* EARTH BALLOON. Alun Morgan, education for sustainable development officer, Worcestershire County Council. Tel: 01905 763763 ext 2831 Email: amorgan@ worcestershire.gov.uk

It’s a simple concept, but an unforgettable experience. The Earth Balloon is a 6.7-metre diameter inflatable globe that can accommodate a full class of students, who enter through zippers along the international date line or the Greenwich Meridian.

Inside, it takes a moment to adjust to the space, but you certainly see the world in a different way. Teachers in Worcestershire are producing materials on sustainable development and global citizenship to accompany the balloon on its travels around the county next academic year. You won’t forget the day the Earth Balloon came to school.

* GLOBAL EYE. Worldaware Tel: 020 8763 2555 www.worldaware.org.uk

Global Eye is a free, termly magazine about world development for secondary students (the current issue focuses on water).

Published by Worldaware, an independent organisation, it provides a wide range of teaching materials supporting all levels of the curriculum. The Global Eye website at www.globaleye.org.uk has a section written specifically for seven to 11-year-olds.

It also contains additional information and interactive features including talkboards, workshops, curriculum projects and an “ask an expert” section.

* WWW.GEOGRAPHYONLINE. CO.UK Actis Limited Tel: 01773 534000 Email: geographyonline @actis.co.uk.

A quick visit to this site reveals a wealth of subject and professional development resources, reviews of books, websites, CD-Roms, videos, software and places to visit, all searchable by theme, place or age range, and a news section with up-to-date information.

The service is currently free, but a tiered subscription will be introduced in mid-May, from pound;50 + VAT.

* GLOBAL EXPRESS. Development Education ProjectTel: 0161 445 2495 Email depman@gn.apc.org www.dep.org.uk

The Manchester Development Education Project highlights the links between people from the northern and southern hemispheres, acknowledging how much each can learn from the other. Global Express is a subscription magazine for eight to 14-year-olds that provides rapid response information on world events.

The March 2001 issue targets livestock farming, comparing a dairy farm in Stalybridge with a livestock farm near Nairobi. It is fully photocopiable and costs pound;15 for five issues.

* MORE THINKING THROUGH GEOGRAPHY. Edited by Adam Nichols with David Kinninment Series editor David Leat. pound;30 Chris Kington Publishing. Tel 01223 412260. Email ckp@dial.pipex.com www.chriskingtonpublishing.co.uk

More Thinking Through Geography extends the pioneering work of the award-winning Thinking Through Geography from the same team in 1998. The book is full of exciting exemplars that enable teachers to develop their teaching styles and pupils to learn more effectively.

It covers a wide range of strategies for teaching and learning and includes a section looking at ways of enabling students to maximise their potential through departmental visions and planning for change.

* LOCOCOCO. Humanities Education Centre, Tower Hamlets PDC pound;16 el: 020 7364 6405Email hec@gn.apc.org

Available from Oxfam Tel: 01202 712933 www.oxfam.org.ukcoolplanet Locococo is a game that explores and leads to discussion about some of the concepts involved in human rights and development. It can be used by all ages and has been developed by young people from North and South.

* COMMONWEALTH INSTITUTE. Tel: 020 7603 4535 www.commonwealth.org.uk

The Commonwealth Institute galleries are closed for refurbishment, but the resource centre continues to loan artefacts, display boards, videos and support materials.

In June, the institute launches a major programme in schools leading to the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games and the Spirit of Friendship Festival. Free posters (pictured) and resource packs will be available in January 2002.

* GEOGRAPHY IN BRITISH SCHOOLS, 1850-2000: making a world of difference. By Rex Walford. pound;17.50 (pbk) pound;42.50 (cloth) Woburn Press. Tel: 020 8920 2100. www.woburnpress.com

Rex Walford chronicles the development of geography in the British curriculum. While celebrating the strength of geography, he also asks whether or not children get the solid grounding of world knowledge they once had, and if we care as much about the subject as we used to.

* WALL TO WALL DESIGN. By Louise Davies and Ruth Najda. pound;11.50, ITDG Publishing. Tel:020 7436 9761 Email: orders@itpubs.org.uk

Also from Fiona Gibbs, development education officer, the Schumacher Centre for Technology and DevelopmentTel: 01788 661100Email fionag@idtg.org.uk www.oneworld.orgitdg The Wall to Wall Design pack offers real potential for cross-curricular links on the theme of sustainability.

It is aimed at key stage 3 students and looks at how people around the world design and build homes for current and future needs.

It includes posters, factsheets, activity sheets and teacher notes. Real-life stories look at sustainable housing projects in Kenya and Nottinghamshire.

* LIFE IN THE GLOBAL VILLAGE. Geography Association Action Week. October 8-12, 2001.

Action Week packs available from Ian Gregg, tel: 0114 2960088 or email igregg@geography.org.uk Or download an application from the GA website at www.geography.org.uk More than 12,000 young people took part in Coastline 2000, last year’s Geography Action Week project. The results of the coastal survey are available on a CD-Rom including a full database of results with sort, search and chart tools, students’ maps, views, visions and photos, general analysis, and a section on coastline features that includes animations, movies and panoramas.

It will be sent to all schools that returned results by early May. Those that did not take part can view the results on the free section of the Anglia Campus website at www.angliacampus.com Life in the Global Village is the theme for this year’s Geography Action Week, October 8-12, 2001, launched by GA vice-president Jeremy Krause. The week will focus on five areas: physical geography, responsibility, communications, travel and the fashion industry. The overall aim of this year’s Action Week is to encourage young people to think beyond their own “village” to the world community.

John Abbott is Midlands regional co-ordinator for the GA, a member of the Coastline 2000 project team, ICT co-ordinator and teacher of geography at Tupton Hall School near Chesterfield, Derbyshire l Next year’s conference is Life in the Global Village, Umist, Manchester, April 3- 5 www.geography.org.uk