Useful app on Android Market for smart phone

I am really amazed at how technology has advanced and the no. of apps for smart phone or tablets I could use in my Geography lessons. I used to have to bring quite a no. of instruments for fieldwork e.g. ranging poles, clinometer and compass.

In the latest field inquiry course which I attended, I downloaded the clinometer, stop watch and smart compass to my handphone and tablet. By using the clinometer, we could actually measure the gradient of the beach easily. At every 1m interval, we measured the gradient by placing the phone/tablet on the beach and recorded the gradient. We were able to plot the beach profile from all the data collected. We realised that the gradient was steeper on one side of the beach behind the breakwater and suspected there is a drift of sediments towards the east - we had used compass application to determine our location. 
I realised that if we want to use the ranging poles and clinometer to measure angle - the smart protractor would be useful as well.
We also decided to check on the wave energy and determine whether the wave energy is high and the need to construct the breakwater to reduce the energy before it hits the coast. Using the stopwatch and timer we time the no. of waves per min. True enough the count was 20 per min which indicated high wave energy. Another useful application would be the smart measure which we could measure the height of the breakwaters or the distance between them. It seemed that the breakwaters over our stretch of coast are slightly higher and nearer to each other.

Sketching for geographical inquiry - you can use the app Sketchart or protrait sketch to turn your image into a sketch instantly!

Of course, many people would have found Google Map useful. Whenever I am at a new place, I will use it to help me to navigate around. You must also install Street View on Google Map. With Google Maps Street View, you can explore the world at street level. Just open Google Maps, search for a place or long-press the map, and tap the Street View option.

You can measure the area and distance on Google Map using Area Calculator which is relatively easy to use as shown.

Use Google Earth to fly around the planet with the swipe of a finger.  Search by voice for cities, places, and businesses. Browse layers including roads, borders, places, photos and more. For tablet users (Android 3.0 or newer), you can get easy access to search, reset-to-north, my location, and layers. Also, on tablets and select phones, you can now explore the same photo-realistic 3D buildings that have previously only been accessible with the desktop version of Google Earth. 

Another application which you must have is Get Altitude - it not only shows you the altitude but also longitude and latitude.

I also like Earth Zoom Pro - you can zoom from Space to Ground level to famous places such as Machu Picchu, Petra, The Forbidden City, Pyramids, Taj Mahal More

Google Goggles is another useful application which could help me to identify an object. 

The following are some useful apps on weather studies -

The weather channel allows one to track the weather conditions and forecast around the world and you can choose the layer as well as the type of map. There are also videos related to videos as well. 

Weatherlah keeps all Singaporeans up to date about the latest weather forecast with a clean and easy to use interface. The app can notify you of incoming rain, rise in PSI levels and even extreme weather warnings.You can also click on drain in the map mode to see whether the drains are flooded or low in water level around Singapore.

Wind speed is a wind convertor which allows you to convert convert between many various wind speed measurement scales e.g. Beaufort scales to km per hour .Click on the i icon and you can find out more what the scale represent e.g. on Beaufort scale 5 leaves begin to sway and on beaufort scale 10 trees are broken off or uprooted.

T-counter is very useful in counting traffic - you can have 4 counters at the same time e.g.  one for car, one for bus, one for taxi and one for others! just touch the + button to add on. Good for field inquiry in Human Geography for human traffic as well.

Another amazing application is 3D Earthquake. Like what I have told my students - earthquakes occur everyday - just that the magnitude is small and not reported in the news. It showed the plate tectonic - that the plates are moving and you can change the setting to show the plate boundaries and how these earthquakes coincides with the plate boundaries. 

Another tool useful for human geog is tape-a-talk which is useful for interviews. The recording is saved in wav file and can be played back on computers. Of course you could also use the camera function on your phone but some people might not want to be captured on video. 

You can create a dropbox account on your computer as well as download the dropbox app onto your handphone and the files can all be uploaded and share. 

I also like Kingoffice which allows you to view as well as edit office documents - words, excel, powerpoint. 

Volcano report is also an interesting app to know the latest volcanic eruptions in the world. Explore volcanoes which have been active in the last week in an interactive map. For every single volcano you get detailed information about the ongoing activity and their eruptions.

Of course as a geography teacher, the app World Map and National Geographic Explorer are also indispensable. However I could not add National Geographic Explorer to my Motorola Xoom - only on my husband's Lenovo K1

Learn more about Geography Natural and Man-made Features - Natural features part 1 and part 2, Man-made features part 1 and part 2. There are also many other apps on Geography games and quiz. And of course the best part about all these apps are that they are free!

A similar sharing by another teacher in UK but more of iphone in Geography fieldwork -https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhntzwtf_58cpcsgjg8

Launch of New Upper Sec syllabus

ETD officer sharing on the use of ICT for CoL and SDL for the new upper sec syllabus - https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/etd_usg/

The teacher also commented using todaysmeet - a platform which we can also use for real time discussion with students - like twitter. http://todaysmeet/newgeography

The new syllabus and other resource can be downloaded from Edumall which requires login -
http://subjects.edumall.sg/cos/o.x?c=/subjects/pagetree&func=view&rid=11261

my resources collated for the new syllabus -https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/sec3geog/

103 Creative ways to teach Geography and revision

chanced upon this - maybe you will find a useful idea from the 103!

Suggested online games - https://docs.google.com/present/view?skipauth=true&id=dfc7f644_22cz4scmhf

Google Earth "Amazing Race Singapore"

To further engage the students in self-directed learning - I have created a trail using Google Earth. The students will participate in this virtual Amazing Race and learn more about the tourist attractions in Singapore. I have embedded some videos in some of the placemark so that they can find out more about the attractions. For some of the placemarks, I have also shown the street view in which the students can "experience" being in the area themselves without having to be there physically.  

To make the trail more competitive, the students would have to submit their answers to the questions attached to the 10 placemarks. The students will submit their answers on the Google form which I have completed as shown below. The data can be collated easily using Google form.

https://forms.gle/MQrxHhvGD16DfHTy7

 
Click here to download the Amazing Race Singapore using Google Earth 

Or you can download from the file attached here
https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/sec-4-geography/google-earth

Use of Google Earth for map reading

Use of Google Earth for map reading. One of the problems which we faced in map reading is that students could not see the geographical features or landform represented on topographical maps. We can use Google Earth to help them see the actual landform and to relate that to map reading. The students will be engaged as they "fly in" to the actual place using Google Earth and compare the geographical features or landform to that shown on the topographical map. Learning will be enhanced by sparking their curiosity using authentic data which is part of Geographical inquiry. There is self-directed learning as the students are motivated to find out more about features which are represented on the topographical map and that of the actual landscape in Google Earth.

The teacher can add Placemark in Google Earth to help them see the features. The students can zoom in the area to have a closer look at the feature or to zoom out to study the spatial relationship. Using google earth, the students can tilt the view and see a more 3D representation of the feature as well. You can refer to my post on how to use Google Earth - http://ezitnew.blogspot.sg/2012/06/using-google-earth-for-geographical.html

Click here to download the Google Earth file for the coastal area south of UK 
http://lily_lee68.webs.com/Coastal%20area%20south%20of%20UK.kmz

2010 2193/2 O Level Paper Map Extract of a Coastal area South of UK (Axmouth)

 

Google Earth can also be used in topics such as plate tectonics and weather studies. You need to have Google Earth before the following kmz files can work.

Hurricane Katrina over New Orleans - see how the hurricane develops using the time slider.

Tectonic Plates - explore divergent plates, convergent plates and zoom in to San Andreas Fault

Volcanoes around the world

Building Academic Vocabulary in Geography

Attended the workshop by Master Teacher Alice Poh and I must say it was simple to carry out and helped my students to be more conscious of the terms used in Geography. 
When students explained from their own experiences and represented their understanding of the term with a picture or graphic representation, the effect is more powerful as they could recall the terms much easier,  especially when it is followed up by a game or quiz. 
This is based on Marzano’s Six Steps to Vocabulary Building through hands-on activities: 

1.      Provide a description, explanation or example

• Students need some initial information
• Get students to share what they already
• Know or what they think they know
• Build on what students know (prior knowledge)

2.    Ask students to restate in their own words

• Make sure students do not copy what you said
• They need to construct their own descriptions, explanations and examples
• Make students record in their vocab book
• Students can discuss with a partner

3.     As students to construct a picture, symbol or graphic representation

• Students are forced to think of the term in a different way
• They need to process the information in a non-linguistic way

4.      Engage students in activities to help them add to their knowledge

5.      Ask students to discuss terms with one another

6.       Involve students in games that allow them to play with terms 

I tried this activity with the students and the following are some examples which they came up with. Personally I felt that the activity was engaging as they did peer evaluation and take greater responsibility in their learning as they relate the terms to their own experience.

Geographical Inquiry on Tropical Rainforest and Water Supply

Attended this workshop during the Humanities Educators' Conference by Andrew Turney on Geographical Inquiry in the Outdoors. We went to MacRitchie Reservoir to explore on the topic " water supply - "how clean is our waterway or waterbody?"

"Where am I?" personal and group evaluation

Testing water quality

water testing kit

Sketching the reservoir - annotation of the activities 

GI planning for Teachers 

1. Completion of RAMS 2 months before fieldwork

2. Notification of PUB 1 month before fieldwork - email to PUB_learning_Trails@pub.gov.sg the details - site, date, time, school, level, no. of students, teacher-student ration, teacher-in-charge and contact

Information of the learning trails available on www.abcwaterslearning trails.sg

3. collection of field packages from PUB for the conduct of fieldwork

4.Issuing and collection of consent forms

5. Logistics - first aid kits, booking of bus, field equipment (clipboards, nulon ropes, pail, water testing kit),. students to bring own camera

6. Print GI log, photo and map of the waterway prior to start of GI

Lesson 

1. Students to generate questions to unpack and understand inquiry question, go through with students attributes of water quality and explain the importance of consulting reliable source.
2. Ensure that students are clear of own as well as groups' responsibilities and roles, apply what they learnt on information literacy and identify secondary data useful to GI
3. Quiz students on key terms related to GI on the topic of water and give instructions on use of water test kit
4. Draw and annotate field sketch and annotate photograph
5. Brief students on fieldwork, attire and conduct, issue and collection of consent forms, ensure logistics are completed and the students to submit GI log and group's progress check form
6. Teacher to bring along emergency contact, first aid kit, distribute GI log, fieldwork equipment and clipboard. 
7. Check on student progress - data collection, field sketch, photo-taking. Ensure return of equipment 
8. Recorders share data collected on master recording sheet or online platform. Task students to analyse results
9. Guide students to organise and present data - explain data meaningfully, draw comparisons and identify relationships to arrive at reasoned conclusion.
10. Guide students to describe and explain limitations as well as suggest ways to improve GI. Students given 2 more weeks to submit powerpoint presentation, Group GI log, Personal reflection.

Geography Inquiry on Tourism

The first field inquiry on human geography which we have learned to be more open minded. We have also learned from each other the need to check whether the data collected is skewed.  We did a land use transect and learned to see the pattern e.g goods are sold mainly on the 1st level and services on the 2nd level, higher order goods such as electronics and jewllery shops are found along Pagoda street, Temple street and Trengganu Street which catered more to the tourists as compared to Sago street where there are. more pastry shops as it is nearer to the Kretar Ayer CC where more locals actually shop.  . However there is pastry shop along Sago. For almost all the tourists whom we interviewed, most are attracted by shopping as well as the temples nearby.

As Geographers, we need to look at the spatial distribution of the land use.  There is also a need to see the spatial patterns for Human Geography during post fieldtrip when collecting data.

Interesting findings of the different streets. Smith Street - food vendors of local delicacies but more expensive - a deliberate planning by STB to introduce the local food of the 60s. However almost all the stalls are not opened in the morning. It would be more appropriate to do the survey for this stretch of road in the evening. There are also more restaurants that are cosmopolitan e.g. Thai etc. there. We found out that many tourists would actually go for food that they are more familiar with as compared to trying the local food. There are a lot of accommodation such as hostel and budget hotels along Mosque street -most tourist book online and stayed there as it is relatively cheap. Here we could look at how amenities affect tourism. Most of them stayed there due to the availability of public transport such as MRT and public buses nearby. They have booked the stay online and most would have sourced the accommodation and nearby attractions on the internet. Thus we could also see how accessibility in terms of transport and information can attract tourists.

21 June 2012

Geography Inquiry on Coast

Our first activity at the East coast park was to label the low water mark, the high water mark, the shoreline and the coastline.

We then proceeded to our assigned area, cell G. The breakers here are higher and nearer to each other. We observed the symmetrical shape of the coastline so we came up with the hypothesis that the beach gradient should also be the same on both sides behind the breakers. However, after measuring the gradient, we realised that the gradient is steepest at the one on the West compared to the one facing the East. We suspected that the more gentle slope could be a results of the longshore drift. We threw an apple into the sea and the swash brought the apple up the shore and the backwash brought it back to the sea causing the apple to move from west to east. However, it took a long time for the apple to move eastwards. We also timed the no. of waves per min  - 20 per min which showed that the waves are strong and destructive. Thus the breakwater was quite effective - the coast which is actually reclaimed land would have given way to erosion if the coastal protection was not introduced. 

  

Using the downloaded application clinometer, we measured the gradient at every 1m interval from the high water mark with the tablet. Amazing what technology can do as in the past we have to carry the ranging poles and the clinometer to measure the beach gradient in order to plot the beach profile. When I downloaded the free app clinometer and smart compass from the Android Market , I also saw the 3D earthquake app which was so amazing - the next good app after google map!

The sketch which I did at the area we were assigned.

  

The East Coast Park is bustling with activities and can be very crowded during the weekends. Luckily we were there on a weekday. We saw people camping, jogging, cycling and a group of students who are ready to start their BBQ. We did interviews with the people and learned quite a bit.

This was our findings which we presented at the post fieldwork session.

20 June 2012