-safety agenda. The navigation is clear and intuitive. This resource could have a big impact on parents and carers who are essential partners in children’s learning and it does this in a professional and engaging way. It is engaging and informative, meeting a wide range of user expectations – parents’, carers’, teachers’ and so forth.”

BETT 2009: Promethean (3of3): Activsound and Activremote

As well as Activesoftware Inspire Edition Promethean also launched a new version of Activsound at BETT 2009. Again I like the idea of this and know that teachers use microphones to improve their voice in lots of classrooms all over the world. It looks like this is about to catch on in the UK as well.

The new Activsound system looks pretty good. It’s a lot smaller than previous versions and again like all Promethean products its well thought out. One of the exciting possibilities of using the Activsound for me would be to use it with Activesoftware Inspire Edition to enable the teacher to capture the whole lesson (teachers voice, students voices and IWB content) as one movie that could then be podcasted or used as a revision aid. There are also obvious benefits for teacher health.

One of the versions of Activsound is portable which means it can also be transferred between classrooms. I think there is a lot of potential here – I would be keen to try and get my hands on one of these and give it a real robust classroom test. The other thing I want to try out is the new Promethean Activremote that they also launched at BETT. I didn’t get a chance to see one of these in action. But again I like the idea of such a piece of hardware. I see too many teacher tied to their interactive whiteboard teaching the class from the front of the room. The Activeremote combined with other devices like the Activslate are the first steps to help some members of staff challenge this and get them more active around the class.

Great stuff, both products well thought out and really robust for classroom use!

BETT 2009 – Promethean (2of3): Activsoftware Inspire Edition

This year at BETT 2009 Promethean launched its latest range of Active Classroom solutions. These releases included its latest interactive whiteboard software, Activsoftware Inspire Edition. Again the software is a good example of being forward thinking – it runs across all three operating systems (including Linux). Promethean obviously has the netbook and open source market in mind.

I’ve had a chance to play around with Activesoftware Inspire Edition now – although I’ve not used it yet on a whiteboard. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to do this in the next week or so. The first thing I would say about Inspire is that it is incredibly intuitive. I found it took me a bit of time to get my head round earlier versions of Activesoftware. But Inspire seems to be very easy to use, with a lot more drop down boxes and features. I also like the way that you can export flipcharts straight to Promethean Planet so they can be shared with a wider audience.

Inspire edition combines all of the previous Active Software into one application. It combines Active Primary, Active Studio and Active Expression into a very user friendly interface. This is ideal for me as I use Active Expression a lot and means I will no longer have to jump between applications.

The other nice feature about Inspire Edition is that it includes facilities for a multi-touch duel pen capability. This allows two users to use the whiteboard at the same time through the ‘Activarena’ system. I think this is going to be great to use with classes and will add a whole new dimension to the use of whiteboards in the classroom for collaboration, teamwork and competition. Inspire also includes 50 ready made lessons that can be used with the Activarena system. Now all I need is some ActivArena Pens so I can get using this with a class?

Another innovative thing about Activesoftware Inspire Edition is that it’s being given away for free. Promethean are very keen to promote the idea that it’s also available for free to children, families and teachers. All you have to be is a member of Promethean Planet (free to join) and you can download a trail version of the software right away.

What else – oh yes, you don’t have to have a whiteboard to use the software and it would work particularly well on a tablet PC. You can also use the software with other makes of interactive whiteboard. Very clever marketing!