Promoted by National Geographic, here’s what you should know about Geography Awareness Week:
Too many young Americans are unable to make effective decisions, understand geo-spatial issues, or even recognize their impacts as global citizens. National Geographic created Geography Awareness Week to raise awareness to this dangerous deficiency in American education and excite people about geography as both a discipline and as a part of everyday life.
Each year more than 100,000 Americans actively participate in Geography Awareness Week. Established by presidential proclamation more than 25 years ago, this annual public awareness program encourages citizens young and old to think and learn about the significance of place and how we affect and are affected by it. Geography Awareness Week is supported by access to materials and resources for teachers, parents, community activists, and all geographically minded global citizens.
Here are excellent resources to promote geography lessons:
- 2-minute geology
- Atlas–Barefoot World Atlas is an interactive 3D globe for iPad
- BatchGeo—map locations
- Breathing earth–the environment
- Continents explained (with humor)
- Dig hole through the earth with Google Earth
- Digipuzzles
- Felt.com–map geographic locations in a spreadsheet
- forecast weather in any place around the world by typing “forecast for ***”
- Geography Activities—for teachers
- Geography Duel–two players see who knows the most geography trivia (app)
- Geologic movies–great and fun
- Globe of Extremes–extreme location around the globe, like the deepest trench
- Google Earth Timelapse–what changes to the planet over time
- Ology Sites
- Statetris–like Tetris, but instead of blocks, put the states or countries in their proper position (app)
Biomes
Virtual Tours
#GeoWeek and #ThatsGeography.
Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:
https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm
“The content presented in this blog are the result of creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.
I think this is a great effort. When I visited the US for the first tme in 1987 I realized that many Americans did not know much about world geography. They might have memorized the capital of every US state but did not know that you cannot drive from France to the US. You can’t understand the world that way. I think it has gotten much better since then but world geography is something that should be taken seriously.
Well, there was that land bridge thousands of years ago, across the Behring Straits–oh wait. No cars back then. The focus of education in America has traditionally been the 3Rs (which didn’t include geography), though that has changed and not for the better.