Geography+Seminar

- [] - David Smith o __ If The World Were a Village __ o __ If America Were a Village __ o *__Mapping the World By Heart__* The maps we “carry in our heads” are of the places that “mean” something to us (ex. Our town, state, country), many times totally out of context with the rest of the world Job as “geography teachers” is to make all the other places “real” to them as well. **__ “Mapping the World by Heart” __** - drawing personal memory maps - process briefly (12 steps) o getting oriented § 3 weeks · “grapefruit lesson” o label poles, draw equator, draw a few lines of latitude and longitude o draw in a few continental blobs o peal fruit and try to lay out the skin into a “readable map” § leads to discussion of projections versus globes · ** Mercator Projection ** o Use of right angles leads to distortions, particularly near the poles (extra stretching north/south to make up for stretching east/west) o Directions and shape are correct BUT size is off · ** Van Der Grinten Projection ** o Both latitude and longitude curve · ** Robinson Projection ** o Lines of latitude are parallel while lines of longitude curve · ** Conical Projection ** o Draw on a cone and “flatten” · ** Poly-conic Projection ** · ** Peters Projection ** · ** Orthographic Projection ** · ** Polar type Projection ** · ** Buckminster Fuller Map Projection ** o nine regions of the world § Canada, US, Middle America, South America, western Europe, Eastern Europe and North Asia, South Asia, Oceania · Word in pods (4 students) o Each student makes a reference map of the region based off of provided check list o Student pods create review activities for other pods o Some form of evaluation (ex. label map, matching countries and capitals, etc…) · “Getting Ready to Make the Final Map” – practice, review, ask questions, and make lots of lots of maps o no memorization of lines until this point (to lessen anxiety) · Making the Final Map o Lay out the grid (working together and helping one another) o Outline and label countries o Fill in   o Create a key o Create a “memory map museum” with students as docents **__ Tracing Water __** - Where does your tap water come from? o Trace the “voyage” § Maps § History § controversy - call the Water Department, they send lots of stuff, including speakers! **__ Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States __** - definition of what makes a “country” - how many countries are there? o US recognizes 192 o GB recognizes 196 o Germany recognizes 211 **__ USE ANIMANIACS! __**  [] (states and capitals) [] (countries) [] (presidents) **__ What Are You Wearing? Where did it come from? __**  - color code stickers (ex green for sneakers) - have students see where their clothes were made and put the stickers on the map - what patterns do they notice? Connection to economy, labor, transportation Create a crazy graph that compares the size of the various continents (ex. Pie charts, hearts, bars, cubes, etc…) to show how they compare Longitude cannot be properly calculated without an accurate time piece (1 hour = @15% of longitude)
 * __ Geography and 21st Century Tools Workshop __**