David Rogers

Priory Geography have been organising our school’s contribution to the BBC’s School Report for the past five years now.  This year, through a twitter suggestion or two, I floated the idea of a kids meet tying in with the news day. Luckily for me Jo Debens agreed and so I stepped back into the shadows until the next time the world needs a crazy suggestion.  On the subject of Jo, after five years of nagging, she’s finally started a blog, do check it out! Jo has written an excellent post here that explains it all, and sign up details are here .

I have been following an interesting discussion about the use of tools such as Wikipedia and YouTube in the classroom. I've just finished listening to a BBC Scotland after Ollie Bray posted a link on Twitter. Interesting that the programme was biased (as most forms of media are) in that there was no right of reply for the mysterious 'Deputy Head.' This was mildly amusing to me, as the main thrust of the interview was to prove that other sources of information are biased and unreliable. This bias is the very reason why teachers should be using wikipedia and co in the classroom. But, for the record: Wikipedia is a tool. It is not the future of learning, nothing ever is. To my knowledge, no teaching is advicating the use of Wikipedia, or any other tool, as the 'Official Answer to Everything, ever' A lot of the criticism assumes that Wikipedia is being used to source information. This is not necessarily true. For example, I use Wikipedia in order to introduce pupi...

The picture above shows the GPS tracker unit iside the BBC box. A group of pupils and myself headed to the BBC's Television Centre to welcome the box back home! I'm not going to say much more than that, apart from it all started by getting the department involved in the School Report project . If you're going to get involved and need some tips - give me a shout! Output from the pupils include: Pirates and the High Seas Welcome home The young people were also interviewed live on BBC Breakfast and a number of the BBC's local radio stations. All in all, a good day! Strict rules for the return of shipping containers.

Just been sent the live link to my pupils work on the BBC Box webpage. The BBC came in to see how the box is being used in geography classrooms. The Slideshare below was used during the lesson and gives the basic structure: Declaration Of Interdependence View more documents from geogrocks .

Interesting visit to the BBC yesterday. Highlighted some resources linked to the Blood, Sweat and T-shirts pro gramme screened earlier this year. Thread - some useful videos and resources that explore the issue of ethical clothing. Goes beyond labor issues. Blast - also some focus on ethical clothing but also useful for enterprise education. Also some useful clips on youTube .

I've been watching the BBC's Breakfast coverage of Climate Change this morning with great interest. The programme has provided a wealth of information and potential resources, including a nice explanation of the mechanism by school pupils. What caught my attention though was the plans that the government have to teach climate change in schools. The lessons will cover how global warming works and introduce ways in which students can cut their own car bon emissions. Now, as a Geography teacher I'm sure we have all been teaching these issues for many years! I have emailed the programme explaining this and inviting them to examine a SoW . It would be great if other Geographers could email the BBC ( breakfast.tv@bbc.co.uk ) - maybe this is a thread they will pick up. I think that this is just one more example of the way in which g overnment interference in the curriculum has devalued the work the geography already does - just like the whole of citizenship .