GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

GeoGuessr – Let’s explore the world!

GeoGuessr is a geography game which takes you on a journey around the world and challenges your ability to recognize your surroundings.

Source: geoguessr.com

I’ve shared GeoGuessr before but they now have country-specific quizzes (this is for the United States). When I was a child I used to wonder if woke up somewhere far from home, would I be able to know where I was just by looking at the places around me (I was a geo-geek from way back when). GeoGuessr is the closest thing to finding yourself lost in the world and needing to figure out where you are without being wisked away. GeoGuessr will display 5 locations in GoogleMaps “StreetView” and you have to guess where the images are located. You can pan and zoom in the StreetView to explore the landscape and find more context clues as to where that location is. It is a fantastic exploration exercise.

Tags: landscape, place, trivia.

August 7, 2015 0

Peru’s Pitmasters Bury Their Meat In The Earth, Inca-Style

What’s the epitome of summer for a lot of Americans? It’s communing around a grill, with friends and family, waiting for a slab of meat to cook to juicy perfection.

In Peru, people like to gather around heat and meat, too. Except the heat — and the meat — are buried in the ground. It’s called pachamanca, a traditional way of cooking that dates back to the Inca Empire. The pit cooking technique has evolved over time but remains an important part of the Peruvian cuisine and culture, especially in the central Peruvian Andes all year-round for family get-togethers and celebrations.

Tags: food, folk culture, culture, indigenous, South America, Peru.

Source: www.npr.org

August 6, 2015 0

What it would look like if the Hiroshima bomb hit your city

“Maps bring the horror of Hiroshima home — literally.

Alex Wellerstein, a nuclear historian at the Stevens Institute of Technology, created a NukeMap that allows you to visualize what the Hiroshima and Nagasaki explosions would look like in your hometown. Kuang Keng Kuek Ser at Public Radio International has also developed a version, using slightly different estimates.

Here is what Little Boy, the Hiroshima bomb, would look like on Wellerstein’s map if detonated in New York City.”

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

August 5, 2015 0

Celebrating 100 years of the NCGE

“As the proud publisher of both Journal of Geography and The Geography Teacher, the official publications of the NCGE, we couldn’t be more excited to join the NCGE in Washington, DC for their 100th Anniversary Conference. We will be offering NCGE members and attendees FREE ACCESS to specially selected content which reflects core themes of this special meeting: Korea, Pedagogy, Educational Policy, Spatial Thinking, and Technology – 100 articles for 100 years!” http://bit.ly/celebrate-geoedu

Source: explore.tandfonline.com

The National Council for Geographic Education is having their 100th conference this week (#NCGE100). The Journal of Geography has recently TRIPLED its impact factor and The Geography Teacher is growing from 2 issues a year to 4. These are fabulous resources (and great reasons to become a member of NCGE). The link above is a collection of great articles over the years linked to the themes of the conference; here are free articles from the Journal of Geography and some free articles/lesson plans from The Geography Teacher.

Tags: NCGE, geography education, teacher training.

August 5, 2015 0

Defining Geography: What is Where, Why There, and Why Care?

One reason why geography has languished in the curricula of many American schools is that so few people understand the nature of the discipline or its relevance to our everyday lives. What is geography? What is its unique perspective? What do geographers do? Why is geography important? Why should we teach (and learn) geography in the schools? These are questions that have gone largely unanswered in American education. This brief essay presents an easily taught, understood, and remembered definition of geography.

Source: apcentral.collegeboard.com

This poster nicely summarizes this classic essay on what geography is and what geographers do…it’s a perfect article for student to read.

Tags: education, K12, geography education.

August 4, 2015 0

What China Has Been Building in the South China Sea

China has been feverishly piling sand onto reefs in the South China Sea for the past year, creating seven new islets in the region. It is straining geopolitical tensions that were already taut.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Last year this was an intriguing story but now the geopolitical drama is growing as more countries are literally building islands out of reef outcroppings to strengthen their claims to the South China Sea. This is the most comprehensive article that I’ve seen on the escalating situation.

Tags: borders, political, confl ict, water, China, East Asia.

August 3, 2015 0

How religion(s) spread across the world

VIDEO: 5,000 years of religious history in two minutes.

Source: www.businessinsider.com

Short, sweet and to the point–this video is a great way to show the historical geographies of major world religions. What are the cultural barriers to the diffusion of one of these particular religions? What geographic factors helped to facilitate the expansion of one of these world religions?

Tags: religion, diffusion, culture, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism,
unit 3 culture.

August 2, 2015 0

New Old Town

“Like many cities in Central Europe, Warsaw is made up largely of grey, ugly, communist block-style architecture. Except for one part: The Old Town. Walking through the historic district, it’s just like any other quaint European city. There are tourist shops, horse-drawn carriage rides, church spires. The buildings are beautiful—but they are not original.”

Source: 99percentinvisible.org

This is a compelling podcast linking architecture, heritage, political ideology and the built environment. How we preserve and create place is put on trial as to when something is benign, fabricated, authentic, or simply a complicated balance between opposing forces.

Tags: planning, architecture, urban, place,

August 1, 2015 0

Why England’s women’s soccer team won’t be playing at the 2016 Olympics

At the heart of the debate over whether Britain will field any soccer teams at the Olympics are questions about British identity, and which of Britons’ multiple identities gets priority.

The four constituent nations of the United Kingdom compete as individual teams in soccer tournaments such as the World Cup and the European Championship. But in the Olympics, the athletes must compete under the single banner of “Team GB.”

FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, said that Britain would need to submit a bid for the Olympics with the support of all four of the national soccer associations, but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are against the idea. They think it would damage their prospects of retaining nation status within FIFA and their ability to compete as individual nations in other international tournaments.

Tags: UK, sport, political, identity, autonomy.