GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

See on Scoop.it – Geography Education

Today was the launch for the new AP Human Geogaphy Teacher Community site administered by College Board.  This new community allows for more effective discussion management and resource posting than the listerv did.  You can access the community by going to http://apcommunity.collegeboard.org/
and logging in with your same user id and password that you use for accessing AP scores and such. If you, or someone you know, is not an audit-approved teacher then they are still welcome to join the community (and I quote, “all educators are welcome”). They will simply go to the same site, click on Human Geography in the drop-down box, and request to join. All membership requests will be processed as quickly as possible.  I will most certainly still post the majority of my links here and at http://geographyeducation.org but hope to participate will many of you on this new site as well. 

See on apcommunity.collegeboard.org

See on Scoop.it – Geography Education

This map of all the world’s recorded earthquakes between 1898 and 2003 is stunning. As you might expect, it also creates a brilliant outline of the plates of the Earth’s crust—especially the infamous “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific Plate.

The plate boundaries are amazingly vivid in this geovisualization of the all the earthquakes over  a 105 year span.  How did scientist orginally come up with the theory of plate tectonics?  How did spatial thinking and mapping play a role in that scientific endeavor?

See on boingboing.net

See on Scoop.it – Geography Education

This strangely beautiful map shows every tornado to hit the U.S. between 1950 and 2011.  What physical geographic factors lead to this distribution?  What are the impacts of this data on human geography?  

See on boingboing.net

See on Scoop.it – Geography Education

In a borough that has become a globally recognized icon of cool, residents are watching the renaissance with resentment and indifference.

Gentrification is inherently selective and consequently the impact is highly variable even among close neighborhoods.  What makes one nieghborhood a candidate for gentrification?  What qualities do neighborhoods of disinvestment share?  Who are the ‘winners and losers’ in this process? 

See on www.nytimes.com

See on Scoop.it – Social Media Classroom

After two decades in online teaching in both the corporate world and higher education, I regret to report that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side of the network connection.

Just having the class online does not ensure it’s success.  Here are a few helpful tips on what teaching style helps facilitate online learning. 

See on thejournal.com

See on Scoop.it – Geography Education

Tourism Concern fights exploitation in the global tourism industry. We are an independent, non-industry based, UK charity.

This is another way to conceptualize the geographic impacts of tourism.  Wealthy tourists from developed countries spend their money in less developed countries, creating a power imbalance within the local community between locals and tourists.  Local absolutely need the tourists dollars but these funds come and a social and environmental cost.  Tourists use far more local resources per capita than the local residents, one reason why some refer to tourism as an ‘irritant industry.’  What other forms of social friction can arise from tourism?   For a more detailed response to this situation see this news article in the Guardian.

See on www.tourismconcern.org.uk

See on Scoop.it – Geography Education

Yeah, it’s a commercial, but it’s really cool. 

See on i.imgur.com

See on Scoop.it – Geography Education

Meet the “hairy Ainu” of Japan, Taiwan’s Saaroa, the Kusunda of Nepal, the last Manchus and the Jarawa of India’s Andaman Islands.

The rapid spread of  Mandarin, English, Spanish, Hindi-Urdu and Arabic as the 5 largest languages (most native speakers) is connected to the spread of globalization and the cultural aspects of that phenomenon.  These 5 declining languages represent the flip side of those cultural patterns.  

See on asiasociety.org

See on Scoop.it – Social Media Classroom

See on langwitches.org