Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance

The Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance, will be receiving a Giant Traveling map from @NatGeoEducation! This is a preview of the future 16 x 24 foot map designed for elementary and middle school students.  I'm excited for little feet to explore the smallest state in a big way.  As I get more details, I will share them, but I foresee this rolling out in the 2016-2017 school year.

Are you new to the idea of a BioBlitz?  On April 30th, RIGEA will host an event at Rocky Hill’s amazing Land of Fires outdoor classroom.  We will get to explore, develop field experience, learn more about Rhode Island environments, map our findings, and share strategies to bring these programs to our students, classrooms and communities.  We will  work on skills and content to understand our local environments more intimately.  What could be more geographic than that?!?

WHEN: April 30th, 9am -2pm

WHERE: Rock Hill School’s Land of Fire (Rocky Hill School, 530 Ives Road, East Greenwich, RI, 02818).

Please RSVP (for a head count) by emailing rigea@ric.edu with the subject line “BioBlitz-Rocky Hill.” 

The 2015 Summer Institute on online mapping and geospatial technologies for educators was a great success.  We want to invite everyone back to follow-up on some projects and activities since then (the great inspirational logo above is from GIS ETC.) 

WHEN: April 2nd, 9am (breakfast and coffee will be provided).  The pre-meeting and breakfast begins at 8am.

WHERE: RIC campus 101 Alger Hall (computer lab)

WHO: all 2015 summer institute participants and anyone wish to join mid-stream. 

Explore Iceland's Changing Landscapes and diverse environments with the National Council for Geographic Education- Don't miss the Professional Development Travel Experience of a Lifetime! Watch the video to learn more about Geocamp Iceland and visit ncge.org/geocamp for details. Deadline is March 15, 2016.

"A geographic perspective is a way of looking at and understanding our world. When you view the world through the lens of geography, you are asking who, what, where, when, and how people, places, and things are distributed across the surface of the earth, and why/how they got there. In other words, it means that you are analyzing something with a geographic perspective. The understanding and use of a geographic perspective is critical for decision making skills in the 21st century. Using spatial concepts such as location, region, movement, and scale to help us understand:

• Interactions - How the world works
• Interconnections - How systems in our world are connected
• Implications - How to make well-reasoned decisions"

---@natgeo, Geography as a Primary Source

"On why a Prussian scientific visionary should be studied afresh…In a superb biography, Andrea Wulf makes an inspired case for Alexander von Humboldt to be considered the greatest scientist of the 19th century. Certainly he was the last great polymath in a scientific world which, by the time he died in Berlin in 1859, aged 89, was fast hardening into the narrow specializations that typify science to this day. Yet in the English-speaking world, Humboldt is strangely little-known."

Friday, January 22, 2016
9:00am - 3:00pm
MCLE Building, 10 Winter Place
Boston, MA

This is a participatory workshop, so come ready to be engaged and inspired!  All materials, including the two curriculum units, lunch, and a 7-hour certificate of participation, are provided.

The cost is $145 ($75 for pre-service teachers) but I am working to get alliance members in for a nominal fee.  Just email rigea@ric.edu if you are interested with the subject line "Middle East in Transition." 

During the workshop, you will:

• Be introduced to the Choices Program's award-winning resources and approach to teaching about contested international issues;
• Examine and work with the Choices unit The Middle East in Transition: Questions for U.S. Policy and the UNAGB's Diplomacy for Classrooms: Perspective Taking, Negotiation, and Consensus Building (provided);
• Network with exemplar colleagues in social studies education from across the region.

Who Should Attend: History, geography, government, civics, AP, IB, humanities and other social studies teachers are the target audience. Materials are appropriate for grades 7-12. We welcome teamed ELA and social studies teachers to attend together.
 

I was just informed that our proposal to receive a Giant Traveling Map from National Geographic was accepted! This year, we will be receiving Pacific Ocean Map Many schools find this a great way to make a fun event for the whole school; it will be available for schools and teachers to use from March 11th to April 4th.

If you would like to simply attend an event with the Giant Traveling map, RIGEA will be hosting a event, free to the public that will feature, use, and explore this map in great detail. This will be on March 31st (4-6pm) at Rhode Island College in the Student Union Ballroom. There will be some food, presentations, and a whole lot of map exploration…bring clean socks and a desire to explore!

This past summer, Sandra Makielski, seventh grade social studies teacher from Davisville Middle School, North Kingstown, traveled to the Philippines for an eighteen day educators’ trip. She was selected by Teachers for Global Classrooms, a U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program, to participate in their 2015 Educators’ Trip.  Global education is integral to building 21st century skills, and this opportunity was designed to jump start a teacher’s classroom. The trip was punctuated with many, many selfies with students, delicious food, and the hospitality of schools, faculty, and strangers. Ms. Makielski learned about the educational system, Filipino history, and the important role the Philippines is currently playing in global politics. Ms. Makielski looks forward to incorporating her new knowledge of the Philippines into her social studies lessons.

Applications are now open at the Teachers for Global Classrooms website. Deadline is March 17, 2016.

"For the first time, scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have documented migratory movements of bird populations spanning the entire year for 118 species throughout the Western Hemisphere. The study finds broad similarity in the routes used by specific groups of species—vividly demonstrated by animated maps showing patterns of movement across the annual cycle. The results of these analyses were published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B."

"The black and white  pictures, below, are taken from 'Providence', published for the Shepard Company, Providence, R.I. 1908.  The color pictures are from my early postcard collection. The Old State House between Benefit and North Main Street looks much the same now as it did 100 years ago."

"We’re looking for 35 K-12 educators, currently teaching in the U.S. or Canada, to join us in 2016 for an all-expense-paid adventure of a lifetime. 

This field-based PD experience could take you to the Arctic, Iceland, the Galápagos, Canadian Maritimes, British & Irish Isles, or even Antarctica!

Be inspired as former Grosvenor Teacher Fellows tell you what to expect—from tectonic trolling to ammonoids in the Arctic, Galapagos photo galleries to sunscreen in Svalbard.

"RIGEA presentation at a RIGIS event, Aug 28, 2015."