Recently in For Educators Category

February is the month when we celebrate the rich history of the Black Diaspora and honor the brave men and women who have fought for the civil rights of African Americans.

National Geographic Education has just released a collection of resources to help educators teach this important topic to students of all backgrounds. Here are highlights from the collection comprising five ideas for classroom instruction.

Read inspiring profiles of prominent African Americans, from inventors of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries to Mary Seacole, the black nurse/businesswoman/author/war heroine your students have probably never heard of.





Relive the drama of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches through an article and photo gallery documenting the 54-mile walk that led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 

You've probably heard of "crowdsourcing," the very 21st-century term coined in 2006 in Wired magazine. This new word, a twist on the idea of outsourcing, describes the practice of posing a question or challenge to the public, and asking for individuals to contribute a small piece to the project goal. Successful examples of online crowdsourcing include Kickstarter, a fundraising website for individual projects; National Geographic's own search for the tomb of Genghis Khan; and the uber crowdsourcing phenomenon, Wikipedia.

All of which is to say, the concept and practice of crowdsourcing has found a place in 21st-century society. But recently, I've started noticing a crowdsourcing niche, one that has yet to be named but I believe deserves to be singled out as its own phenomenon. Let me give you some examples.

Village [Human Geography]
Noun. A village is a small settlement usually found in a rural setting. It is generally larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town. Some geographers specifically define a village as having between 500 and 2,500 inhabitants.

In most parts of the world, villages are settlements of people clustered around a central point, such as a church or a marketplace. This is called a nucleated settlement. Village inhabitants usually engage in primary activities such as farming, fishing and mining, which provide basic goods and services for inhabitants and for people in surrounding areas. Villages function as trading centers and, often, as units of local government. With their homes built close together, villages also increase residents' ability to defend themselves against threats.

A special opportunity for high schools from our friends at NEEF. We encourage you to enter the contest to showcase how your school is using technology and addressing energy issues--two of our favorite topics.  Visit neefusa.org/energyaward for more information and to enter by February 10. Good luck!

What do you get when you take a seasoned geography educator, send him on a multi-week adventure to the Amazon, and equip him with a blog to tell his story? Twenty-one days of inspired teaching moments and fascinating photographs!

We invite teachers and their students to follow along as Herb Thompson, better known to his colleagues and former students as "Geoman," travels from Nassau, Bahamas, to the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil, to it's terminus in Iquitos, Peru. Herb is a retired world geography teacher who has been a teaching consultant and co-coordinator for the National Geographic-supported Nevada Geographic Alliance for several decades.

Twenty-five years ago Herb embarked on a Semester at Sea adventure that changed his life and those of the many students who would benefit from his enlightened teachings about the world. Prior to his Semester at Sea experience Herb had traveled to one foreign country--Mexico--he has since visited 65.

Boundless Boundaries [All Geography]
Noun. A boundary is a real or imaginary line that separates two things. In geography, boundaries separate different regions of the Earth. There are many different types of boundaries...

Physical Boundary: A physical boundary is a naturally occurring barrier between two areas. Rivers, mountain ranges, oceans, and deserts can all serve as physical boundaries.

Political Boundary: Political boundaries are the dividing lines between countries, states, provinces, counties, and cities. These lines, more often called borders, are created by people to separate areas governed by different groups.

This collection of Monday Funday Photos of the week puts a geographic spin on New Year's celebrations as we track down some of the most interesting traditions across the globe. For Americans, New Year's is the first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar: January 1. There are often fireworks at midnight to celebrate the new year. In the southern part of the United States, black-eyed peas are thought to bring luck and prosperity for the new year, greens (usually collards) bring wealth, and pork is served because pigs root forward, the same direction as time moves (National Geographic Kids).

Everywhere around the country, champagne toasts mark the occasion with a clinking of glasses. Throughout the rest of the world, however, New Year's is celebrated very differently. Join me for a photo journey to lands far and wide as people all over the world countdown to a fresh start!

Salvador: "Torito Pinto": a New Year's event where people get an adrenaline rush from dressing in wet clothes and chasing people with fireworks on their heads.

The people of Bhaktapur celebrate New Year's Eve by drawing a carriage manually through the main Durbar (a historical court in India). The event includes a massive amount of team work, lots of laughter, and delighted spectators.

Sinkhole [Physical Geography]
Noun. A sinkhole is a hole in the ground that forms when water dissolves surface rock. Often, this surface rock is limestone, which is easily eroded, or worn away, by the movement of water.

In a landscape where limestone sits underneath the soil, water from rainfall collects in cracks in the stone. These cracks are called joints. Slowly, as the limestone dissolves and is carried away, the joints widen until the ground above them becomes unstable and collapses. The collapse often happens very suddenly without warning. Water collects in these collapsed sections, forming sinkholes.


Sinkholes also form when the roofs of caves collapse. Sinkholes are often funnel-shaped, with the wide end open at the surface and the narrow end at the bottom of the pool. Sinkholes vary from shallow holes about 1 meter (3 feet) deep, to pits more than 50 meters (165 feet) deep. Water can drain through a sinkhole into an underground channel or a cave. When mud or debris plugs one of these underground caves, it fills with water to become a lake or a pond. (National Geographic Education)

Are you a student age 9-14 who likes to travel and go on adventures? How does a National Geographic trip to the wilds of Montana sound? If your ears are perking up at the thought, then you should enter the 2012 Hands-On Explorer Challenge! The contest began on September 20, 2011 and applications are being accepted until January 7, 2012. Read more about the competition below to find out how to enter!

Application: Talk about yourself and take a photo!

1. In an essay of 300 words or fewer, tell us how you explore your world, and what it is about exploration that inspires and excites you.

2. Take a photograph of what, where, or how you explore the subject of your essay. You must be the photographer. The essay and the photograph must each be a single work of original material created by the contest entrant (no asking Mom or Dad to do it!)

Expedition:
Fifteen Grand Prize Winners will be selected. The Grand Prize consists of a 7-10-day Expedition to Montana, provided by Montana Office of Tourism, Department of Commerce, for each Winner and his/her guest, and one digital camera. The Expedition is currently scheduled for July 2012, but is subject to change at the discretion of Sponsor. Each Winner's guest on the Expedition must be his/her parent or legal guardian. The Expedition includes meals, local transportation, and double occupancy accommodations for the Expedition nights. Expedition also includes round trip air transportation for each Winner and his/her guest between the major airport closest to that Winner's home and the Expedition departure point (air transport provided by NGS).

Details:
To enter, visit kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/contests/explorer-trip-2012, download, print, and complete an entry form; and be sure to include your parent's or legal guardian's signature. Mail your completed entry form along with your essay and photograph to: NG Kids Hands-On Explorer Challenge, National Geographic Kids magazine/CDH, 1145 17th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036. Entry form must be complete for entry to be valid.

Good luck explorers!

Zealandia (zee-LAND-ee-uh) [Physical Geography]

Noun. Zealandia is a long, narrow microcontinent that is mostly submerged in the South Pacific Ocean. It is about half the size of Australia, but only 7 percent of it is above sea level. Most of that land makes up the two islands of the country of New Zealand. A microcontinent is a landmass that has broken off from a main continent. Zealandia broke off from Antarctica about 100 million years ago, and then from the continent of Australia about 80 million years ago.


Zealandia has two large islands, the North Island and the South Island, as well as Stewart Island, just south of the South Island, and many smaller islets. The collection of islands called New Caledonia, which is governed by France, makes up the northern tip of Zealandia.The topography of both islands is diverse, and the climate is mild. Both islands have mountain ranges running through their centers. The North Island is dominated by the North Island Volcanic Plateau, while the primary mountain range of the South Island is the Southern Alps. Both mountain ranges are slowly getting higher through a process called uplift, when two tectonic plates press together and push land upward.

Visit the National Geographic Education website to read the full encyclopedia entry on Zealandia. Also, check out the National Geographic Education MapMaker Interactive to enjoy hands-on exploration of the entire region surrounding Zealandia!

Photo Credits: Stéphane Ducandas (Your Shot), Carla Appel (Your Shot)