OllieBray.com

Move, Eat & Learn (2 of 3) - EAT [Video] [Lesson Starter]

I posted the Move film earlier today which has some obvious links to geography, place and international education. But the 3 guys who traveled, 38 thousand miles, over 44 days, through 11 countries and 18 flights to create the films also made two more.

The second film is titled Eat. What do you think?

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

I think is great as well. The first part is perfect for identifying and talking about stereotypes with a class of learners and the whole film who be perfect to support teaching a unit on the geography of food. 

 

Move, Eat & Learn (1 of 3) - MOVE [Video] [Lesson Starter]

Al Humphreys pointed me towards this video a few weeks ago and I loved it when I watched it at the time. Then via Alan Parkinson Living Geography Blog I noticed a comment pointing towards two other videos by the same guys. They really are beautiful and inspiring pieces of artwork and filmography.

The first one is titled Move. What do you think?

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Lots of lesson starter ideas here including trying to identify the places, countries and continents where the shots were filmed. Apparently “3 guys traveled, 38 thousand miles, over 44 days, through 11 countries and 18 flights,” to ctreate the films.

I think it might be quite fun to try and re-create the idea in your school or local area. Anyone up for the challenge?

 

Microsoft Bing Maps augmented reality demo at the TED 2010

I was completely blown away when I watched this short 8 minute TED Talk today on their latest evolution of Microsoft Bing Maps which included an Augmented reality demo.

In the words of Bing Maps' Blaise Aguera y Arcas:

"We see this space, three-dimensional environment as being a canvas on which all sorts of applications can play out. Maps, directions are really just one of them."

Very impressive stuff - can't wait to check it out in more detail. TED video embedded below:

Great time-lapse video of the Northern Lights

One of the things I would like to do in the next decade is see the Northern lights. I’ve been far enough north lots of times – but always at the wrong time of the year!Until then, I’ll have to make do with this great time-lapse video of the lights.

(via Gizmodo)

Did You Know 4 0 : The Media Landscape

The original ‘Shift Happens‘ presentation by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Brenman was turned into a video and uploaded to YouTube in June 2007. The video was then remixed, becoming a YouTube and Slideshare hit called ‘Did You Know?‘ its now attracted over 6.5m views on YouTube.

'Did You Know 4.0?' is the latest version that has been created by The Economist and Xplane for their Media Convergence Forum (The Moment of Truth: Consumers, Technology and Commerce) which will be held on  20th - 21st October 2009 in New York. You tube video below.

Although I have seen the original lots of times - I still like looking at these videos.

Children See ….. Children Do .....

A powerful reminder that we all have a responsibility in the education of young people:

Rocktober: MGS Gig, Live Streamed to the Web (follow @mgstv)

My substantive post is at Musselburgh Grammar School (MGS) in East Lothian where I am part of the school leadership team. One of the great things about MGS is how they have always been a school that embraces new technology.

This innovation has included the first European Schools Podcast in 2005 and the creative games based learning Guitar Hero transition project in 2008 and now the use of mobile technology to live stream one of their many student shows.

On Friday you can watch MGSTV's Rocktober Event Live on twitcam. to find out more you will need to follow @mgstv on twitter or you can find out more information form the school website.

WallE – Using robots as a contextual hub for learning in schools

My friend and colleague Lynne Lewis who is Principal Teacher at Athelstaneford Primary School in East Lothian has been doing a unit of work on robots with her class. Due to the small rural nature of the school Lynn has a composite class of 6, 7 and 8 year old children.

For the first part of the term Lynn has structured her curriculum around robots in particular WallE and used this as a contextual hub for learning. It looks like her class have been learning loads and having great fun.

Lynne sent me this Animoto Video of the class in action which also shows some of the learning activities that the class have been taking part in. I was going to show it at Teachmeet SLF09 but Lynn’s name didn’t get picked from the fruit machine. Luckily she (and her class) have agreed for me to post it up here – I think its excellent!

New iPod Nano – huge classroom potential

To be honest I was a little bit disappointed with the Apple announcements on the 9th September. I wasn’t expecting to see the Apple Tablet but I was expecting the new iPod Touch to have a camera. Gizmodo offers some suggestions for this – what do you think?

However, I really like the new version of iTunes, particularly the App management feature and I love the look of the new iPod Nano. I think it’s got a huge amount of potential in the classroom.

So, in case you have been sleeping under a rock for the last few days. Here is a bit of an overview of the new features of the nano

Video: the new iPod nano now has a built-in video camera that lets you record video and to share it with people though iTunes to the internet via a number of social networking platforms including YouTube and Facebook. One disadvantage for schools is that the new nano does not take stills. I think this is a bit of a shame?

Pedometer: the new iPod nano now doubles as a Pedometer. It uses the built-in accelerometer to keep track of your steps and help you meet your fitness goals. The built in software allows you to create a daily step goal or you can set it to ‘Always On’ so it counts all the steps you take, all the time. This could be great for health and wellbeing and collecting real data in schools.

Voice notes: the new iPod nano has a built-in microphone that lets you capture an audio recording. Think about the possibilities for recording thoughts, learning, achievements or even a traditional classroom lecture

FM Radio: the new iPod nano includes an FM radio.

There are still a lot of people asking ‘why would Apple put an FM tuner into an iPod?’ After all they could have done this years ago – but have always refused to? The answer it appears comes from iTunes-Tagging. As well as being able to live pause a radio stream you can also tag tracks that you are listening to on the radio by hitting the center button.

Why is this important? Well, if the radio station supports tagging, the information about the song will be saved and you can see the list of songs that you have tagged on iTunes. Guess what! There is then also an option to buy these songs! Very clever Apple.

For me one of the most powerful things about the new nano is that after Christmas 2009 there will literally be 1000’s of these little devices in school classrooms. How can we support teachers, give them ideas and encourage them to use the technology that will soon be in the pockets of a lots of children?

Anyone got plans to use the new iPod Nano with a class?

Learning from films

My good old friend Mike Tidd, Curriculum Leader at Cove School, Hampshire had a nice little article in SecEd last month about using Film in Geography. In the article Mike talks about his experiences of using film with his geography classes and also lists some of his favorite geography films.

You can access the full article here.

Mike lists his top ten geography films as:

1. Slumdog Millionaire – Life within shanty towns of Mumbai
2. Brassed Off – Industrial decline in the UK
3. The Day after Tomorrow – Climate change has never been so traumatic

So, what would your top three Geography films be and why? Leave your answers below…