GeogPod

Episode #38: Jamie Woodward - Understanding climate change during the Quaternary and microplastic transport and storage in river catchments

This week John spoke to Professor Jamie Woodward from the University of Manchester about two key global issues; our developing understanding of climate change during the Quaternary and microplastic transport and storage in river catchments.

Both are major examples of how physical geography research has impacted on national and global policy. Jamie’s research on microplastics in rivers is now feeding directly into the Parliamentary Inquiry into Water Quality in Rivers.

Jamie Woodward is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Manchester.  

Thanks to Collins for sponsoring series 6 of GeogPod.

Links from the pod

The Ice Age: A Very Short Introduction

Microplastics in Rivers

Jamie's Ted Talk, 'Changing Rivers'

Free resources

Quaternary ice age poster from Geography Review

 

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - the Keeling Curve and the carbon cycle

 

Full text view-only version of the Nature Sustainability paper

 

This work was discussed on the BBC Radio 4 programme Inside Science

 

Film clip here from the BBC News report

 

Guardian article

 

Policy at Manchester blog that explores some of the policy implications of this work

Episode #37: Stephen Scoffham - Quality geography, atlases, capital cities and making geography fun!

This week John spoke to Dr Stephen Scoffham, former GA President, Visiting Reader in Sustainability and Education at Canterbury Christ Church University and author of atlases, text books and much more besides. 

John and Stephen covered a lot of ground, including why geography matters, what makes good quality geography teaching, tackling controversial issues, capital cities, whether geography should be taught as a single subject or integrated, and the Collins Atlas series. 

Thanks to Collins for sponsoring series 6 of GeogPod.

Purchase the Collins Atlas series on the GA Shop.

Some of the recent GA publications Stephen has been involved in:

Leading Primary Geography

Geography Plus: The UK: Investigating who we are 

 

Episode #36: Rachel Kay - preparing for an Ofsted inspection and 'deep dive'

In this week's episode, John spoke to Rachel Kay about how to prepare your department for a deep dive visit from Ofsted.

Rachel is Head of Geography and Lead Practitioner at Yorkshire school as well as being a member of the GA's Secondary Phase Committee.

 

Rachel's articles in Teaching Geography:

'The deep dive geography experience: intent, implementation and impact' (2021)

'Mark my words' (2016)

 

Episode # 35: Professor Tamsin Mather - Volcanoes, a ’fundamental fascination’

This week John was joined by Professor Tamsin Mather from Oxford University. Tamsin is professor of Earth Sciences and her research centres around volcanoes and volcanic behaviour. 

Thanks to Collins for sponsoring series 6 of GeogPod.

Links from the pod

Public Lecture: Volcanoes and past climate: adventures with deep carbon

Blog about Masaya and volcanic gases

Volcano watching: weapons of ash eruption

University of Oxford Earth Sciences undergraduate course

The Geological Society university pathway page

Teaching resources Tamsin helped create:

Your science out there - Oxford Sparks

Using your science to understand volcanic eruptions - Oxford Sparks

Episode #34: Professor Johanna Waters & Dr Maggi Leung - Geographies of education

This week John was joined by Professor Johanna Waters from University College London and Dr Maggi Leung from Utrecht University to discuss examples of students travelling across borders for education.

The conversation focuses mainly on the China/Hong Kong border but also cited other examples of this phenomenon and various push and pull factors related to it.

Thanks to Collins for sponsoring series 6 of GeogPod.

Johanna and Maggi's Geography article with the photos mentioned in the pod

Episode #33: Alistair Hamill - Using GIS to bring divided communities together, plate tectonics and photography

In this week's episode John spoke to Alistair Hamill, Geography teacher by day, astrophotographer by night.

Alistair talked about how to use GIS in the classroom and how Alistair used it to bring divided communities in Northern Ireland together. John and Alistair also talked about plate tectonics and Alistair's photography.

Thanks to Collins for sponsoring series 6 of GeogPod.

Links from the pod

Alistair's YouTube channel

ESRI User Conference - video about breaking down barrier in Lurgan, Northern Ireland

Typhoon Haiyan 

Downstream changes along the Glendun River 

Tohoku earthquake, Japan

Subduction, earthquakes and volcanoes along the Aleutian trench (A Level)

Liquefaction and river channelisation in Japan following the Tohoku quake (A Level)

Rivers GIS Initiative Sign up 

Episode #32: Alan Kinder - Talking to the GA's Chief Executive

This week our GeogPod guest was the GA's very own Chief Executive, Alan Kinder. Alan spoke to John about his path to becoming the GA's Chief Executive as well his reflections on the Association's work and upcoming priorities. 

Many thanks to Edquas for sponsoring season 5 of GeogPod. 

Book for GA Conference 2021

Get Involved in the GA

Episode #31: Iain Freeland - Understanding Ofsted and what makes 'good geography'

This week John spoke to Iain Freeland, Her Majesty's Inspector and National Lead for Geography. Iain talked us through his career path so far and some of things Ofsted are looking for in terms of ' good geography' with some key takeaways for teachers. 

Many thanks to Edquas for sponsoring season 5 of GeogPod. 

Links from the pod

Iain's article for Primary Geography entitled 'Empowering geography - a view from Ofsted'.

2019 Ofsted Inspection Framework

Episode #30: Janine Maddison - Virtual fieldwork

This week John spoke to Janine Maddison about virtual fieldwork, how it compares to 'traditional in field' fieldwork, how the two can be blended, and some quick wins for teachers to take away.

Janine is a researcher at Newcastle University and previously worked as a tutor for the Field Studies Council.

Many thanks to Edquas for sponsoring season 5 of GeogPod. 

Links from the pod:

#fieldworklive- FSC and Encounter Edu 

Fieldcasts from the Open University

ThingLink- creating virtual tours

Sharing practice- collated tweets under #fieldworkfix

Inclusivity in the Outdoors- Institute of Outdoor Learning

Episode #29: Dr Margaret Byron - Caribbean communities in the UK

This week John spoke to Dr Margaret Byron, Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Leicester, about the different waves of migration from the Caribbean to the UK and the experiences of those communities. 

Many thanks to Edquas for sponsoring season 5 of GeogPod.