Recently in Guestblogger Series Category

Read the August 2010 Newsletter: "Inspire students to take action this year!"

INSIDE:
Editor's Pick: Special Guest Blogger Elisabeth Soep talks about her inspiring new book,
Drop That Knowledge: Youth Radio Stories.

August Challenge: Plan a service-learning project
GeoFeature: 4-H2O: National Youth Science Day
GeoNews: U.N. declares "International Year of Youth"
Blog: A Kid, a Campaign, Iceland

Rule of thumb: When heading to a technology conference, even things out by doing at least one thing outside and away from the technology that permeates our lives.  In my case, the conference is the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Annual Conference. And the doing something outdoors: a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park, outside of Denver where the conference is taking place.



Well, I exaggerate. I didn't throw all technology in the trash bin and head into the Rockies empty-handed. I did bring my iPhone to take photos with and to use the National Geographic Birding app (we identified robins, gray jays, and stellar jays along with the mammalian marmots and pikas identified with the field guide we got from a park ranger).  

Students using crayons and a map of the world can draw their best guesses of what the distribution of temperatures is like all around the world in the month of July. This activity can be engaging to students, giving them a chance to draw on what they know in a way that makes them curious about what they don't know. This lesson is based on research that says that if students are asked to articulate their current understanding of a phenomenon before they are taught something new about it, then they learn the new material more effectively because they can connect it to their existing understanding.

Giving people an image of what learning could be like is a really important part of improving education. Students, teachers, administrators, parents, policy makers, and community members have remarkably similar views of what education looks like, and those views have not changed much since we were in school.

POST 4
A sound night's sleep revived us and gave us the energy to start out the day as English teachers. We met Marco outside the school at 7:00am and he assigned us each a class to teach. The children anxiously jumped at the opportunity to learn from native speakers.  By the end of the hour, the students had mastered the "good mornings," "thank yous," and "goodbyes." Throughout the rest of our stay in Sambú, the students would greet us in English on the street just as they had in the classroom, "gut easevenings!"

After class, we ran back to the guesthouse and gathered equipment for our trek with Juan Loco. Bows, arrows, and fishing poles made of caña blanca, a plant that resembles bamboo, were our tools. With our arms full, we carefully walked down the muddy riverbank to the canoe. Though the mud from the banks of the Sambú devoured our boots, Juan Loco's swollen bare feet kept him aloft on the clay. His 70-year-old wife, Otelia, joined us on the trek as well, and her pace was just as quick.

POST 3
All the darienitas we asked about Sambú said that it was beautiful, renowned Darién-wide for its relaxing pace; the opposite of a bustling town like La Palma. Many in the non-darienita world hold Sambú to a more precarious reputation. It is often explained as a place too raw for foreigners. Most equate it to less of a vacation destination than a contemporary setting for Conrad's Heart of Darkness.  The latter group is wrong. Though they may have been correct that the town is an oasis in a hellishly mangled (though strangely beautiful) jungle, Sambú is certainly not too raw... it is just raw enough.
 
The town is cut in half by a rudimentary runway for the semi-weekly Air Panama flights. The concrete stretch also serves as a decent surface for bicycles, horses, and impromptu soccer games on its off days.  Most of the houses in the area are thatched-roof huts built by the Emberá, the local indigenous tribe.  Needless to say, there is a stark cultural duality in Sambú.

The Emberá hold tightly to their indigenous heritage. Many of the females walk around without shirts, wearing only the bright, multicolored skirts known as Uhua. Another example can be seen during the evening hours, when the elder women construct a series of fires around their families' huts in order to keep the evil sprits from entering their homes as the sun sets and they prepare for bed.

Peter Gray Smith is a senior at the George Washington University double majoring in International Affairs (Honors) and Geography with a minor in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).  He is a cadet in Georgetown University's Army ROTC program. During his final semester, Peter is interning for National Geographic Education Programs and the District of Columbia Geographic Alliance.

Adam Mack is a senior at the George Washington University majoring in International Affairs with a concentration in Conflict and Security.  He is a midshipman in GWU's Navy ROTC program.  Shortly after graduation, Adam will be attending flight school in Pensacola, Florida.

The two friends spent their senior year spring break traveling through the jungles of Darién province in eastern Panama. There are four installments to this blog.  In each we tell of our travels, the people, and the geography.   This blog is more than a chance for us to write of our explorations. It hopefully inspires you to take a chance at your next opportunity and do something most others fear to do.

POST 1 Getting to Darién was no easy feat, but with the help of nice people and an adequate understanding of the language, Adam and Peter made their journey deep into the jungle.

Our journey into the heart of Darién began at 3 AM at the Albrook Bus Terminal in Panama City. Completely disoriented, we received help from a security guard carrying a .357 Magnum.  To say the least, it was an intriguing first experience with Panamanian security forces. He put us on a rickety bus filled with darienitas (Darién natives) returning home after a weekend in the city.

The passengers seemed not to mind the early morning hours. The loud accordion-driven music inspired a boisterous atmosphere that made the seven-hour trip to Metetí seem like a short outing.

Do not let the dots on the map fool you: Towns like Metití have no more than a taxi stand, gas station, and a small, relatively concentrated neighborhood of about five houses.  From the stand, we took a collective cab with nine other passengers to Puerto Quimba. Again, we were deceived by the size of the map dot. There was a dusty parking lot, a boat launch, and a rudimentary police checkpoint. When we registered with the police, we were given a sobering dose of reality. Behind the desk hung a poster of the most-wanted Colombian rebels that were known to lawlessly roam the jungles. Though we would never encounter these rebels, the imminent threat would linger in our thoughts for the remainder of the trip.

From Puerto Quimba, we rode our first of many botes (boats) into La Palma, the provincial capital of Darién. La Palma is a fishing town, the inhabitants of which have a profound curiosity for foreigners. Even the few machete-wielding seamen were gracious hosts.

Sarah Kozicki is program associate for National Environmental Education Week (EE Week), a program of the National Environmental Education Foundation designed to connect educators with resources to improve K-12 students' understanding of the environment. An annual event, EE Week will be held this year from April 11-17. For more information and to get involved, visit www.eeweek.org.


Have you had a glass of water to drink today? How much energy do you think went into treating and transporting that water from its source - probably a lake or aquifer - to your kitchen faucet?

In the United States, 13 percent of the total energy produced each year is used to treat, transport, and heat our water. While that sounds like a lot of energy, getting clean water in the United States is as easy as turning on the tap. In some places around the globe, it is not that simple. 

In some parts of the world, water is pumped by hand to fill buckets that are carried by women and children from a public source to their homes
Photo Credit: WaterAid/
Layton Thompson


Water around the World: Carrying Water

In the United States and other developed countries, cleaned and treated fresh water is piped directly into our homes - we can turn on the tap for drinkable water any time. However, in less-developed countries, human energy is a necessary part of daily water use. About two-thirds of the world's families do not have a water supply in their homes and must fetch water in jugs and buckets from wells, rivers, hand pumps, and other public sources. This water is usually collected and carried by women and children.In Asia and Africa, the average woman walks a total of 3.7 miles to collect and carry fresh water home each day. The average weight of water that a woman in Africa and Asia will carry is about 40 pounds! Water is usually carried on the head, back or hips, which can cause severe health problems. On average, a person living in sub-Saharan Africa uses four gallons of water a day, while someone in the United States uses 82 gallons of water a day or more.


How many trips would you have to make if you had to carry all the water your family uses in a day?

It has come to our attention that National Geographic has plans in the works to change the color of the magazine border.  The more-than-a-century-old border has adorned the magazine since its first publication in 1888 and has become a symbol of the excellence that NGS strives to achieve in journalism, photography and, of course, geography.

An insider, when questioned on the decision to change the classic yellow border to a new, more identifiable color, noted, "We're avoiding calling it a 'change'; it's more of an update.  We're freshening up, a spring cleaning if you will."

Semantics aside, the general consensus seems to be that yellow just is not 'in' anymore.  "Sure, in 1891 yellow was all the rage, but now we need a color that says 'life' and 'growth,' not 'jaundice,'" senior editor Ann DeSanctis told My Wonderful World early Wednesday morning.

The society is considering green to reflect its dedication to environmental initiatives.

Students and Teachers: Get involved in the first ever underwater Bioblitz!

A BioBlitz is an annual event that is part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom.

Join the 2010 BioBlitz in Biscayne National Park near Miami, Florida on Friday, April 30th, when scientists, students, and the public join forces to explore the park's biodiversity and identify every living species in and out of its tropical waters--in just 24 hours. For more on this year's event, go to www.nationalgeographic.com/bioblitz.

Can't make it to Miami?

Students can participate from a distance in these ways: