The Final Hours

Having has a couple of days off following my primary and secondary attachment I've more or less finished the preliminary assignment. I'll spend some time over the weekend making final adjustments but I'm going to have tonight off, it is Friday night after all! This is something I want to continue during the next year. The PGCE is undoubtedly a long and hard year but a sensible work-life balance is essential if anyone is to survive without going insane. I want to try and have a week-night and possibly a day at the weekend off work but we'll just have to see how it goes :/.

I am looking forward to starting on Monday though and exploring the new students union which looks fantastic from the outside.

Evidence for Global Warming..

After discussing global warming in the last post it would therefore make sense to discuss global warming in a little more depth.

Throughout history, since the humble beginnings of the Earth, the climate has continually fluctuated naturally between warm and cold periods (glacials and interglacials). Since around the 1950's however, there is evidence of a steep increase in global temperatures. It is this recent increase that is known as global warming.

Evidence for global warming comes from different sources:

1. Instrument readings - measurements made using at weather stations suggest a clear increasing trend. Figures show that temperatures have increased globally by 0.5 degrees since 1980.
2. Arctic Ice Cover - studies have shown that over the last 30 years, Arctic Ice has thinned to nearly half its previous level. As the ice retreats less solar radiation is reflected back into space. Darker ocean areas will absorb more radiation, increasing temperatures further.
3. Glacier retreat - photographic evidence has shown clear glacial retreat over the last century. Studies have estimated that up to 25% of global mountain glaciers could disappear by 2050. However, a natural reduction in snowfall could also lead to glacial retreat.
4. Ice Cores - Ice cores have provided some of the most compelling evidence for global warming. Similar to tree rings in their formation they display a a visual record of snow fall. Gas molecules trapped in the ice can also be analysed to discover the atmospheric conditions at the time of formation.

The causes of climate change

Scientists believe that the recent trend of global warming is directly related to the actions of man as opposed to natural cycles of temperature change associated with slight changes in the Earths orbit around the sun. The atmosphere allows heat from the sun (in the form of short-wave radiation) to pass through and heat the Earth. When the Earth gives off heat (in the form of long-wave radiation), gases such as carbon dioxide are able to absorb it, hence the term 'greenhouse gases'.

In recent years the levels of greenhouse gases have increased and many scientists and academics believe that this is a result of human activity such as the burning of fossil fuels. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has predicted that by 2100 global temperatures will have risen by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees leading to a rise in sea level of approximately 40cm.

Extreme Weather in the UK

This topic is an excellent area for looking at case studies. Case studies are important as pupils are then able to write at length and in detail in an exam. In recent years there have been a number of extreme weather events. These include:

• 2003 - Europe suffered an intense heatwave. The highest temperature recorded in the UK was 38.5 degrees Celsius.
• 2007 - Floods across the UK, in particular Hull and Sheffield, caused many thousands of people damage and loss of homes. Not only did rivers burst their banks but pumping stations also failed due to the sheer volume of water.
• 2008 - Further floods occurred as torrential rain fell on already saturated ground. The most affected areas were Somerset and Northumberland.

Some people, particularly in mainstream media, have linked the extreme events to global warming. Although it is likely that extreme weather events may become more frequent it is accepted that no one event can be blamed on global warming.

Probably the most popular case study for flooding is the 2004 floods that occurred in Boscastle. The media provided heavy coverage of the event and as such there is a huge library of resources available such as news reports, videos, pictures and eyewitness accounts. The video link below leads to Sky News video captured during the floods. There is no commentary but you can clearly see the power of the water as it surges through the small community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Fy6dYRp5w

Numeracy

I stumbled across this article on the BBC News website earlier today and found it to be quite relevant as I spent the previous day observing numeracy lessons in various year groups at my Primary School placement. It provides a concise overview of how children are taught mathematics in schools today and is well worth a read for background information.

Why parents can't do maths today

Apologies

I must apologise for the severe lack of updates in recent weeks. I took an extended holiday for the majority of August to unwind before the mass panic began. I'm currently heavily involved with my preliminary Primary attachment as well which I've had to begin a week earlier than suggested but couldn't avoid it due to various circumstances. On the plus side it will give me a good few days to complete the assignment after I move to Leicester on the 18th. I'll endeavour to get some more blog posts done over the coming weekend.

Not long to go now. Hope everyone is looking forward to the 27th!

UK Weather

What causes the weather in the UK?

The two major atmospheric characteristics that are the reason for the majority of the weather in the UK are depressions and anticyclones.

A depression is an area of low pressure. Air rises leading to the formation of clouds and rain. UK weather is associated with the movement of depressions across the land. Depressions form over the Atlantic Ocean and pass from West to East across the UK driven by the prevailing winds. Depressions form at the boundary between cold polar air moving South and warm tropical air moving North and is known as the polar front. Once formed, the air begins to rotate, spiralling upwards in an anti-clockwise direction forming clouds and then rain.

Within a depression there are two further ‘fronts’, one cold and one warm. The warm front signifies the front of the warmer air (hence the name, genius!) and the cold front........you get the idea. As the depression builds it eventually dies out as the cold front catches up with the slower warm front. As depressions pass over the UK a sequence of weather is produced. At the front of the depression a steady rain falls. Behind this, small patches of rain begin to fall as the temperature rises slowly due to the warm air. The advancing cold front causes the temperature to drop and the rain ceases.

Unlike depressions, anticyclones are areas of high pressure cause by descending air. The chances of rain are slim as the descending air prevents air from rising and therefore forming clouds. Winds also travel clockwise, the opposite of depressions. Anticyclones can be separated further into two main types, winter and summer anticyclones. In winter, cloudless skies result in bright but cold conditions. As there is no cloud heat it lost rapidly into the atmosphere and this is what causes frost to appear on the ground in the early morning. If the air is particularly heavy with moisture from the surrounding seas then can condense into mist and fog. In the summer time the sun is much stronger due to Earths’ rotation on its axis and is easily able to burn away and resulting mist and fog. Summer anticyclones typically result in dry, sunny conditions (of which we see very little these days). The below diagram is a basic example of an anticyclone situated over the UK.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

In the next ‘block’ of posts I’m going to discuss aspects of weather and climate, in particular focusing on the UK. The UK may be the obvious choice, however, it is important that students can relate to a particular topic as such they will all have experience of the British weather. I was swayed to discuss climate next as I have just returned from work and unfortunately endured a soaking on the way.

The climate of the UK is largely influenced by its physical position. The UK lies at the forefront of confrontation between descending polar air from the North and rising sub-tropical weather from the South. As a result we experience varied weather conditions throughout the year. The below image shows the major air flows which circulate Earth.

There are a number of other factors that the climate of the UK. These include:

• The North Atlantic Drift - a warm ocean current that provides the UK with relatively warm winters considering our latitude.
• Prevailing winds - typically flowing in from the south-west, these, along with the North Atlantic Drift result in a warm but wet climate.
• The relief of the UK - as air is forced upwards in upland areas the temperature decreases and clouds form causing subsequent rainfall and hence why the Lake District and the majority of Scotland typically have a large number of rainy days a year. The below diagram is a excellent illustration of how relief rainfall works.

As I have mentioned in my previous posts I believe that before beginning to teach a new topic it is important to have a knowledge of what the students already know. For climate in the UK a possible idea would be to provide a trace of the coastline and then suggest students to shade areas of the UK which they believe to be typically wet in blue, and the warm areas in red. Discussion on why they had chosen those areas would allow the teacher to get a good insight into current understanding.

As a final point I found the Met Office website to be an extremely valuable resource when researching this topic. It contains a huge amount of data available in an instant and even provides basic lesson plans, including presentations and slide shows, which introduce certain topics.