Cultural Geography Blog

Geography Review magazine is one of the most useful resources that 6th form geographers (and GCSE students who want to push themselves) can have access to. It was started by my undergraduate tutor Tim Burt , his wife and colleagues back in 1986 , just after I finished my degree, and just before I started teaching in 1988. I was a subscriber from the start, and have used articles and ideas in my teaching ever since. I have paper copies of the first 15 volumes or so, and since then the school copies have taken over, and more recently, some electronic support materials to increase the usefulness of each issue. For example, check the extras for the September 2014 issue here.   Also the other recent issues. The magazine has now moved to Manchester , from Durham University, and has a new editorial board. There are the usual experienced authors writing for the magazine, and there's always something of interest in every issue. The first issue from the new team is now out. Details

There is a new area of the updated RGS-IBG website which you may not have seen. It is a project called Rediscovering London's Geography . It is described as follows: Rediscovering London’s Geography is a project funded by the GLA through the London Schools Excellence Fund.  It seeks to improve the quality of teaching and learning of geography in London’s schools, in addition to encouraging more pupils to study geography. Its scope encompasses connection across primary and secondary schools involving academy, free, maintained and independent schools. The project will: Create subject knowledge online resource units, including online activities and pupil assessments; focusing upon new curriculum subjects and examinations Improve subject knowledge via free CPD and training events in teacher networks across London and provide continuity to support the upcoming curriculum changes Engage pupils via Geography Ambassador presentations (by London undergraduates) and Going Places w

Lego has grown in popularity massively over the last few years, and there have been lots of creative projects that have made use of it. These include the Follow the Things lego recreations , which featured in the Ideas Zone at the recent GA Conference. The BRICK FANTASTIC website has a new project which is a representation of the 50 states of the USA, and also a set of images of CANADA too. And finally, I'll be going to the Bricks 2014 show at the ExCeL in November this year. Any other Lego related projects I should be featuring here ?

New on Spotify...

In 1844, Hugh Miller : a geologist and preacher (amongst many other skills and abilities) embarked on a voyage through some of the islands of the Hebrides.  He was a self-taught geologist, writer and editor of a key Edinburgh newspaper in the lead up to the tectonic changes in the Scottish church that culminated in the Disruption of 1843. Miller was one of Scotland’s outstanding geologists, one of the first of many Scottish ‘citizen scientists’ and stands beside the greats of Hutton, Lyell and Murchison. The Cruise of the Betsey took place the year after the Disruption, when 450 ministers broke away from the Established Church. Miller joined his boyhood friend the Rev Swanson, a keen supporter of the Disruption, who had been removed from his Small Isles parish and his manse on Eigg. Swanson used the Betsey as his ‘floating manse’ so that he was still able to serve his parishioners. The cruise was to visit Tobermory, Eigg, Rum, Glenelg and Isle Ornsay on Skye. Miller’s accounts re

This time, it's the man himself. He has been remixing his albums and releasing them with extra tracks and other bits, and as part of the process, he released this short mix of part of one of his classic songs: 'The Lake' , from 1984's Discovery album. One of the memories I have from that time is listening to this track while sitting by an amazing lake in the fjords of Norway as a student. This mix reveals extra layers of beauty which aren't obvious in the final piece, which is a little full of Fairlight...

An interesting read in the LA Times, about how our geography may shape the opinions we have on certain things... "accidents of geography — in this case whether someone was born in a hilly or a flat region — can alter how a person thinks in all sorts of unexpected realms."