GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

What leads to a free press? Political factors and the presence a strong, stable democracy are obviously the key factors.  However, as this article highlights, cultural and developmental issues also influence the geography of freedom of the press.

For me exploring the neighborhoods of Redlands was incredibly nostalgic since it reminds me so much of the part of Burbank that I grew up in, but haven’t had much opportunity to visit since.  I left  Burbank, CA when I 11 and the next year the city’s landscapes became the set for the TV show “The Wonder Years.”  I was 12 just like Kevin Arnold was, and despite a serious lack of Winnie Cooper in my youth, the show still resonates with me as does the Southern California landscape.

Following seven years of data collection, the World Policy Analysis Center recently launched a series of over 100 easy-to-understand maps of current laws, policies, and constitutional rights in 193 countries. They are eager to share this information and the maps that we have created and believe it will help engage geography students. The maps address questions such as

• In which countries can you finish high school without paying tuition?
• In which countries can you attend college without paying tuition?
• In which countries are you legally protected from marriage at an average high school student’s age?
• In which countries are you legally protected from working full-time at an average high school student’s age?
• In which countries are men and women guaranteed equity in their country’s constitution?
• In which countries are people of different ethnicities guaranteed equity in their country’s constitution?
• In which countries does the constitution guarantee a right to medical services?

This data could provide exciting teaching tools to help students think about the implications of laws and policies around the world, particularly as they affect teenagers.

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I hope that you enjoy the content and materials that you find on this website.  This represents the best news, materials and resources that I have found that can be used in geography (and other) classrooms. 

Today was the first of the T3G Institute at the Esri headquarters and the wonderful team has shared great resources that I found incredibly useful for teachers to use great web maps.  So what makes a great web map. A great web map should be highly interactive, intuitive, and be able to function at various scales.  This video helps to show the power of maps to help tell a great story or to share spatial content. 

The presenters each shared an exemplary web map.

• Lyn Malone selected a modern language map.
• Charlie Fitzpatrick chose a land use change map with satellite imagery.
• Amy Work highlighted a great storymap that shows global food supply data.
• Roger Palmer selected a map from an AAG project Changing Planet.
  
• Joesph Kerski created a map to show a impact of a proposed new road in the Serengeti.  
  
• Kathryn Keranen shared a great iOS app QuakeFeed.

Tags: GIS, ESRI, mapping, cartography, geospatial, edtech, geography education, unit 1 GeoPrinciples.

Happy Father’s Day to those of you celebrating it this June 16th.  You can consult this interactive map to determine when countries officially celebrate Fathers Day and you may also wish to consult this map for Mothers Day.