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A Proposed New AP Course–AP GIS & T

There is a proposal for a new Advanced Placement course in Geographic Information Science and Technology (AP GIS&T). All U.S. high schools, colleges, and universities are invited to review the proposal by visiting www.apgist.org. 

AP GIS&T is designed to introduce high school students to the fundamentals of geographic information science and applications of powerful geospatial technologies for spatial analysis and problem solving. 

The AP GIS&T course proposal has attracted broad support from prominent scientific and educational organizations.  For AP GIS&T to become a reality, the AAG needs to collect attestations from 250 U.S. high schools that confirm they have the interest and capacity to offer the course. Similar assurances are needed from 100 colleges and universities that they would be willing to offer some form of credit to students who demonstrate proficiency on the AP GIS&T exam.

High school principals and academic department chairpersons are invited to consider adding their institution to the list of AP GIS&T supporters by completing the brief attestation form at www.apgist.org. Please consider submitting an attestation by October 1, 2016.

Have questions about AP GIS&T? Contact the AAG at ap_gist@aag.org.

Source: apgist.org

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Japan’s Emperor Akihito fears age could impact ability to rule

“In a rare televised speech, Japan’s Emperor Akihito has addressed his people directly about his declining health. A Japanese monarch has not stepped down in about 200 years.

Once revered as a living God, the Japanese emperor became a ceremonial figure in Japan’s constitutional monarchy after World War II. Occupying forces seized much of the imperial family’s wealth and today Parliament controls the household’s annual budget and allowances, which total well over $100 million.”

Source: www.cnn.com

It’s amazing to think that this is only the 3rd public message from an Emperor since the invention of TV and the radio.  (1-Surrender to end WWII, 1945. 2-Fukushima nuclear disaster, 2011, 3-Emperor’s Declining health, 2016).  This news though, brings up the questions of how many monarchs still rule today, and with what amount of power do they actually have?  The map accompanying this gives the quick run-down.  

 

Tags: Japan, political.

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More young adults are living with their parents

Across much of the developed world, researchers have found that more young adults are living at their parents’ home for longer periods of time.

 

Across the European Union’s 28 member nations, nearly half (48.1%) of 18- to 34-year-olds were living with their parents in 2014, according to the EU statistical agency Eurostat.  The Scandinavian countries have the lowest rates, with Denmark coming in at 18.6%. Southern and eastern European countries tend to have higher rates, led by the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia: 72.5% of 18- to 34-year-olds reportedly were living with their parents.

Source: www.pewresearch.org

This isn’t news because this trend gradually became a new part of the economic and cultural norms of the developed world–but the impact is enormous.  In the United States, more young adults live with parents than partners (for the first time in the 130 years that the statistic has been collected).  The world isn’t what it was in 1880.  

32.1% of young adults in the U.S live with parents, and 48.1% of young adults in the European Union Union live with parents.   

 

Questions to Ponder: What are some contributing factors to this trend in the United States and Europe?  What does this say about housing costs, economic, and cultural conditions? 

 

Tags: socioeconomic, housing, statistics, population, cultural norms, culture.

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Cartograms of the Olympic Games

The distribution of medals shows the existing Olympic inequalities: The overall patterns are a reflection of wealth distribution in the world, raising the question whether money can buy sporting success. Besides investment in sports by those countries who can afford it, the medal tables also reflect a battle for global supremacy in political terms.

 

Tags: sport, popular culture, mapping, historical, cartography.

Source: geographical.co.uk

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The Arctic Suicides: It’s Not The Dark That Kills You

Greenland has the world’s highest suicide rate. And teen boys are at the highest risk.

 

Like native people all around the Arctic — and all over the world — Greenlanders were seeing the deadly effects of rapid modernization and unprecedented cultural interference. American Indians and Alaska Natives (many of whom share Inuit roots with Greenlanders) had already seen many of their communities buckle under the same pressures.

Source: www.npr.org

This is an incredibly tragic story; if I could add one word to the sub-title, it would read, “It’s not JUST the dark the kills you.”  I’m not an environmental determinist, but we can’t pretend that the climate/darkness don’t play some role in Greenland having 6x the suicide rates of the United States.  See also this article/photo gallery about a similar suicide problem in the indigenous far north of Canada.    

 

Tags: Greenland, Arctic, gender, podcast, indigenous.

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The Vatican’s Gallery of Maps Comes Back to Life

In the 16th century, Pope Gregory assigned the monk and geographer Ignazio Danti to carry out the project. In turn, Danti hired several artistic stars of the day and up-and-comers as well to illustrate the maps, including Girolamo Muziano, Cesare Nebbia and the Flemish brothers Matthijs and Paul Bril. The Brils excelled at landscape paintings—an essential skill for the work.

Source: www.wsj.com

This 4-year restoration project is a great cultural revival, but it also reveals the importance of geographic information.  The Vatican was a great medieval seat of both religious authority and political power.  This attracted prominent visitors from all over Europe and the map gallery served to convey geographic information about the Italian peninsula.  

 

Tags: art, Italy, historical, Europe, religion, tourism, Christianity.

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Trailer: One Day on Earth

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“One Day on Earth is a unique global movement, community media creation platform, and collaborative film production engine. We invite you to join our international community of thousands of filmmakers, hundreds of schools, and dozens of non-profits, and contribute to this unique global project (with a map of all participants). Many future filming events will be announced in the coming year. One Day on Earth is a community that not only watches, but participates.”

 

Tags: video, mapping, social media, place, culture.

Source: vimeo.com

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When Mexico Was Flooded By Immigrants

In the early nineteenth-century, Mexico had a problem with American immigrants.

Source: daily.jstor.org

A century and a half ago, the immigration debate and geopolitical shifts in power on the United States-Mexico border reflected a profoundly different dynamic than it does today.  This history has enduring cultural impacts on southwestern states that had the international border jump them.

 

Tags: culture, demographics, migration, North America, historical, colonialism, borders, political.

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#GeoEdu16 Research from Routledge

As the proud publisher of both Journal of Geography and The Geography Teacher, the official publications of the National Council for Geographic Education, we couldn’t be more excited to join the NCGE in Tampa for #GeoEdu16. We will be offering NCGE members and attendees FREE ACCESS to specially selected content which reflects core themes of this special meeting: AP Human Geography, Race and Ethnicity, Climate Change and Human Migration, Coastal Geography, Geospatial Technology in the Classroom, Electoral Geography, and National Park Service!

Source: explore.tandfonline.com

The National Council for Geographic Education is having their 101th conference this week (#GeoEdu16).  The Journal of Geography and The Geography Teacher are fabulous resources produced by NCGE for geography educators (and great reasons to become a member of NCGE).  The recent APHG special edition is among the free downloads that will be available through the end of this year, so start downloading!  

 

Tags: NCGE, APHG, geography education, teacher training.

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