Non-representational geography

At university, I came across non representational geography by Nigel Thrift, it combined post-structuralism and actor network theory. I've been trying to think how non-representational theory could be used in the classroom, it looks at the act of performance rather than representation and the world in a creative way as the world is complex and difficult to understand.  I think this could embrace the idea of the creative curriculum, in which several knowledges can be combined rather than one set of theories about the world such as Marxism. 


The above pictures show various representation of the world we live in, particularly the idea of splintering urbanism by Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin. Rather than just examining what each picture shows, several lessons could be based on examining one picture and look into various questions from social, economic and political angles but also looking at everyday lives of these people. Using various concepts such as scale, place, uneven development, cultural understanding and lived experience, we are able to make sense of the complex world we live in. I realise that we are to discuss these concepts in future meetings but for me non-representational theory is useful as it examines the complexities of the world we live in but it might difficult to teach this way, but it's worth a try. I'm now going to try and approach the subjects on my blog in a non-representational way, if possible.

School season

I don't know if anybody is watching the school season (http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/seasons/schoolseason/). I watched unequal opportunities by John Humphrys, I recommend it, it has definitely giving me more motivation and passion to teach. I haven't had the best of placements, not the most organised and welcoming of teachers. As a result, I started to have second thoughts about the PGCE but my secondary placement and the programme on Monday made me realise the influence education has had on me and can have on someone's opportunities in life, although various interrelated influences apply (social, economic and political) that I will not get into. Sorry it's not related to subject knowledge but felt like I had to share. Can't wait for Monday!

'When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of weather'

A great quote by Samuel Johnson in The Idler, it's lifted my spirits after having a run-in with the accommodation office at Leicester, hopefully I will be able to tell you more if have anywhere to live on Monday. Back to the quote, weather is fantastic, it is the state of the atmosphere at a local level, usually on a short time scale of minutes to months. Looking at the aspects of the atmosphere that affect human activity- sunshine, clouds, rainfall and humidity. Year 7s could create a weather diary of the last 5 days.

Climate is concerned with the long term behaviour of the atmosphere in a specific area. Data is built up daily, monthly. Climate graphs shows data for mean precipitation (blue rectangles) and average temperature each month.

Possible activities- a game which girls compete against boys or rows to read a climate graph and able to wear the appropriate clothes that are at front of the room. Use a computer to create a weather presentation and present to the class, which is assessed by the individual, peers and the teacher.

Sorry for the lack of illustrations, I blame the accommodation office for wasting my valuable time. I will add more tomorrow.

Periglaciation: resources and links

Again, various links and information about periglaciation:


An advanced level introduction to periglaciation with multiple choice questions, flash cards and web links.


http://wps.pearsoned.co.uk/ema_uk_he_holden_physgeo_1/0,10461,2018627-,00.html

Another advanced level introduction with plenty of diagrams and pictures: http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/10ag.html


A site with various resource ideas: http://www.geographypages.co.uk/a2peri.htm


I found a useful blog on A level geography, it has information on other areas of geography and looks really useful: http://alevelgeo.blogspot.com/2006/11/a2-periglaciation-links.html . For easy access to the links, here is the list: 

Ice Wedge Polygons and Pingos

http://arctic.fws.gov/permcycl.htm

Frost Action and Frost Heave

http://www.pavement.com/Concrete_Pavement/Technical/Fundamentals/Frost.asp

Stone Circles Explained http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/02-03/01-20/patterns.html

Pingo – Canadian Encyclopaedia http://tceplus.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006300

Thermokarst – Climate Warning as Siberia melts (New Scientist Article)http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18725124.500

Frost Heaving – Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_heaving

Permafrost – Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permafrost

How rapidly is permafrost changing and what are the impacts of these changes? http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/essay_romanovsky.html

Melting Russian permafrost could accelerate global warminghttp://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/EnvironmentNewsService/2006/09/07/1800717?ba=a&bi=17&bp=13

Permafrost: A building problem for Alaska http://www.uaf.edu/coop-ext/publications/freepubs/HCM-00754.pdf

Permafrost zones and Permafrost temperatures http://http-server.carleton.ca/~msmith2/permafrost_zones.htm

Permafrost in Canada http://http-server.carleton.ca/~msmith2/current_pf.htm

Permafrost and Climate http://http-server.carleton.ca/~msmith2/permafrost_and_climate.htm

Climate Change and Permafrost http://http-server.carleton.ca/~msmith2/climate_change_and_permafrost.htm

Permafrost – not quite so permanent http://www.sciencepoles.org/index.php?s=2&rs=home&uid=455&lg=en

Permafrost Distribution Map http://arctic.unep.net/index.cfm?issue=&type=1&data_id=9118

Periglacial Processes and Landforms http://uregina.ca/~sauchyn/geog323/periglacial.html

Scientists explain Arctic Stone Circles http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2665675.stm

Permafrost Photo Gallery http://www.uspermafrost.org/gallery/swalker/swalker_gallery.shtml

Geocryology – some great photos including deformed buildings built on permafrost http://www.netpilot.ca/geocryology/photo5.html

Alaska Range http://www.terragalleria.com/pictures-subjects/tundra/picture.tundra.dena5967.html

Flickr Sets – Tundra http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=tundra

I didn't expect to find much when typing periglaciation into Google, but hopefully everybody will find this as a useful resource, rather than spending time looking for sites. Periglaciation maybe not taught at Key Stage 3 much but I'm sure it will be at GCSE and A Level and you might find it interesting yourself.

Periglaciation: processes and landforms

There wasn't much demand to understand processes in periglaciated areas, until the search for oil and gas in the 1960s. I will now discuss several processes that occur in periglaciated areas into two parts. Sorry for the lack of illustrations.


Ground ice 
Frost heave- fine grained soils such as silts and clays expand to form small domes. This process is the result of thermal conductivity of stones, which is greater than that of soil to be moved to the surface. The area under a stone becomes colder than the surrounding soil and ice crystal form. Further expansion by the ice, widens the capillaries in the soil, allowing more moisture to rise and freeze. Large crystals force the stones above them to rise until they reach the surface. Stones are unable to return to their original position. A pattern of freezing and thawing sorts material to form patterned grid, as shown below.

                                                         

Ground contraction
Refreezing of the active layer during the severe winter cold causes the soil to contract. Cracks open or fill with meltwater and wind blown deposits. When the water refreezes during the following winter the cracks widen and form ice wedges.

Freezing of groundwater -pingos
Pingos are domeshaped, isolated hills which interrupt the flat tundra plains. They can have a diameter of up to 500m and may rise 50m in height.

                                     Pingos near Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada


Open system (hydraulic) pingos
These occur in valley bottoms and in areas of thin or discontinous permafrost. Surface water is able to infiltrate into the upper layers of the ground where it can circulate in the unfrozen sediment before freezing. When water freezes, it expands and forms localised masses of ice. Ice forces an overlying sediment upwards into a domeshaped feature.


Closed system (hydrostatic) pingos 
These are more characteristic of flat low lying areas where the permafrost is continuous. It forms on the sites of small lakes where water is trapped by freezing from above and by the advance of the permafrost inwards from the lake margins . Water below freezes, forcing the ground above to rise upwards into a dome shape.


Frost weathering 
This is the main process of weathering, scree often develops at the front of steep slopes and is responsible for turning well jointed rocks such as granite into tors.

Global development site - The Guardian

I started my primary school placement this week, I already have a cold and Ofsted visited the school today, signs of things to come! Today, I came across a new section on the Guardian website, it's based on global development issues rather than news that is disaster-driven. The web link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development. This site might be useful when teaching development issues, particularly for GCSE and A level students in web based enquires.

Periglaciation

Periglacial means 'near to or at the fringe of an ice sheet, or often used to describe any area that has a cold climate. I will now just give a brief description of the different permafrost zones that lie in the Arctic regions of Canada, the USA and Russia.

Permafrost

• Permafrost is permanently frozen ground.
• It can be found where soil temperatures remain below freezing point for at least two consecutive years.
• It covers over 25% of the Earth's landscape, as shown below a considerable area of the Arctic is covered by continuous, discontinuous and sporadic permafrost, as shown below.

Continuous permafrost

• Found mainly within the Arctic circle.
• Mean annual temperature is below -5 degrees, winter temperatures may fall to -50 degrees
• Summers are too short to allow anything but a superficial melting of ice.

Discontinuous permafrost

• This form of permafrost lies further south in the northern hemisphere, reaching 50 degrees North of central Russia. It has a mean annual temperature of of between  of -1 degrees centigrade and -5 degrees centigrade. Discontinuous permafrost consists of islands of permanently frozen ground and separated by less cold areas which lie near rivers, lakes and seas. 

Sporadic permafrost

• The mean annual temperature are just below freezing point.
• It is an area where summer temperatures are above freezing. The surface layer thaws to form the active layer. This area is often saturated with meltwater, as it cannot infiltrate downwards through the impermeable permafrost. It is unlikely to evaporate or to drain downhill since most of the slopes are very gentle. This stationary meltwater is the main reason behind periglaciated areas containing many of the world's few remaining wetland environments.

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