GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

One county commission discribed these political movements thus: “It’s grounded in the legitimate feeling that if you’re marginalized by geography, it’s easy to feel neglected by the central government.”  The political division between urban and rural citizens can lead to pockets of the population feeling as though the state government ignores your and the surrounding communities.  It took the Civil War to separate West Virginia from Virginia, and while many may want to be in a different state, it’s not happening simply because there is grassroots support for greater local autonomy.  Hypothetically, let’s say that many new states are generated; what consequences might come of this?  Would it leading to further gerrymandering?      

Tags: political, conflict, devolution, autonomy, borders, gerrymandering.

The AAG has requested that I share this with geography educators and I’m delighted to do so because this is fantastic program; please encourage students to apply for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  “This program aims to provide opportunities for youth to learn more about online geospatial technologies and how to apply them in service to their communities, while gaining a deeper understanding about different places and cultures of the world.  It is conducted by the Association of American Geographers (AAG) with funding and support from the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Youth Programs Division. The MyCOE partnership has actively led more than ten years of youth leadership programs, finding solutions to sustainable development challenges in local communities using geographic concepts and tools, while connecting with each other globally.” 

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Scandinavia is the place to be.  This interactive map uses data that was compiled from an index to measure gender equality in health, access to education, economic participation and political engagement.  The four highest ranked countries in the world, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden) are all in Scandinavia.  Thanks to the Guardian Datablog, you can download all of data in a spreadsheet to map on your own.  This interactive map is excellent, but a more expanded series of maps concerning gender (in)equality in the world regarding the status of women can be found on the WomanStats project page. 

Tags: gender, mapping, statistics, development.

This magazine feature is filled with resources for teaching urban geography and development.  In this feature you’ll find 8 videos, articles, maps and images discuss some of the geographic factors that have created megacities and the difficulties that they pose for future development.

Tags: urban, megacities, unit 7 cities, National Geographic.

This is a real island…well, sort of.  It is an island off the coast of Thailand (most certainly not Ireland), but there is no castle on the top.  Photoshopping and easy file sharing make it harder to assess the validity of online resources.  Most students start their research with online sources.  This isn’t to pretend that that I’ve never mistakenly assumed that some online content was accurate when it wasn’t true; I think we all have.  I think that it’s important to conversation to have with our students so they can be more critical consumers of online information and use some geographic skills to assess the quality of that information. 

I was toying with writing about the landforms in Goblin Valley after the hearing of vandals destroying part of this gorgeous landscape. Differential erosion is the key to making these formations as a resistant cap protects some of the softer rock underneath.  This article should answer most of your questions about the physical geography behind this current event.   

Maybe you have never thought about where all the flowers are grown  every year just in time for Valentine’s Day, the spatial extent of Christmas tree farms or how egg nog’s season production changes the diary industry.  If you have considered these issues, you are thinking about the geographic impact of seasonal activities.  Many of these traditions are rooted in a particular climatic/agricultural region that started from folk cultural traditions connected to that region.  As traditions have diffused, the use of pumpkins, Douglas Fir pine trees or other seasonal items have have moved beyond their ecological origins and jumped scales to become a larger global phenomenon.  In this Geography in the News article, Neal Lineback and Many Lineback Gritzner discuss the geographic impact and context of our pumpkin traditions.  

Tags: seasonal, food production, agriculture.