This week is Geography Awareness Week!
Thanks to the 1987 legislation signed by Ronald Regan, Geography Awareness week exists to promote geographic education in American public schools every third week of November.
Each year, a new theme is celebrated. This year’s theme is “Declare your Interdependence!”, urging today’s youth to observe their connection to the rest of the world. We couldn’t have suggested a better subject; today’s quickly evolving landscape of global interconnectivity is an increasingly important topic to dissect with our future leaders. We’re on board with that!
Traditionally, schools and organizations come together to create week-long lesson plans to promote geo-literacy. We’ve taken a minute to collect some fun and interesting resources we’ve found to help teachers (and geophiles alike) to promote geographical interconnectivity.
1. National Geographic
National Geographic is at the forefront of Geography Awareness Week. This year they partnered with the Geography Collective and Daniel Raven Ellison to create Mission: Explore, a digital geography lesson plan. This plan takes children through the concept of food interdependence, offering Badge Stickers and a Teacher Guide for an on and offline (printable) geography curriculum.
2. Maps.com’s World Wall Maps
Maps.com has partnered with Wallzilla to produce some stunning (and huge!) wall maps of the world. What makes these maps so practical is their self-adhesion, allowing for extremely easy set up and tear down, which has made them quite popular in the education sect (no nails or tape!). There are dozens to choose from, map styles ranging from contemporary and colorful to the more subdued and antique.
3. OverlapMap.com
OverlapMap.com is a free service that allows you to visually compare geographic bodies quickly and easily. For instance, did you know that India is roughly the size of the Midwest? Honestly, this was a new thing for some of us here at the office. Look at that. We learned something! Who says Geography Awareness Week was just for kids!
4. Harnu
On the subject of interconnectivity, Harnu is another free resource for teachers and parents to explore the world’s culture in a real time, contemporary forum. Placed on the Google platform, users comment on social and cultural events and ideas, tagging their activity to a specific region. This allows for students to make a spatial connection from the news they hear about to a real place on the map.
5. Education World’s Geo Lessons
Education World has compiled a vast list of geography tips, lessons, and curriculum resources. From Cross Country Tetris to Playground Maps, they’ve produced a plethora of ideas to keep your classroom excited about geography.
Happy Geography Awareness Week! What are your favorite resources?
