The University of Wales Newport have produced a learning resource exploring the impact of climate change. http://admin.rsc-wales.ac.uk/news/show_story.asp?nid=336 It aims to help educationalists and climate change activists use Google Earth to explore the impact of climate change on a global scale and it should be of use to teachers and students alike.

This e-publication provides a case study that employs Google Earth in examining climate change impacts and sustainable development issues in North Africa. Click the link below to access it.

http://idl.newport.ac.uk/celt/sandsoftime/

After sifting through all the soul-destroying clips on You Tube,  you may want to give yourself a headache and try Academic Earth. This educational ecosystem, as they call it, has high quality open courseware videos from US universities like Harvard and Yale, covering subjects from both the arts and sciences.

For research or assigments – some links to get you going on the subject of contaminated land and sustainable land use. You cant make more land for a growing population, so is this one of the better solutions – the ultimate recycling?

CL:AIRE - Contaminated land, applications in real environments. Non-profit organisation (as referenced in Issue 176 IRN)

   The Envrionment Agency - Contaminated Land definition and regulations

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  Defra – Contaminated Land legislation and responsibilities

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Welsh Assembly – Contminated Land statutory guidance

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CIRIA – Contaminated land information portal

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Safegrounds – Learning network for developing good practice

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EUGRIS – EU soil and water management

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Environmental Protection UK – Contaminated land risks and solutions

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CLARRC - Contaminated land research and remediation document library

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Camden Council – Historical landuse tool  

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Example local campaigns – Bedwas Colliery , Wolverhampton gardens, Conwy school relocation.

Spelling Bee is a highly addictive, but very useful, spelling game hosted on the Visual Thesaurus website. The thesaurus itself is a subscription service, but the spelling game is free to use. You’ll need headphones, then click on the Start button to hear the first word then type in your best guess. You’ll also get a definition and example of how the word is used.

If you’re correct the word will turn green, if not you get three more goes before you can surrender! Points are scored for the number of correct guesses and the number of times you need a hint. You can click on the ‘Play Word’ button at any time. If you are a thesaurus subscriber you can create your own spelling contest or try contest based on other peoples saved favourites. Let the games commence!

Which is right word for your sentence – affect/effect, capital/capitol, insure/ensure and my personal stumbling block stationary/stationery?????

Type your chosen word into the Confusing Words database and they’ll help you put the meaning of the word into context – all from the privacy of your own PC with no need to ask/arsk embarrassing questions!

The latest government and international research publications:

Videojug contains thousands of videos, articles and answers to thousands of questions. You can contribute,take part and ask questions. The videos are divided into categories like sports and outdoors, health and wellbeing, love and dating so, you can find videos on how to avoid trapping your partner’s arm while cuddling them in bed (honest),  to how to escape an armbar in mixed martial arts.

Putiton.com was created for budding artists to showcase their work to a global audience free of charge. You have one gig of free space, upload and stream audio and video files, plus, translation of your words into 10 global languages.

Berkley university have kindly made available a host of webcasts that cover a number of subject areas that include psychology, biology, computer science and engineering.

The Student Researcher’s Toolkit is a free online study skills site developed by Oxford University Press which aims to provide university students with guidance on designing and carrying out a social research project. Chapters cover preparing for research, research methods, data analysis and presentation. The site includes practical tips, cases studies and podcasts from actual students. There are links to related websites and textbooks.

Information taken from Intute.