Geogbits: Our eyes on our world

Challenges to our Earth

2011-11-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

A Focus on Union Movements

2011-08-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

2011 Semester 2: Videos on Trade/Labour unions: Refer to the worksheet that will facilitate your group discussion.

An Interview with a Harvard professor on union history and issues (more from a American context)

An example of the union fighting in Hollywood

A Union Facts produced ad on the lack of transparency when union members vote

How to print out your Diggo list for submission

2011-04-14T00:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Geography students,

To print out your Diigo reading list, you must first create the reading list.

You can then start sorting your websites into your diigo reading list.

When you are ready to print it out, just select your reading list, and the page displaying your reading list has a print option on the left navigation column.

I hope I can make better instructions for you soon, in place of the missed lesson next week.

Regards,

Mrs Lim

GE4101 - Diigo lesson to prepare an essay outline on greying population

2011-03-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Dear students,

This lesson will stretch over 3 periods. For the first 2 periods we will be doing the following:

1. Go to www.diigo.com
2. Sign up for a diigo account
3. Download the diigolet onto your bookmark favourites bar. Saving it to the favourites bar is very important.
4. Take note of the essay question: To what extent does a greying population affect the development of a country? (12m)
5. You will need to critically evaluate websites that discuss greying population and store your highlights, sticky notes and bookmarks on your diigo account.
The research session should take about 30 to 35mins only

Use the next 45 mins to prepare an essay outline to the question. Do not write out an entire essay.

This concludes the first 2 periods of this lesson unit.

Next period: We will exchange essay outlines and critique our partner's essay outline. We will then discuss what are good ways to prepare essay outlines and also how important it is to substantiate our points with examples.

Answers to Video Comprehension for ASEAN Intro (Part 2)

2011-03-29T20:47:00.001-07:00

Q1
Diplomacy - signing of ASEAN Charter
Strong leadership

Q2
someone able to command respect of the government leaders of the member countries. Patience, with strong diplomatic skills. Having good levels of energy to attend meetings.

Q3
Peace
ASEAN can help maintain peace and unite against piracy, terrorism and drug trafficking.

Prosperity
Economic collaborations, pooling of resources, networking of resources.
Job creation through leverage of production networks in the region

People
Bring about better education systems and opportunities in countries (like Singapore)
Increase human capital

Economic Competition
To put together the GDP and purchasing power of the 10 member countries.

Q4.
Governmental
Need specialised people in ASEAN affairs to explain the advantages of be identified with ASEAN to other government officials

Community level
People who are familiar or even pro-ASEAN to tell others about ASEAN

Barriers
Lack of a common language - different versions of Bahasa
Government officials do not know ASEAN comprehensively

Q5.
90% of wealth comes from profits of ASEAN SMEs - important sources of revenue
Localised firms are anchors of jobs in the region in the event of global recession

e learning for 9 March 2011 lessons (Geography classes)

2011-03-08T16:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Students,

I'm down with flu (sad) but good news, I think we can try a lesson of e learning. The handouts will be issued to you in class by a substitute teacher. The soft-copy of the "constructing a population pyramid" is also available in soft copy in the module workbin under assignments.

I will be available to chat enmass via msn madzious(AT)hotmail.com or gmail: madzious(AT)gmail.com or maddypaddy81 on meebo.com. Replace the (AT) with the conventional symbol. My online chat programs will be on during the lesson time. I will not advise video sessions yet as video is usually one-to-one and I can answer queries faster with many students via chat sessions. We can do voice chats and video chats over googlechat if need be, provided you are able to do so using the terminal/notebook you have.

Submit your soft copy assignment to the module workbin under student submission using the student submission folder.

File name format: MG_name_myfilename.doc or .xls

E.g. 405_Madeline_Chen_popnexe.doc

You can submit your assignment in doc format (cut and paste your pyramid over) or in excel format (format via print preview) that is formatted to print in A4 format. Remember to answer the questions on page 4 of the handout. This assignment is graded.

Kindly print out your assignment after today and submit the hard copy into my pigeon-hole by Friday 12pm.

Your first assignment will be returned today while the essay will be returned on Friday during morning assembly before House Carnival.

Alright, see you all online at the respective time slots today! Talk to me!

Malaria in Nigeria

2011-02-22T19:25:00.001-08:00

Consider the factors that result in the people not having access to proper medical care

Combating HIV in Zambia

2011-02-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

Consider how HIV affects the development of Zambia

When TB meets HIV

Videos to discuss in Class when considering ASEAN as an organization

2011-02-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

What is ASEAN? Let's look at some of the videos from different perspectives and form our own opinions!

1. A view from Singapore:CNA

2. ASEAN Community by 2015: produced by ASEAN

3. Moving on from the cartoon version of understanding the integration journey towards ASEAN 2015. A CNA report on ASEAN 2015.

4. Possible solutions to better integrate ASEAN member countries

5. SMEs as a solution to improve ASEAN integration?

Web quest for 201 (27 August 2010)

2010-08-25T01:03:00.000-07:00

Dear 201 students,

Please kindly take the 1 hour lesson time to construct the following glossary for your own use, together with suitable pictures and answer the following questions which will need to be handed in at the end of the lesson.

TASK A: Make your own weathering glossary

Prepare a glossary of weathering terms based on information from physicalgeography.net. Include pictures where applicable. Definitions should be phrased in a paragraph and be sequential in its explanation. This can be a group effort. Submit the soft copies to Mrs Lim at nhsczm@nus.edu.sg. Make sure your names are at the back of the glossary you made.

Weathering
Denudation
Scree
Talus
Physical weathering
Chemical weathering
Biological weathering
Frost shattering
Insolation weathering
Exfoliation
Sheeting
Solution
Carbonation
Hydrolysis
Oxidation
Reduction
Regolith

TASK B: Individual work

Answer the following questions on writing paper. Remember to indicate your name and mentor group.

1. Contrast and compare frost shattering and insolation weathering. (9m)

2. Explain how carbonation occurs and suggest 3 conditions that will lead to formation of limestone landforms. (8m)

Submit TASK B at the end of the lesson. The Geog Rep (Jason) should collect everyone's TASK B and submit to a teacher in charge or to Mrs Lim's pigeon-hole (no. 86).

Online resources:

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/chapter10.html

http://www.limestone-pavements.org.uk/geology.html

Mount Saint Helen

2010-08-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

Here's some background and updated information on Mount Saint Helen.

First, background and update until 2007.

An a recent video uploaded to argue for more funding to continue monitoring Saint Helen. When people are asking for money, their videos are slightly more clear. :)

If Singapore had kept Christmas Island...

2010-04-08T00:42:00.000-07:00

M10203 was looking at the map of South-east Asia and remembering the territories of ASEAN countries and was also briefly discussing what happens at boundaries. When we were talking very briefly about what would happen to Singapore territories if we had kept Christmas Island.

Well, then Indonesia would have this funny sea space (as illustrated by the red line) cutting through their sea space, and Singaporean sea space passing dangerously close to Jakarta area! The Indonesian fishermen from the Sumatra island will also find themselves suddenly cut off from the full access of the Java Sea and Singapore will suddenly own a part of the Java Sea!

Well, it is all my imagination. The yellow line is another ridiculous thought of MORE sea space if Indonesia allows this to happen. Wahaha. Well, this is in my own imagination.

Using the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea however, it will look more like this below, where Singapore will be made up of 2 red dots! well, at least it is one more red dot.

IH2101 E-learning Week (Week starting 8 March 2010)

2010-03-03T22:57:00.000-08:00

To all IH2101 students,

We are starting on a new topic in E-learning Week. Please follow the instructions in this post to fulfil the learning required in this week. This assignment will lead to examining governance in transnational companies (TNCs) and their impact in governance in their host or home countries.

Normal catching up with the last topic like the Dr Tan activity or civil societies reading discussion/activity will still take place on Monday or the following week after the March holidays.

Our Essential Questions in this new topic:

1. What are the roles and contributions of SMEs and TNCs to the growth and progress of the nation?

2. How does government encourage and support SMEs and TNCs?

SME = Small, medium enterprises that are privately owned by individuals. It usually refer to companies started up by Singaporeans in the local context. This term has also been used to describe private firms from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

TNC = Transnational company that have operations in more than one country other than its country of origin. Companies like Nike, Nestle, Shell and Ikea are all TNCs.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- E-learning Activity - Singapore's One North - Reflection Entry and Short Essay -

This activity should be done in 1-2 hours. It should not take more than 2 hours.

Section A: Each response in Section A should have a word count of 50 to 100 words (max).
Source A: Read the special report on One-North at http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2009/id2009061_019963.htm.
You should also watch the video interview.
Answer the following questions.
1. How does the creation of One-North support the development of science-related industries?
2. Why do you think Singapore wants to attract science-related industries to Singapore?
3. How do you think the presence of big science-related companies will benefit the development of SMEs in Singapore?

----------------------------------------------------------
Section B: Read Source B below and write a short essay (word count 400 to 500 max). Bear in mind that you need an introduction, main body and conclusion. You can draw on keys ideas from Section A.
Source B: Ensuring the Transfer of Skills and Technology and Maintaining a Competitive Edge
"The transfer of skills and technology between people is known as the transfer of tacit knowledge. Many governments around the world are now aware that the intangible interactions between talents are the key activity that ensures value creation. This transfer of skills, technology and knowledge is thus the key differentiation between science parks that work, and those that will not. How governments can create the best environment for such interactions is thus a great challenge."
1. Evaluate One-North as Singapore's strategy in attracting science-related industries. Explain your answer.
Submit your reflection and essay to your respective IH teachers' pigeonholes on 12 March 2010 when you return to school for House Carnival. The IH representatives or Mentor Representatives will assist in collating the assignments as a class and submit together by 12pm on 12 March 2010.

An example of when a union fight back

2010-01-25T01:16:00.000-08:00

In this class journal, you need to watch this video and answer questions in Section A and B.

Section A: Short response questions:

What was the main reason why writers of television shows and dramas were paid lowly in the 1980s?
How has technology change for the US television industry? How has it benefit them?

Section B: Structured response questions (longer responses in 2-3 paragraphs, each paragraph about 80 to 120 words)

To what extent do you agree that the writers have a 'right' to have a strike?
Based on this writers' strike example, how useful is a trade union?

*a strike means they do not work and demand conditions that the bargain for to be accepted before they go back to work.

Watch the video below and answer the questions in Section C.

Section C: Structured response questions (longer responses in 2-3 paragraphs, each paragraph about 80 to 120 words)

1. What is the advertisement trying to say about union bosses?

2. Compare the messages in the 2 videos. Explain 1 advantages and 1 disadvantage associated with unions.

You will be given class time to watch the videos one time in class. You should watch these two videos again when completing your assignment at home.

E-learning on communism

2009-10-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

Dear HS1102 students,

Welcome to Mrs Lim's personal geography blog. I'm hosting the HS1102 E-lesson instructions here for the time being until I work out one entire integrated humanities website for 2010. Yes, it will be a website, not a blog. I've lost my interest in blogging as a teacher after 3 years of trying to make it work well for teaching purposes. I still think a website will be better in the long run. The good thing is, all my resources are here in this blog. My website will be like a long content page next time...

Today's E-lesson (intro lesson to alternative development)

Today's lesson is a self-directed learning on communism. The purpose of this lesson is simple. It is simply to find out what information is available on the Internet on communism. As this is self directed, you can choose to explore communism in the following 3 ways.

Get to know who else is in the same topics as you so we can form expert groups (members are have the same topic) and jigsaw groups (mixture of members with different topics) in the next lesson.

1. Communism and politics

A. Start off read about communism, socialism and capitalism on wikipedia.

B. Go to The Chairman Smiles website: http://www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/ and write down your responses on reading and looking at the posters that comment on communism as a political system.

2. Communism and Socialism: What are the differences?

A. Start off read about communism, socialism and capitalism on wikipedia.

B. Visit this socialism website: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~dmcm/Articles/nutshell.htm and first: do not believe everything you read there. Try to figure out what he is saying and what is his purpose in presenting socialism in the way he is doing on his website. Write down your responses.

3. Socialism Today?

A. Start off read about communism, socialism and capitalism on wikipedia.

B. Read this article that argues that US President Obama is not a socialist. Link is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301899.html. What is socialism? According to the article, what are the key characteristics of socialism? Write down your responses.

4. Communism and development

A. Start off read about communism, socialism and capitalism on wikipedia.

B. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_communist_states to know which are the current communist states/countries in the world today. Do you think they all have similar stages of development? Visit http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/east_asian_history/103959 to read about the achievements of Communism in East Asia and Poland's case in http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/polish_baltic_history/66634. What can you conclude about communism as a alternative form of development?

Come to class next lesson to be prepared to do discussions in expert groups and jigsaw groups.

Welcome to HS1102

2009-06-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

Dear HS1102 students, a short and quick welcome to this module. We will be focusing on development and how it affects countries. We will be using Singapore and regional countries as case studies throughout the module and also employing critical thinking you came across in HS1101.

To start some thinking - here are some questions for you to prepare for the first lesson of this module.

1) What is development?

2) How long do you think it has been happening?

3) How has development changed Singapore?

Plate Tectonics and Fossil Evidences

2009-03-17T23:41:00.001-07:00

Video Essay assignment (in place of proposed 24 hour test)

2009-03-02T03:38:00.000-08:00

Dear Litho students,

~~This video critique essay is officially released on 3 March and is due for submission on 30 Mar on Espace. This gives you a window of 27 days to do this essay.~~

Extension: This essay is due on 3 April 2009 on Espace.

The clip is now shorter (about 3:26) but should not affect your analysis.

Background:

Dante's Peak is a fictional volcano set in the state of Oregon where Dante's Peak is part of the mountain chain of volcanoes in the United States known as the Cascade Range. This clip shows the first eruption of the volcano in the course of the movie.

Essay Question (30 marks)
Refer to the clip below.

*Disclaimer: There are inverted scenes in this clip but it is not intentional and should not be part of your analysis.

(A) Explain the extent this clip is representative of the destructive nature of acidic lava type volcanoes.

(B) Explain how volcanic hazard management has failed in this movie clip and explain how you will go about setting in place a volcanic hazard management program for a town like the one portrayed in the movie.

Notes:

Research into Dante's Peak via the internet and use information and ideas we have learnt in class (especially from the Merapi and Earthquake Watch Centre's presentations) to answer (B).

Requirements of Essay:

MAX number of pages: 6
page margin: 1"
Font size: 12
Font Face: Arial or Times New Roman
Include a cover page indicating your name, mentor group and lesson time slot. E.g. "Tuesday, 4 to 6pm".
Include references, please include last accessed date if referencing internet websites.

Date Due: ~~30 March~~ 3 April 2009 on Espace Workbin > Video Essay

Essay Assessment Rubrics - Each section carries a max point of 5 marks (1,2,3,4,5)

Analysis
Grammar
Critical thinking
Creativity
Pragmatism
References

There is an additional bonus mark of 5 marks for significant improvements between your first submitted video critique and this essay

Feedback on Journal Entry 1 - build up on critical thinking

2009-02-17T01:06:00.000-08:00

Dear students,

Entry 1 is about asking questions in this module, especially with the first 2 lectures that has passed. Now, while we are in our Help! Indonesia lesson series, please do take the time to 'level up' your critical thinking abilities. I believe critical thinking can be nurtured over time but you need to be more self-aware than what I am seeing in your 1st journal entry.

How can you be a more critical thinker? Here are some ways in brief:

1. Use “Wasted” Time.
2. A Problem A Day.
3. Internalize Intellectual Standards.
4. Keep An Intellectual Journal.
5. Reshape Your Character.
6. Deal with Your Ego.
7. Redefine the Way You See Things.
8. Get in touch with your emotions.
9. Analyze group influences on your life.

Please go to http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/sts-ct-everyday-life.cfm and read up there. A critical thinker needs to start thinking before you can train yourself to be more critical.

Ask questions that will create new knowledge and understandings.

Help! Indonesia Project

2009-02-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Where do you get resource maps to show the extent of seismic activities in Indonesia for your in-class project? Look out for this:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/hazmaps/products_data/images/SEASIA-SeismicHazards_Sep07.pdf

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/hazmaps/products_data/images/WIndoSH.pdf

Assessment Rubrics for Help! Indonesia Project

2009-02-11T23:40:00.000-08:00

Dear Litho students,

Please note the assessment rubrics for each watch centre aka groups.

Criterion:
Organization of information
Verbal techniques/ Presentation style
Design of presentation
Subject knowledge as demonstrated in presentation
Subject Knowledge and articulation as demonstrated in Q&A.

1 - Poor
2 - Average
3 - Good
4 - Very Good
5 - Excellent

Watch Centre that wins full funding: extra 6 points, partial funding: 3 points.

Regards,
Mrs Lim

It is possible to have an excellent presentation and 'score' full points, please do a good job regardless though.

Mount Saint Helen

2009-01-28T19:31:00.000-08:00

This is a useful video on the history of mount saint helen. Look in particular how mafic/acidic lava erupts and build up in the caldera of Saint Helen. The lava solidifies very fast and erupts mostly as cooling rock when it is pushed up to the surface. Mount Saint Helen is found in the Cascade Range on the North American plate.

Help Indonesia PBL lesson series

2009-01-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

Dear class,

Here are some resources for our Volcanoes lessons.

USGS: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Indonesia/framework.html

USGS Map of Indonesia volcanoes:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Indonesia/Maps/map_indonesia_volcanoes.html

Merapi Volcano Observatory:
http://www.vsi.esdm.go.id/mvo/

Decade Volcanoes Map:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/volcano-culture/decade-volcano-map-interactive

The Lusi volcano:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/volcano-culture/drowning-in-mud-text

Comments on Lusi from other sources:
http://geology.about.com/b/2008/05/28/watch-lusi-collapse.htm

USGS: Plate boundaries

2009-01-11T23:18:00.000-08:00

Check out the USGS resources on plate boundaries! Good revision page to keep as a bookmark for the earnest physical geographer!

Link: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html

yorrike.com's take on continental drift / plate tectonics

2009-01-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

Neal Adams' argument

Yorrike's argument

2 video clips for points of discussions during the lesson on continental drift theory in GE4102/3102.

Neal Adams's argument that Earth is growing. Okay, I am biased against this guy quite abit. Yorrike is one guy who is arguing to debunk Neal's 'growing earth' theory.

Link: http://www.yorrike.com/pangea

Here's what we do in class:

Points of discussion:
1. What is Neal's argument on pangea?
2. What evidences did Yorrike draw to debunk Neal?
3. Do you have other evidences you think you have to debunk either party's arguments?

Pay attention to each other in class! We will have a Neal vs. Yorrike debate in class!

One side of the class willbe pro-Neal while the other can be pro-Yorrike. Do research now while you can.

Plate Tectonics (BBC Clip)

2009-01-11T16:40:00.001-08:00

This clip explains the mechanisms behind the formation of the continents as well as describes the crustal movements.

Globalization and Development

2008-10-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting world bank report for you to read as supplement to globalization and its effect on poverty. You can see this as the relationship between globalization and development. There's going to be increasing inequality throughout the countries around the world. The income inequality is also going to be wider within countries like the USA and Singapore.

World Bank Report on Globalization and Poverty:
http://www1.worldbank.org/economicpolicy/globalization/documents/povertyglobalization.pdf

Songs about Globalization

2008-09-16T06:16:00.000-07:00

Citizen of the Planet by Alanis Morisette

Quite a powerful song in terms of style, in rock and roll fashion. The visual, for those who know what is editing, is done quite stylistically too, disembodied parts of people as well as the lack of a human figure to empathise with, shows how 'alienating' and 'placeless' globalization can be. Aptly named "Citizen of the planet". No mentioned of countries at all.

Lyrics:



I start up in the North
I grow from special seed
I sprinkle in with sensibility
From French and Hungarian snow
I linger in the sprouting until my engine’s full

Then I move across the sea
To European bliss
To language of poets
As I cut the cord of home
I Kiss my mother’s mother
Look to the horizon

Wide eyed, new ground humbled by my new surroundings

I am a citizen of the planet
My president is Kwan Yin
My frontier is on na airplane
My prisons: homes for rehabilitating

Then I fly back to my nest,
I fly back with my nuclear
But everithing is different

So I wait, My yearn for home is broadened,
Patriotism expanded
by callings from beyond

So I Pack my things nothing precious all things sacred
I am a citizen of the planet
My laws are all of attraction
My punishiments are consequences
Separating from source the original sin

I am a citizen of the planet
Democracy’s kids are sovereign
Where the teachers are the sages
And pedestals fill with every parent

And so, next few years are blurry,
the next decade’s a flurry of
amells and tastes unknown

Threads sewn straight through this fabric
through fields of every color
one culture to another

I come alive and I get giddy I am taken and globally naturalized

I am a citizen of the planet
From simple roots through high vision
I am guarded by the angels
My body guides the direction I go in

I am a citizen of the planet
My favorite pastime edge stretching
Besotten with human condition
These ideals are borne from my deepest within

Taken from:
http://www.elyricsworld.com/citizen_of_the_planet_lyrics_alanis_morissette.html

Akvo.org

2008-09-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

Dear students,

This is a new and very interesting development in humanitarian projects in water and sanitation where ideas on improving water supplies and sanitation systems are widely available and open to all via opensource to everyone out there.

This website is especially useful for your module project - which you ought to start on by now; you have about only a month left to submission.

http://www.akvo.org/

Gallery of Data Visualization: Best and Worse

2008-06-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

Dear students,

Check out this website on data representation.

Gallery of Data Visualization The Best and Worst of Statistical Graphics
http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/

This is something that cuts across Geography and many inter-related sciences and math.

The message here is - your graphic should represent the data you want to explore and elaborate on.

How will a young Singaporean respond to this?

2008-01-18T19:15:00.000-08:00

It looks like the speaker here is very optimistic that we in Singapore have gotten some things right, especially at the scale of a city-state.

How will GE1102 students respond to this? Leave your comments.

This video was contributed by Brendan.

Geography of Food!

2007-11-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

An interesting website that tells you about food (though in a UK context). Take this time to explore geography even in terms of seeing Geography in everyday things like food.

Just a foretaste of how perhaps this module will evolve. Have a great holiday ahead students!

Intel as a case study

2007-09-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Dear students,

as we start on industrialization, there are a few examples of industries that will serve as useful examples to cite in your answers. Go check out all these companies in your holidays. You may just fall in love with the kind of work they do. Start knowing the world of work early to have a more informed perspective on careers in future. I'm not saying you start work now as a teenager, just build that awareness!

Primary industries

Hay Dairy Farm
Toh Orchids
Kok Fah Technology Farm
Marine Aquaculture Centre (AVA, Sg)
Qian Hu Corporation Limited
Swee Chioh Aquaculture Holding Pte Ltd
small farmholds in China producing fruits like Mandarin oranges in farming areas of Xiamen
Cotton Inc (US)

Secondary industries

Mintek (produces car brake parts)
Intel
Apple
Toshiba
Lenovo
Creative

Tertiary industries

SMRT
SBSTransit
Hutchinson (shipping)
Evergreen (shipping)
KPMG
Pricewaterhouse
StandardCharter
Llyod and other commerical banks
AIA (insurance)
Hong Leong Bank
Metro
Tangs
Manicure companies like Fave Nails, body slimming centres etc (and other beauty treatment service providers)

Quaternary Industries

DSO
Nanoscience Innovation
Singapore Technologies
Fuji Xerox (research)
Shell Global Solutions
Heuristix Lab

Quinary Industries

Singapore Duck tours
Chan Brothers
Mount Elizabeth Hospital
Jean Yip
private educational insitutions (including our school and many others)

Remember Live Earth

2007-07-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

This module does its best to open the eyes of students to their world. Just wanted to expand the collection of pop music associated with environment protection.

Here's Madonna's "Hey You". I understand that there is a lot of controvesy over her carbon print, but I think it is good enough that she wrote a song to try bring up awareness for our environment and her director for this music video doesn't even have her in it for obvious reasons - this song is not about Madonna, it's about the environment and the people who shape, and the people who suffer in it, the people who live in it and off it.

How to improve geographical literacy

2007-05-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

This post is actually targeted at parents who are concerned about their child's lack of interest or literacy in Geography.

Here are some useful tips I have adapted from http://ncge.net/geography/power/family/page2.cfm and thrown in a few of my own-

Having an Atlas and maps at home for the child
An atlas is the most comprehensive and useful geography reference work. Atlas maps allow children to locate countries, and physical features. Atlases also contain data on population, climates, economies, and usually pictures that are important for understanding a country's place in the world.

Maps are the tools of the geographer. A world map and a map of Asia can be hung on the wall of your children's room or elsewhere in the home where they can be used easily and frequently. Maps are available in most book stores.

My own observations*
Getting children to look at maps more often trains spatial intelligence - something many parents and adults tend to ignore in a child's development. Getting them to improve their spatial intelligence helps your child be a better map reader when older and gives them confidence in the very spaces they need to move in and unfamiliar spaces they need to conquer!

Encyclopedias and other world information materials
Encyclopedias, atlases and publications like Encrata are now available on CD-ROM and other electronic formats. If your children have access to a computer, you may want to consider using this form of access to geographic reference works and visit websites like BBC Geography, National Geographic.com or even the US CIA factbook that publishes information on all the different countries in the world. Wikipedia is useful for most college level topics.

Modeling and picking up geographical skills
Help your children learn to use maps, atlases, and globes. Work with your children to find places on the globe or look up information in the atlases. Be a good role model by consulting the atlas yourself and talk about countries or world issues in a particular country and its region with your child. Bring your child to the National Geographic Store in Vivocity to ignite interest in the world.

Critical thinking*
While this is not exclusive to Geography, it is applicable to all social sciences, history and humanities training. Take data representation from newspapers and other publications ask your child about the categories assumed, the definitions used and the way the data is represented. Do they agree with the definitions? Is it representative? Does it show "fairness"? Are things proportionate? what is the scale? Is it drawn to scale? What is included? What is not? Why is this so?

Kids are capable of thinking. It's the construct of this thing called "childhood innocence" that we try to give these children and in doing so, we make them stupid or we handicap them longer than they ought to be. Being able to think does not mean a loss of innocence. The loss of innocence is the loss of time to play and engage and think about their world. I'm talking about "homework time" with assessment books rather than meaningful thinking conversations between parents and their children.

Simple Mathematical skills*
Start a database of foods that your child eat on a day to day basis and eventually compare the data from week-to-week to month-to-month so as to teach time-interval studies and probability of their food preferances on a certain day. Including other data will eventually teach cross-referencing!

Get them to do a tabulation of their allowance money - have them to remember how they spend their pocket money and analyse their expenditure. This sets them thinking about analysing simple statistics but also act as a foundation for them to understand country budgets when they are way older. The act of data collecting and tabulation also instill discipline and routine when required. Award them treats when they do a good analysis. It should not be toys but their favourite foods or activities.

Simple acts like this can prep your child a long way. This mathematical skill actually helps your child in social science analysis.

Exam tips

2007-04-30T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hiya 2007 cohort,

This is an informal note basis.

As you prepare for your exams, please remember to drink water and study smart!

For those not identified as part of the "34 students", I have some extra handouts printed and stuck outside my pigeonhole for those who are interested in it and do not want to print out the soft copy from Espace folder.

Also, do note that you can sign up for consultation slots from 2 May afternoon (after 1.30pm) once I settle the slots for the weaker students. That is if you want to and you have done the practice questions to ask me questions...

We live in Singapura!

2007-04-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hi class,

It's not really related to what we study in this module but it is more related to what I'm researching on. This interesting song "We live in Singapura" is a very interesting alternative view of what Singapore is like and is an expression of national identity.

Listen and enjoy. It really is very original.

Singapore the best place in the world for Asians to live

2007-02-13T23:03:00.000-08:00

I took this article from http://www.eca-international.com/Asp/ViewArticle2.asp?ArticleID=150 after catching sight of it in tomorrow.sg.

Students can think about this while we go through lessons on urbanization...

Singapore the best place in the world for Asians to live, says ECA International - 03 April 2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poor air quality in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur cause fall in ranking
High living standards make Singapore the most favourable place in the world for Asians to live according to the latest Location Ranking Survey on expatriate living conditions by ECA International, the world’s largest membership organization for international human resources professionals, serving a global network of over 4000 HR professionals in 1500 companies in 35 countries.
Singapore claims the top spot because it offers residents a good quality of living, scoring favourably in most categories. High quality infrastructure and health facilities, combined with low health risks, air pollution and crime rates make it a very desirable location in which to live. And the cosmopolitan make-up of Singapore adds to its appeal.
Kobe is the only other Asian city ranked in the top 10, ranked fifth behind Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Making up the top 10 are Auckland, Copenhagen, Vancouver, Wellington and Basel.
Yokohama and Tokyo are the other Asian locations to feature in the top 20, ranked 11th and 14th respectively. They are followed by Hong Kong (32), Taipei (60), Macau (64), Bangkok (69) and Kuala Lumpur (72). Shanghai, 89th in the global ranking, is considered the best Chinese city for Asians to live, beating Beijing because of its more favourable climate and lower levels of air pollution.
Baghdad came out as the worst location to live, followed by Kabul and Karachi. Their position at the bottom of the rankings is largely due to the high risk to personal safety and lack of adequate infrastructure and facilities.
Culture, language and proximity to an expatriate’s home country also affect the overall scores which are used by ECA member companies to establish allowances which compensate expatriate staff for the difficulties of living in their assignment location.
“Although Singapore is top for Asians, it comes in at only 58 for Western Europeans. Although still a great place to come to, distance from home, differences in culture, language and climate all make it harder to live here than Basel, for example, which comes top for Europeans," explained Lee Quane, General Manager of ECA International in Hong Kong.
Movers and shakers
Quality of living is on the up in most Chinese cities, with Xi’an showing the greatest annual improvement although it remains the worst-ranked of all the Chinese cities covered by ECA’s survey. Infrastructure, health facilities, goods and services, recreational facilities and housing are the areas that are seeing the biggest improvements across the country. However, locations in China still have a long way to go before they offer residents the same living standards afforded to residents in Singapore and Japan, with high levels of air pollution a particular complaint amongst expatriates.
Scores for Phnom Penh and Vientiane have also improved this year, as they have done for the past couple of years. Both have seen a growth in the expatriate community in recent years as they have become more open to foreign investment.
Hong Kong dropped down the rankings this year falling from 20th to 32nd. Its fall is due to an increase in the levels of air pollution, with the number of hazy days rising every year as polluted air from an increasingly industrialised Guangdong province affects the city. An increase in the levels of air pollution caused by forest fires on Sumatra contributed to Kuala Lumpur slipping 11 places this year. Flash-flooding and landslides also affected its overall hardship score.
“It isn’t all good news for Asia,” said Quane. “Although Singapore is ranked the best city in the world and many Asian cities recorded improvements in their score, only five Asian locations make the top 50. This shows that living conditions in most Asian cities is lower than those in their European and North American counterparts. What’s more, the drop experienced by Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur shows that the rapid pace of development in Asia, which is attractive to so many people, is also having a detrimental impact of living conditions through by-products such as pollution.”
ECA’s biggest ever location ranking survey scores 257 locations worldwide according to categories that include climate, prevalence/impact of natural disasters, health facilities and risks, transportation, the quality and availability of goods and services, accommodation standards, education, recreation, crime and socio-political climate. Culture, language and proximity to an expatriate’s home country also affect the overall score. The scores are then used by ECA member companies to establish allowances which compensate expatriate staff for the difficulties of living in their assignment location.
About ECA International
ECA International is the world’s largest membership organisation for international human resources professionals, serving a global network of over 4000 HR professionals in 35 countries. The leading provider of online data, software solutions and advice for more than 1500 international companies, ECA’s innovative approach has been providing cost-effective solutions to international HR management since 1971. For more information, please visit http://www.eca-international.com.
About ECA’s Location Ranking Survey
The Location Ranking Survey is carried out on an annual basis. The rankings above and below are made by comparing the factors listed above for 257 locations worldwide on an Asian base.
ECA‘s Location Ranking Survey is delivered through ECAAdapt, part of its Assign suite of HR information tools. ECAAdapt offers a transparent and detailed system for calculating location or “hardship” allowances for expatriates relocating to a new country.
ECAAdapt allows users to select region-to-city allowances or city-to-city allowances, so that depending on your policy the system reflects the level of detail that required. ECA’s system provides an immediate “banding” for the host location, based in part on the circumstances of the home location. With the banding comes ECA’s recommended allowances, expressed as a percentage of home gross salary.
ECAAdapt also gives breakdowns of the scoring given to a number of different categories contributing to the overall score which translates to banding and allowances. Categories include climate, health services, isolation, social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure and political tensions.
The best locations in the world for Asians to live
2005 Rank
Location
1
Singapore - Singapore
2
Australia - Sydney
3
Australia - Melbourne
4
Australia - Canberra
5
Japan - Kobe
6
New Zealand - Auckland
7
Denmark - Copenhagen
8
Canada - Vancouver
9
New Zealand - Wellington
10
Switzerland - Basel
The most difficult locations in the world for Asians to live
2005 Rank
Location
257
Iraq - Baghdad
256
Afghanistan - Kabul
255
Pakistan - Karachi
254
Algeria - Algiers
253
Haiti - Port-au-Prince
252
Angola - Luanda
251
Palestine Territories - Ramallah
250
Mauritania - Nouakchott
249
Uzbekistan - Tashkent
248
Sudan - Khartoum
The best locations in Asia for Asians to live
2005 Rank
Location
1
Singapore - Singapore
2
Japan - Kobe
3
Japan - Yokohama
4
Japan - Tokyo
5
Hong Kong - Hong Kong
6
Taiwan - Taipei
7
Macau - Macau
8
Thailand - Bangkok
9
Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur
10
Thailand - Chiang Mai

Urbanization: Going down the streets of different cities

2007-02-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

Jakarta:

Go down the streets, it's almost like I'm in Medan City!

Fly over Jakarta. the low atmospheric clouds is probably air pollution.

Walk down a street in New York

How do you feel about the 2 different places that you have seen here? Talk about it in class!

Population Websites

2007-01-31T17:11:00.000-08:00

Hi students,

As we go through concepts and definition in population, remember these are only starting points. Population changes are very dynamic and is very important to development as it concerns the distribution of economic benefits and affect people's welfare directly.

Here are some websites for your surfing for this time period.

The Population Reference Bureau - you may want to check out the new 2006 population data sheet under quick links to look at the current population situation around the world.
http://www.prb.org/

UN Population division - Department of economic and social affairs
UN Population Division

A linking point between population and the next topic, urbanization - most of the people we see being added to the world are in the ELDCs and they will be in the big cities in these ELDCs.
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WUP2005/2005WUP_agglomchart.pdf - Get the report here

GlobALIzAtIoN oF TrAnSnAtIonAL CoRpOrAtIOns

2006-10-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some anti-nike websites to get you started on your last class activity for this module.

Have fun exposing Nike. :)

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/acropolis/5232/links.html

http://www.ibiblio.org/prism/jan98/nike2.html

http://www.mail-archive.com/leftlink@vicnet.net.au/msg03133.html

http://www.le.org/pipermail/vnforum/2002-October/000143.html

http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/CSRfiles/nike.html

http://www.counterpunch.org/ballinger02082006.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3932.html

What is globalization?

2006-10-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in lessons, you are not expected to 'define' globalization per sec, but you can read about it and make your own decision on what is 'globalization'.

There is a pretty good website to start from:

http://www.globalisationguide.org/

As I tried to word it for a proposal I am writing, hope the following excerpt makes some sense to some of you:

"The globalized world today has resulted in increasingly unregulated financial and labour markets in different regions and countries that are unevenly integrated in the world economy. There is increasing income disparity between economies as well as the uneven accumulation of capital between global regions. The same processes have also increase the fluidity of the movement of people across and between national borders. The globalization phenomenon is seen as a virtually unstoppable process that can only be accommodated rather than resisted (Ohmae, 1990). The world is now flattened by globalizing technologies (Friedman, 2006) and is responsible for integrating the world closer through space-shrinking and time-compressing technologies.

This has led to the blurring of political boundaries and the seemingly homogenizing of a global landscape where notions of the nation-state is contested and even argued as ‘dead’ (Guehenno, 1995; Knoke, 1996). The new complexity of global causality visibly exceeds the capacity of nation-states to maintain effective control as the distinction between the global and the local is ‘resignified’ (Pensky, 2005) and [globalization] is played out in the apparent fluidity of material practices across space and time, constructing imaginations of the world as a nestled world of opportunities for people in its circulatory flows of goods, people, capital and ideas. In essence, globalization as a force from ‘outside’ is re-aligning and re-defining the nation-state’s capacities as political bodies (Held & McGrew, 2002; Dicken, 2003).

*References to be inserted later.*

What is a TEU?

2006-10-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

Dear students,

The internet is a maze of information, and I understand your frustrations in not knowing how a "1 TEU" looks like.

1 TEU = a 20 feet equivalent unit container

This means 20 feet containers like the container below is 1 TEU.

So what's the biggie about calling it 1 TEU?

TEU refers to the capacity of container ships while the container is, well, simply a container when the people doing the packing look at it!

Why have different names? Well, this is because of the 2 TEU!

2 TEU can mean a 40 feet container like the one below or 2 20-feet containers.

So using TEU is a lot simpler. Of course, the world of containers have become a lot more exciting with containers that open both ways, containers with refigerators called reefer containers and open top containers that can accomodate tractor or special mining vechicle's kind of super big wheels. It's very exciting.

Imagine you have to stack containers in a container ship with the exact precision you stack Uno stacko cards, and you need to program a software that communicates with the cranes lifting the containers in and out when the ship docks into your berth, and you need to co-ordinate trucks and trailers on standby to move the incoming and outgoing containers around. You need a computer to do that okay? Don't fry your brains, little ones. Especially the maths whizzes in our midst!

Check out such a system at this website!
http://www.jp.com.sg/container/ctms.htm

To streamline your burning desire to know more about containers - shipping is a very good industry to go into, make sure you are good at programming or with math or just have good plain commonsense with training in geography (pay attention in class huh), google "shipping" or "logistics" and read about it.

To know about the world of containers, read this website!

http://www.mrbox.co.uk/

All container photos on this post was taken from Mrbox.co.uk. website. :)

I love the logistics and shipping part of this module. So fun!

What a big gal!

2006-10-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

I am covering transport technologies in Globalization now and an article on this beautiful container ship caught my eye as I was reading the newspapers.

It is on Emma Maersk, the world's biggest container ship in the world, with a capacity of 11000 TEUs!! Oh my goodness! That's very big!

The largest ship before Emma was Shenzhen shipping line's OOCL with 8068 TEUs.

Check out the beauty!

Photo taken from:
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=109670&ran=87860

The shipping gazette carries a feature on it:

http://www.shipgaz.com/english/magazine/issues/2006/16/1606_article.asp

What difference big gal makes in globalization:

Updated: 6 Nov 2006

Christmas is around the corner and according the the graph that I placed in 2006 Sem 2 paper Q7, exports from Asia to other regions, especially Europe and US, usually hit sky-high around this time.

Here are a few articles on people in Europe who are veru concerned with the huge export of goods Emma Maersk is bringing over from China.

News from UK

Christmas is coming

Canada covering the news too.

Christmas ship embarks on Santa-like voyage

So who says globalization doesn't affect people? Don't underestimate this giant gal. She brings big news where ever she goes.

Development Summary

2006-07-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

Development has its origins in the late 1940s- in a speech by President Truman in which he employed the term underdeveloped areas to describe poor areas that we now know as Economically Less Developed Countries(ELDCs). Poor areas in such countries are seen as traditonal. Development tend to take on the idea of modernization, which is perceived to be at odds with many traditional societies in these poor areas.

Development since the 1960s is largely dominated by economical concerns and it was only in the late 1970s and even present day that social and spatial development has been incorporated into its practice.

Development in general thus addresses the need to bring about a betterment of socio-economic aspects of a nation, with care given to sustainable development with regards to managing its environment.

Useful Websites to look at indicators measuring development around the world:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Indicators/OfficialList.htm - this is the official list of indicators to monitor and measure the eradication of poverty around the world.

Relief and development materials

2006-07-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

Pardon the Christian overtones. Development also takes place in the form of such non-government organizations' (NGOs) efforts to benefit a community directly, be it crisis relief or perhaps in the developing of the society in a particular area.

Favela Rising shows a local in a Brazilian squatter settlement trying his best to reach out to the young people in his community. This also help contribute to the development of people as he tries to use music therapy to occupy the youngsters' lives and bring about social development.
http://favelarising.com/default.php

I volunteer with Touch Community Services (International)as well as Touch Community Services (in Singapore), a non-religious organization but with many Christian volunteers.

The other alternative would have been a Japanese relief work video in East Timor~!

Song lyrics of music about Earth

2006-06-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

Saltwater by Julian Lennon

Earth Song by Micheal Jackson

Don't Cut me Down by Olivia Newton John

What is SPECS?

2006-06-12T00:47:00.000-07:00

SPECS is a memory technique in which we compress the perspective all Geographers under my teaching should remember.

S - Social
P - Political
E - Economical
C - Cultural
S - Surroundings (pointing to the Environment and what can be seen, which is important in Geography)

Geography is about seeing the world, about seeing the patterns and making good informed views based on the patterns you are seeing in the world.

When we look at data, we must always ask ourselves - what kind of a pattern am I seeing? More about this on another post.

Development

2006-06-12T00:43:00.000-07:00

What is development? To answer this simple question in this module is actually not simple. It is even more complicated given that the world has changed dramatically these last 15 years, what we can call now the "globalized world", which is the life-span of many students in this module. What changes are we actually aware of this last 15 years?

Becoming more keenly aware of the world around you requires reading up, which means reading up on newsweek, watching some documentaries of life in other countries and perhaps picking up a habit of simply googling up on countries or reading the CIA world factbook for starters in this module.

Building up this cultural capital of being aware of what is "life" like in othe parts of the world will help you in this module, better than memorising the fact that it is the Pacific Ocean separating Japan and the American continents. There is a place for that, but you need to know MORE than that!

What is development? It encompasses economic, social, cultural, political and last but definitely not the least, the environment.

What makes a nation or place developed? Or underdeveloped?
Caution to students: THERE IS NO SUCH THING CALLED UNDEVELOPED.

More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs)

Look at countries like Finland (where ikea came from), Italy, France and the United Kingdom. Include in your consideration, Japan and think Tokyo when I say Japan.

What common characteristics do you see these countries share?

Less Economically Developed Countries

Look at countries like Angola, East Timor, Peru, Cambodia and even our neighbour, Indonesia.

What common characteristics do you see these countries share?

These are observations we can gather to associate certain characteristics with countries that are tagged either MEDCs or LEDCs.

USE SPECS to examine each characteristics you can think of.

What is not covered in this module is Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) or what is better known as Newly Industrialized Economies (in economic geography terms) which includes countries and economies like Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Recently, some people (like Newsweek) are suggesting that Vietnam may jolly well be joining this league.

Disclaimer: This is a Singaporean educational website

Update: 9/1/2007

Explore development online

I will be bringing you students through this website more, but you will definitely benefit from explore it more after class or before (if you have not taken your lesson).

BBC higher geography website - Development and Health

Use the website to get ideas on what affects development. It is a nice visual representation of what factors affect which areas the most. You can use your atlas to find out the countries identified in each region.

Uneven development video

2006-05-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

Videos for Lecture 1

2006-05-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

Collage of introductory clips to the world we know.

Old school Geography?

The world we try not to see...

See the world at youtube.com : Use "world" as a search string