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HERODOT NEWS
Working with third countries - Geography student competitions - new Web site - Network news - HERODOT events
HERODOT plans connecting to third countries: Under Erasmus Mundus Action 4, HERODOT has the opportunity to apply to run workshops and conferences in third countries outside Europe. If you are interested in this or can support by providing new partners for this project please contact Karl Donert.
Student competitions: Engaging our students in Geography is essential for the future of the subject and the way that Geography is perceived by others including politicians, employers and policy makers in education. HERODOT is thus launching a number of exciting competitions for your students. Click for further details
New HERODOT Web site available: The HERODOT Web site is back up and running. All previous events undertaken during the first phase of the network are now featured in a new section. Publications and presentations are available for review and download. Initiatives are highlighted and events showcased.
HERODOT Online Community: HERODOT now has a great online Moodle community. Registration for the community is free for members. Please contact the Project Manager Glenda Wall for further information (wallg@hope.ac.uk). Inside the community the network has been debating issues relating to Geography in higher education. A number of essential resources on aspects such as Europeanisation, Employability, Lifelong Learning and the use of Technology have been placed there. The community also gathers new Geo-News for members through a number of RSS feeds for different Geography topics (Human, Physical, Environmental and GIS).
HERODOT II work programme: Members have established our work programme and the thematic interest groups have been meeting. Information on the fpur pillars that form the fundamentals of the work can be examined on the HERODOT Web site.
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NETWORK EVENT NEWS - forthcoming events
The latest Event News about HERODOT meetings and workshops can now be accessed through the updated HERODOT Web site news and activities pages
Conference with the IGU-CGE UK: Information on this joint event, including presentations and abstracts is available on the conference Web site.
HERODOT-EUROGEO Torun conference: Teaching in Europe, Teaching about Europe, took place in Poland on October 5-8 2006. The book is now published and will be sent to members. Presentations are available from the Conference Web site.
HERODOT-ESRI-User Education track: The CD from the education track education track at the 2006 ESRi User conference held on November 5-8th in Athens, Greece has been published. Presentations and publications are also published and available through the Web site. A GIS publication from these and other papers is in preparation for summer 2007.
Karl Donert disseminated the work of HERODOT wen he spoke at the EGEA Winter School conference in Utrecht and at a Geography colloquium in Paris.
Joint HERODOT/IGU Conference: was held on the theme, Changing Geographies: Innovative Curricula, at the Institute of Education, University of London on 10-12 April 2007. There was a field excursion to the site of the London Olympics. Papers were presneted to more than 80 delegates from around the world and the conference proceedings were published at the start of the event. A conference book with extended papers is planned for publication in 2008. Presentations and information is available from the Conference Home Page.
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FORTHCOMING NETWORK EVENTS
Main HERODOT Conference: This will take place from 24-27 September 2007 in Stockholm. will be held jointly with ESRI S-Group and ESRI Europe, further information and details to follow on the HERODOT Web site
HERODOT at EUGEO: 15 HERODOT members will attend the EUGEO conference in Amsterdam in August. This event brings together Geography researchers to explore the main issues facing Europe. HERODOT will hold a dissemination workshop about the network and its members will contribute to the paper and workshop sessions. Web site
Inter-disciplinarity workshop: HERODOT pillar 4 plans to hold a workshop in Sibiu, Romania in October 2007. If you are interesting in being involved orwould like to know more, please contact Marius Matache
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FUNDING NEWS No. 13
This section
provides information on funds available for Geographers. You can contact Karl Donert if you
want informal advice on any applications you are considering.
Lifelong learning project and mobility funds available - there are various dealdines for funding for lifelong learning grants under Erasmus (higher education), Comenius (teacher training) and Youth actions. Informaiton is available from the LLLP Web site and select the relevat programmes or actions. A useful summary and information is provided here. National agencies have been established - list available - latest LLP news.
Geographical Association International Initiatives Fund
Awards (usually £250-750) are available for individual Geography educators or for GA members to travel and exchange ideas of good practice in teaching and learning. Each year some awards are also given to educators from outside the UK so they can attend the Annual GA conference (held in April each year). The closing date for application is 30th April each year, for the academic year starting the following September. For details and application form see the GA Web site at http://www.geography.org.uk/funding or contact Sarah Maude sarah@maudes.net
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GEOGRAPHY NEWS -
Geography news - Geography and the News - Global climatic change news
Journal Banding: Geographers react now
A journal banding survey is being undertaken in Australia which could be used in the propsed research assessment exercise there. As there are no Geographical journals on the list we would urge you to take part in the survey being run by
SORTI at the University of Newcastle (Australia) and is being sponsored
by the Australian Association for Research in Education. The survey covers a very large number of journals in education and the organisers are inviting people from around the world to take part. Make your voice heard. Ensure Geography education does not get forgotten. The SORTI survey is at:
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/forms/bandingsurvey/
European Space Agency celebration
ESA
celebrates 15 years of near-real time data delivery in Earth Observation [ESA]
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEM148BE8YE_planet_0.html
'Give Geography its Place'
Campaign website The site seeks to raise the profile of Geography in all forms of the media, to increase awareness of the importance of Geography and the vital role that it plays in schools, colleges and universities in preparing young people for life in the 21st century. http://www.passion4geography.co.uk/
IGU News
The 2008 International Geographical Congress on Construire ensemble nos territories will take place from 12th-15th August 2008 at the Kram Exhibition Centre, Tunis. Further details to be available soon. The 2010 IGU Regional Conference will take place in Tel Aviv
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Climatic change stories
UN report on climate change warns of catastrophe
http://www.domain-b.com/economy/environment/20070203_benefits.html
Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis - Summary for Policymakers
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf
Mountain glaciers are retreating three times faster than they were in the 1980s, says the World Glacier Monitoring Service. http://tinyurl.com/2dw9ow
Ventiane Statement
The Vientiane Statement exemplifies the current
push from the international community for widespread
action on the escalating global food and water crisis, as water scarcity has recently been identified as affecting 1/3 rd of the world's
population - a fact also denoted by the theme of this
year's World Water Day, "Coping with Water Scarcuity", The Vientiane Statement represents a consensus among the water and food research and development community
to achieve much needed increases in water productivity for both ecological sustainability and poverty reduction.
* The Vientiane Statement in pdf form
or at
http://tinyurl.com/2lqffl
* Press Release "International Commitment is needed to
Fight Global Water Scarcity" in pdf or
http://tinyurl.com/2aa5y8
Geo-News from About.com
The future of GIS
Oslo is worlds most expensive city
Largest Cities in the world 2007
Mecca
Romania and Bulgaria join the EU
Geography of the Earth
Geographic Technology
History of Geography
Locate Places Worldwide
Smallest Countries in the World
Mountain Research Initiative's newsletter no.8: Georeferenced
Biological Databases - A Tool for Understanding
Mountain Biodiversity", available in pdf format
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Visiting Fellowship Scheme at the University of Gloucestershire, UK
The Centre for Active Learning (CeAL), a HEFCE funded Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham, UK, is pleased to announce the establishment of a Visiting Fellowship Scheme. The Scheme is open to colleagues from other Higher Education Institutions in the UK and overseas who would like to come and work with us and use our facilities. The scheme is open to educational developers and colleagues working in any of the subject areas taught in the Institution who wish to work on active learning with staff in the University of Gloucestershire.
Details on the Fellowship Scheme are available at:
http://www.glos.ac.uk/ceal/active-learning/visitingfellowships.cfm
Benchmarking UK higher education is reviewing the benchmarking statements for Geography, they can be found at :http://www.qaa.ac.uk/news/consultation/default.asp
CALL FOR PAPERS
Special Issue of Journal of Geography, Using Geospatial Data in Geographic Education July 2007. Manuscripts may focus on aspects of teaching geography at any level. The emphasis of this issue is not on teaching remote sensing or GIS, but on using such data and technologies to provide instruction in the principles of geography. Details for preparing manuscripts are outlined in The Journal of Geography Guide for Authors http://www.ncge.org/publications/journal/. Submission to Dr. James W. Merchant jmerchant1@unl.edu
Human Development International
The Human Development International Webteam invites the submission of fresh articles (news and feature stories) about human development issues like women, children, health, environment, etc., whether in a local or global viewpoint, which will be published at http://www.humandevintl.com/
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GEOGRAPHY AND THE NEWS
Afghanistan: Afghanistan moves to prevent underage, forced marriages
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70684
Alps: Winter sports fans threaten alpine fauna
http://tinyurl.com/37b4bx
Andes: The Andes mountains have lost at least 22 percent of their glacier area since 1970 and the meltdown is speeding up, according to Peru's National Resources Institute,
a government agency. http://tinyurl.com/yru6go
Australia: Australia plans massive conservation corridor
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1083
Bolivia: Coca growers in bid to burst cola giant's bubble. Full story
Bulgaria: Investors are interested in the ski resort of Pamporovo in the Rhodope mountains, near the Bulgaria's border with Greece and the Bansko resort in
the Pirin mountains. http://international.ibox.bg/news/id_2067523109
Chile: French-Chilean team searching for America's roof on Ojos del Salado
http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?news=15768
China: Dark clouds over Shangri-La
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20070315a1.html
China:
Global warming is melting the snows and glaciers and the peasant farmers of the Tibetan plateau are
delighted. http://tinyurl.com/2z5smt
Czech Republic: More and more Dutch people are buying weekend houses
in the Czech Republic, especially in the mountainous
areas of east and north Bohemia where some exclusively "Dutch villages" have been built recently.
http://tinyurl.com/2wsaua
Georgia: Georgia's Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park added to Protected Areas Network http://tinyurl.com/2pbuze
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Germany: Germany has again complained about the alleged leak of hazardous substances in the Czech part of Krusne hory
(Ore Mountains), north Bohemia, last October, which
was allegedly caused by defects of some industrial
plants, German papers write today. http://tinyurl.com/3dsdmp
Japan: Japan's slopes emerge as international ski magnet. Full story
Malawi:Karonga District in northern Malawi Highlands has been
hit once again by flash floods leaving thousands of
people homeless and crops washed away according to the
District Commissioner. http://www.nyasatimes.com/NATIONAL-NEWS/179.html
Madagascar: Deforestation causes species extinction in Madagascar
http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0307-madagascar.html
Philippines: President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has earmarked P15 million from the approved P1.126 trillion national
budget this year to jumpstart the mapping of
strategies to jumpstart the revitalized autonomy
campaign in the Cordillera. http://tinyurl.com/383ow2
Peru: Peruvian potato project nominated for UN award
http://journalperu.com/?p=532
Switzerland: Switzerland's status as tax haven for the rich and famous under threat. Full story
Switzerland:
Local officials said recently they are considering the construction of a giant mirror to light up this mountain village (Bondo) whose 198 residents are deprived of sunlight for three months each year. http://tinyurl.com/yqqntv
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Turkey: Mountain community's economy threatened by bureaucratic inefficiency
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=67881
United Kingdom:
Call for expansion of the Cairngorms National Park defeated
http://tinyurl.com/3cw4mr
USA:
Interview: Biodiversity extinction crisis looms
http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0312-interview_peter_raven.html
USA: Efforts to safeguard the Merced have spawned a court
battle over the future of development in Yosemite
National Park's most popular stretch. The case may come down to the challenge facing all of America's parks: Should they remain open to everyone, or should access be limited in the interest of protecting them? Full Story
USA: Scientists from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology have designed a plant aimed at producing ethanol from wood chips. The plant, near completion in the Black Hills, could bring closer to fruition a goal set for the country by President Bush: to make more
fuel from renewable sources. http://tinyurl.com/2gh7ty
USA: Cloud seeding:
Planes are soaring over the Sierra Nevada once again, scattering silver iodide
particles to squeeze just a bit more snow out of some long-awaited storms. Cloud seeding in action.
http://tinyurl.com/34h79x
Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez's ambitious social programs are built on Venezuela's petroleum wealth, but he is increasingly talking up environmental causes and urging the world to cut back on oil use to fight global warming
http://tinyurl.com/yrdpt9
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GLOBAL CLIMATIC CHANGE
Heatwave On The Top Of The World: Relatively little is known about climate change in the
Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau. There are very few
meteorological stations, and instrumental records from
glaciers, lakes or tree growth rings are rare and
difficult to interpret. However, in 2001 and 2002,
Chinese scientists drilled three ice cores in the
eastern summit of the East Rongbuk glacier that covers
the north pass of Mount Everest, at 6518 meters above
sea level. Full story
NASA Detects Trends In Rainfall Traits From Drizzles
To Downpours:
Breaking news in recent years has been swamped with
stories of extreme weather -- flash floods in East
Asia, prolonged drought in Africa, destructive
hurricanes like Hurricane Katrina, heavy monsoon
rainfall in South Asia, and an historic heat wave in
Europe. The effects of these weather crises have been
devastating, and their frequency seemingly on the
rise. Full Story
or
http://tinyurl.com/38t5ud
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Scientists Use Seismic Waves To Locate Missing Rock Under Tibet:
Geologists at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign have located a huge chunk of Earth's lithosphere that went missing 15 million years ago. By
finding the massive block of errant rock beneath Tibet, the researchers are helping solve a
long-standing mystery, and clarifying how continents behave when they collide. The Tibetan Plateau and
adjacent Himalayan Mountains were created by the movements of vast tectonic plates that make up Earth's
outermost layer of rocks, the lithosphere. Full story or
http://tinyurl.com/ysxo9q
Asia Sees Warmest Winter On Record:
The China Meteorological Bureau predicted more extreme
weather for China, including severe rainfall in the
heavily populated eastern regions, drought in other
areas, and a rapid retreat of glaciers in Tibet. Full story or
http://tinyurl.com/2kpz5z
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SOME GREAT RESOURCES (in no particular order) -
environment resources - satellites - more resources
Mountain Forum Online
Library at http://www.mtnforum.org/rs/ol.cfm
Radical Geographies http://www.radicalgeography.co.uk/Home.html
Research in Comparative and International Education (RCIE) The latest issue of the online-only journal is now available at
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/RCIE.
Database of Research on International Education at:http://aei.dest.gov.au/AEI/PublicationsAndResearch/ResearchDatabase
WOCAT (World Overview of Conservation, Approaches and Technologies) network
http://www.wocat.net
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European Researchers Mobility Portal, at http://ec.europa.eu/eracareers
Primary Schools and GIS (in French) http://160.92.130.159/tv/usages/Primaire_Album.htm
International Land Coalition http://www.landcoalition.org have an interesting project on participatory mapping http://www.landcoalition.org/pdf/mappingILC.pdf
Living museums in the Pyrenees is a project aimed at the reconstruction of the heritage of the Pyrenees mountain range, by means of the new technologies of social participation provided by the Internet. http://tinyurl.com/344fxe
ISS Education Kit on the web The kit is now available to download in different languages. The resources is aimed at teachers of secondary school pupils aged 12-15. ESA has developed the kit using input from teachers.http://www.sarepta.org/en/objekt.cfm?aid=327&bid=325&oid=1916
Interesting Boundaries
With 193 countries of the world bordering each other, there are bound to be interesting borders between neighbouring countries. http://glclk.about.com/?zi=12/2hv4
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Facts about Germany Web site http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de
What Has Europe Ever Done For Us? Speak out on European things
50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome http://europa.eu/50/
ISSOTL is the International Society for the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning http://www.issotl.org
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ENVIRONMENT RESOURCES
International Year of Planet Earth 2008 http://www.yearofplanetearth.org. Calls are open now for submitting international project proposals.
HANDS ON, lesson plans, articles, TV, museum, Global warming causes, effects, facts. Greenhouse gases, abrupt climate change, Solutions: Energy, transportation, sustainability... Site used by 100's of thousands, http://climatechangeeducation.org/
US Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/school.html
Cool Kids For A Cool Climate project http://www.coolkidsforacoolclimate.com/About/AboutIndex.html
Teaching About Climate Change: Cool Schools Tackle Global Warming http://www.greenteacher.com/tacc.html
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Pilot project Northern Canada http://www.taiga.net/nce/schools/pilotproject.html
Resource Kits: http://www.taiga.net/nce/schools/pilotproject_resourcekit.html
EducaPoles: the importance of the Polar Regions and of climate change with adapted teaching tools and projects, http://www.educapoles.org/
IMAGE (Environment agency Netherlands) The Integrated Model to Assess the Global Environment (IMAGE-2) is an ecological-environmental framework that simulates the environmental consequences of human activities worldwide. It represents interactions between society, the biosphere and the climate system to assess issues like climate change, biodiversity and human well-being. The objective of IMAGE-2 is to explore the long-term dynamics of global change as the result of interacting demographic, technological, economic, social, cultural and political factors. http://www.mnp.nl/image/
Réseau Action Climat France http://www.rac-f.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=289
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SATELLITES AND ENVIRONMENT
Scientists gear up for ESA's 2007 Envisat Symposium [ESA]
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMBZNBE8YE_index_0.html
ILWIS 3.3 will be open-source from 1 July 2007 under
the 52°North initiative
http://52north.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=115&Itemid=51
Satellite data vital to UN climate findings [ESA]
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMRJTSMTWE_planet_0.html
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MORE WEB SITES AND RESOURCES
Wikis in Education: Wots a wiki? A wiki is essentially a website constructed in such a way as to allow users to change content on the site. The first wiki was created in 1994 and placed online in 1995, used mostly by technical people to develop and maintain dynamic knowledge bases. More at http://m.fasfind.com/wwwtools/m/25242.cfm?x=0&rid=25242
Comenius Prizes http://www.associationcomenius.org/english-site/prize.html
ProjectsETC is an information-sharing site for everyone interested in creating great online projects. It has a focus on the overlapping areas of Education, Technology and Culture, ProjectsETC features case studies, articles and comment pieces. http://www.projectsetc.org
Kiweo for European Students, Young Digital Creator Educator's Kit:
UNESCO has put out a Young Digital Creator (YDC) Educator's Kit. The kit is "designed to help teachers and educators working in schools, youth clubs, community centres, and training institutes to generate and manage project-based learning activities with young people. The focus is on the creative use of information and communication technologies, global challenges of development, cultural diversity and inter-cultural dialogue." Viisit http://unesco.uiah.fi/ydc-book/
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Public participation in the use of GIS - a new Google Search Engine
'Give Geography its Place' Campaign website The site seeks to raise the profile of Geography in all forms of the media, to increase awareness of the importance of Geography and the vital role that it plays in schools, colleges and universities in preparing young people for life in the 21st century. http://www.passion4geography.co.uk/
Intute. http://www.intute.ac.uk/ is 'a free online service providing access to the very best web resources for education and research'. Intute has selected and catalogued the good stuff to try and make things a little easier for researchers. Resources are now split over 4 areas. Geography and Earth Science resources can be found in 'Science and Technology' and Environmental Science is under 'Social Sciences'.
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ISS Education Kit on the web
ISS Education Kit is now available to download in different languages. The resources is aimed at teachers of secondary school pupils aged 12-15. ESA has developed the kit using input from teachers. http://www.sarepta.org/en/objekt.cfm?aid=327&bid=325&oid=1916
Sarepta
Sarepta is a special service provided for schools by the Norwegian Space Centre
http://www.sarepta.org/en/index.cfm
Secondary School Geography Handbook published
The Geographical Association (GA) is pleased to announce the publication of its brand new Secondary Geography Handbook - for Secondary School teachers. Go to http://www.geography.org.uk/shop to find out more.
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