GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

“The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It’s about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it’s about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.”   

–President Barack Obama

Thanks to the NCGE for reminding me of this great quote.  In 2012 President Obama participated in National Geographic Bee to to “celebrate the important role that geography plays in all our lives.”  If you want the video of President Obama saying this quote, click here.  

Tags: Geography, Geography Education, video, geo-inspiration.

The citizens of the United States have elected 44 presidents in 57 elections since the Constitution was adopted in 1789. Since the Civil War, presidential contests have been dominated by America’s two major political parties – the Republicans and the Democrats. But over the last 150 years, state allegiance to these two parties has shifted greatly. Watch to see how the states voted in every presidential election since 1860.

Tags: electoral, mapping.

Source: www.youtube.com

The citizens of the United States have elected 44 presidents in 57 elections since the Constitution was adopted in 1789. Since the Civil War, presidential contests have been dominated by America’s two major political parties – the Republicans and the Democrats. But over the last 150 years, state allegiance to these two parties has shifted greatly. Watch to see how the states voted in every presidential election since 1860.

Tags: electoral, mapping.

Source: www.youtube.com

“After a split of more than 1,000 years, the persecution of Christian by extremists in the Middle East and Africa have brought the two churches closer.”

Pope Francis and the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet in Cuba next week in a first-ever encounter between the heads of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches since the Great Schism of 1054.

Tags: religion, Christianity.

Source: www.usatoday.com

This isn’t just about religion though…a meeting of this magnitude has geopolitical significance. 

Sophisticated data visualizations are pushing the bounds of what we can process, sometimes to the breaking point. What are the signature styles of contemporary data vis, and will they stand the test of time?

Tags: National Geographic, statistics, visualization, mapping.

Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

We have several words to describe love in English yet still, there are some shades within the spectrum of that emotion we haven’t been able to capture in our own language.

Source: thoughtcatalog.com

The languages we speak, shape our ideas, communications, and possibilities.  There are many ideas that I used to be able to express better in Spanish than I could in English (even though English is my first language, some Spanish words seem to capture the essence of my emotions in a more enriching and satistfying than in English). If you want to try any of these out for Valentine’s Day, be my guest, but if it get’s you in trouble, it’s not my fault!    

Tags: language, culture.

“Join Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and wander through the lost city of Petra in Street View http://goo.gl/ixZRa9 “

Source: www.youtube.com

I was first introduced to Petra as by the movie  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where it was ‘cast’ as the Canyon of the Cresent Moon.  Unfortunately the tourist economy of this site is hampered by regional conflicts in Syria and Iraq, warding away many would-be tourists in recent years.  If a digital exploration is all that is your pocketbook can handle, take this virtual tour of one of the wonders of the world. 

Tags: Jordan, google, mapping, virtual tours, geospatial, edtech.

“For the first time, scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have documented migratory movements of bird populations spanning the entire year for 118 species throughout the Western Hemisphere. The study finds broad similarity in the routes used by specific groups of species—vividly demonstrated by animated maps showing patterns of movement across the annual cycle. The results of these analyses were published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.“

Source: www.allaboutbirds.org

“For the first time, scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have documented migratory movements of bird populations spanning the entire year for 118 species throughout the Western Hemisphere. The study finds broad similarity in the routes used by specific groups of species—vividly demonstrated by animated maps showing patterns of movement across the annual cycle. The results of these analyses were published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.“

Source: www.allaboutbirds.org