October 2008 Archives

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1) Kids: Do you love maps AND have an artistic eye? If so, the 2009 Barbara Petechenik International Map Competition is for you! Organized by the International Cartographic Association (ICA), the competition is a showcase of maps created by kids around the world. Each member country of the ICA is allowed to submit five entries, from which a handful of winners will be selected. Winners will have their maps distributed to organizations like UNICEF and ESRI Children’s Books for use in greeting card designs, book covers, and calendars. This year’s theme: “Living in a Globalized World.” 

2) Geography is being written back into the cause and effect of world affairs with help from Paul Krugman, a recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Through his work in the “new economic geography,” an economic discipline that places geographical analysis at the center of its study,  Krugman provides a refreshing look into how place affects the world economy. He is also a blogger for the New York Times, and in his most recent post breaks down his work for ”laymen” readers.

3) With the election fast-approaching, our eyes and ears are overwhelmed with images of maps and debates about place. But what happens when the “experts” on electoral mapping get it wrong? Well Steven Colbert, a political commentator for Comedy Central, makes fun of them. Watch this funny clip (approximately 3:30 minutes into the full episode) on The Colbert Report about how NBC’s electoral map mistakenly identified North Carolina as Virginia...OOPS!

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If you’ve been watching T.V. lately, you’ve probably noticed a slew of iPhone commercials sandwiched in-between campaign ads. Apple and AT&T have been running frequent commercials for the latest version of the iPhone that double as “how-to” videos. In addition to convincing wary costumers of the simplicity of the iPhone’s technology, the ads also showcase the phone’s ability to act as a work calendar, mp3 player, or even a map.

But some educators are taking these functions one step further and incorporating the iPhone’s diverse technology into the classroom. Ollie Bray, the head teacher at Musselburg Grammar School in East Lothian, Scotland, writes a blog about his teaching experiences. His latest series is a set of posts on how to use the iPhone while “on location” in the field.

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Those of you who have been with us for a few months will remember guestblogger Silvia Tolisano, technology integration facilitator at San Jose Episcopal Day School (SJEDS) in Jacksonville, Florida. In a series of three posts Silvia described her work using web 2.0 technologies, maps (both the traditional sort and new generation tools), and a teddy bear named José to bring the world—and 21st century learning—to her students.

 Silvia’s been busy this fall exploring new sites and sharing her adventures with the students at SJEDS and the rest of the World Wide Web. In the third of her international expeditions, Silvia and fellow SJEDS educator Mrs. Pickering journey to Costa Rica and Peru in Latin America. They’ve even worked up a fun theme playing off of the popularity of the latest Indiana Jones film: “Indiana José and the Quest for Pachamama.” José the teddy bear is tasked with finding a crystal skull to unlock the “Book of Knowledge,” as explained in this excerpt from Silvia’s travel blog:

"Indiana Jones gave Mrs. Pickering, Mrs. Tolisano and me very clear instructions.

We absolutely HAVE to find Pachamama. Indiana Jones said that Pachamama is the only one that can help save the rainforest and so many endangered animals that live there. If we don’t find Pachamama, they will disappear from earth FOREVER.

We can’t let that happen!!

The problem is though, we don’t know who Pachamama is and where we can find her.

Indiana Jones told us that the the only way to find Pachamama is if we are able to return a piece of quartz that has fallen out of some crystal skull. We need to find it and return the quartz. It is  the ONLY way to open THE Book of Knowledge that will reveal who and where Pachamama is…

Indiana Jones gave me, José the travel bear, a flash drive that is guarding the quartz. I am keeping it safe in my pouch. I can’t loose it. Mrs. Pickering, Mrs. Tolisano and I are on our way to Costa Rica and Peru and we have promised Indiana Jones that we would find a way to save the precious animals and their habitat."

Oh the drama! The adventure! The…rich learning opportunities!

I hope you’ll follow along with Silvia and the students at SJEDS as they travel around Latin Americain search of Pachamama. I can’t stress enough how wonderful the blog is as an example of how to use technology to bring real-world learning to students.

Of course, geographic knowledge and skills are central to Silvia’s Latin America blogging curriculum. But read just a couple posts and you’ll quickly discover an impressive breadth of interdisciplinary focus. Here a few of my favorites from the Costa Rica leg of the trip covering a range of topics:

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As the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays prepare for the final games of the 2008 World Series, we're reminded of how geography plays a fun role in the Great American Sport. Often state lines aren't as important as regional divides or city-pride for any sports fan and create a new U.S. geography that can't quite be mapped.

Place is definitely important in sports when we look at the rare times in history that U.S. (and Canadian!) baseball teams have re-located, creating some very angry and bitter fans in the process. This week's Five for Friday highlights five major team re-locations in baseball history... and can possibly shed some light on some current rivalries between places!

1902-- The Milwaukee Brewers became the St. Louis Browns in one of the first team relocations.

1903-- The original Baltimore Orioles became the New York Highlanders, and then the Yankees. Ask a Baltimore fan about the Yankees, and you'll get an earful for a number of reasons. Could this bitterness have started in 1903?? 

1955-- The Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City...and then 13 years later to Oakland, California.

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Yesterday I shared details of our recent Public Engagement Coordinator (PEC) training at the NCGE conference. This morning I'm happy to report that one of our PECs has done his homework! Stephen Veliz, our industrious PEC from Florida, included this post about Geography Awareness Week on his blog "Teaching in Tallahassee"; which focuses on integrating Web 2.0 technologies across the curriculum:

Geography Awareness Week is coming up from November 16-22, and it has never been needed more than now.

Florida, like most of the country, has aggressively embraced civics education. Now let me assure you, I am an advocate of enhanced civics education. Watch any of the late-night man on the street clips and it becomes painfully clear that Americans are woefully our of touch with the workings and institutions of their country. So I am excited about the opportunity to help correct this tragedy of American education.

But there is another tragedy that is getting less attention - that of the geographic illiteracy that has swept across our nation over the past several decades. Consider the 2006 Roper study on geographic literacy:

Read the rest of the article at "Teaching in Tallahassee."

Great work Stephen! An apple for the teacher :-)

Image courtesy www.district87.org

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Last weekend geography educators and enthusiasts from across the country traveled to Dearborn, Michigan, for the annual National Council on Geography Education (NCGE) conference.

The highlight of the event for the My Wonderful World team was an intensive, spirited, one day workshop for our Public Engagement Coordinators (PECs). These are our grassroots organizers who promote the cause for geographic education in communities across the nation--and the world.

We started the training session by posing a series of questions related to messaging and strategy: 
Why is geography important?

What do we want the public to do?

How can we promote Geography Awareness Week 2008 through traditional and new media?

How can partnerships and events enhance campaign reach?

Then, we put the PECs to work developing plans to localize the campaign in their states. At the end of the day, though, I think we may have learned as much from them as they did from us. This highly energetic, experienced group of educators brought some great ideas to the table that we are excited to implement soon!

Most rewarding was that the PECs carried the energy generated at the workshop with them throughout the rest of the weekend, infecting others in the NCGE community with the same fervor for geographic activism, and actively participating in several additional National Geographic-led sessions at the conference.

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This week National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations recognized three winners of the first ever Global Geotourism Challenge, hosted together with Ashoka Changemakers. The challenge was a competition for tourist destinations that have upheld the goals of Geotourism, or, "tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place--its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents."

Check out some (five, to be exact) examples of Geotourism in action!

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One of the best examples of how humans impact our environment is seen in our waterways. Watersheds record our daily routines by showing signs of pollution when we drive too frequently, signs of erosion when we build too many roads, or signs of drought when we take more than we need.

However, some environmentally-conscious businesses are taking action to reverse our ecological footprint. Tom’s of Maine sells personal care products like toothpaste and soap made from all-natural ingredients. They have formed a Rivers Awareness Partnership with non-profits like River Network and American Rivers, and are encouraging citizens to clean up their local watersheds through a River Stories Video Contest. Applicants can submit a video by October 31^st that tells of their efforts to clean or preserve a local water source and explains why water quality is important for the health of their neighborhood. This example of a submitted video highlights community efforts in the Kalamazoo watershed of Michigan.

The prize for the winner of the contest? A Toyota Prius hybrid car!

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Last Tuesday's second presidential debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain proved to be quite heated! Both candidates answered pre-selected questions from undecided voters, and addressed concerns with health care, foreign policy, and the economy. Even though both Senators spent most of the debate tackling these large issues, geography and geographic education snuck into their dialogue at times (or is geography always an underlying theme in politics?)

Senator Obama placed America's role in the global economy into the hands of its educational system. When asked which issue he would prioritize out of health care, energy, and entitlement reform, Senator Obama listed education instead of entitlement programs. He said, "We've got to deal with education so that our young people are competitive in a global economy," implying that American education could use a dose of global perspective to heal its ailing economy, and better-prepare its students to understand global connections.

Geography did not escape Senator McCain's responses either. When answering the final question of the night, Senator McCain commented, "The challenges that we {as Americans} face are unprecedented. Americans are hurting tonight in a way they have not in our generation. There are challenges around the world that are new and different and they will be different -- we will be talking about countries sometime in the future that we hardly know where they are on the map..."

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This week’s featured fan photo comes from Joel Lazarus. While traveling in southern India’s state of Tamil Nadu in the town of Pondicherry, Joel came upon a family sitting outside of a local shop. Inspired by their joy and the colorful fabrics of the mother’s saree, Joel took this digital picture and immediately showed it to the family. Modern technology enables us to share pictures with one another instantly and, in that way, helps establish intimate personal connections.  Joel writes, “I don't know what their names are, or what they do, or why they were there, but we were part of a photo-taking ritual; taking a photo of a person and showing the photograph to the person, is a ritual that bonds people in a different way.”

Sometimes photography celebrates the uniqueness of people and places inside of borders, and other times it blurs these borders, reminding us of a deeper universal connection.

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Most schools don’t teach the history of educational reform in America; ironically, these revolutions frequently push our country in new social, economic and political directions. A report from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills addresses the need for new competencies among American students, highlighting geography and geographic themes such as global awareness, social and cross-cultural skills, and civic literacy.  The Partnership proposes a solution with (surprise, surprise) educational reform.

The world’s economy and job market demand workers with an understanding of the universal interconnectivity between people and places. However, the U.S. government still hasn’t demanded educational reform that will require this knowledge. The 21^st Century Skills report makes policy suggestions to globalize core subjects.

Geography can be the common denominator between all subjects, emphasizing global, critical thinking skills to complement a basic skills education. Geographic literacy is a crucial foundation for a competitive economy. Vivek Wadwah from the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School, commented on the importance of the report, and of geography awareness, in this article from eduweek.org.