Spatialworlds

Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it
Just real interesting Scoop.it

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manning@chariot.net.au

Where am I??
Adelaide, Australia: S: 34º 55' E: 138º 36'

Just geographically interesting

Over the past year I have been curating a Scoop.it called 'Just real interesting'. As I say in the introduction to the Scoop.it, this site is:

A Scoop.it of just interesting things with an obvious fascination with all things historical, social, cultural and geographical (and just things real interesting!)

As a result of this rather vague description and in turn Internet trawling of the Scoop.it, I have curated a rather eclectic site. The site is particularly strong in the area of Cultural Geography and makes for some interesting reading, highly relevant to Human Geography. At times it is a challenge to see how it fits into a definition of geography but considering geography is dependent on the reader using the geographical lens, I think we can claim that almost any story can be seen as geography. Here is just a taste of some of the very interesting sites from the Scoop.it on the perspective of appearance and culture and the related issues of beauty, sexism, racism and difference.

* Muslim Woman Discovers Friendly New World When a Winter Scarf Covers Her Hijab

* How people in Muslim countries prefer women to dress in public

* The burka ban in France

* Guy Brings His White Girl To Barbershop In Harlem...

* Holloween costumes and racism

* Supermodel wears Hijab for a day

* Anti-Muslim harassment

* Which place is actually more racist

* Finding cultural voice

* Body modification

* Little boys wearing dresses

* Advertising's Image of Women

* Girls wearing pink

* Muslim beauty pageant

* Fattening rooms for appearance

* Foot binding

* Tatoos

* Scarification

* Beauty and men

* Concept of beauty

* Lip plates

Go to the Just Real Interesting Scoop.it to view more articles of great interest to the cultural geographer. I think you would agree there is some pretty eclectic but fascinating material there for the human geography classroom.

Monday, March 31, 2014

More WOW: World of Wonder

Image above: Mount Roraima, South America

Related links to Spatialworlds
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Humsteach blog

Amazing and unbelievable images to stimulate wonder and curiosity (AC: Geography, Aim 1)

Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it
Just real interesting Scoop.it

Follow Spatialworlds on Twitter

Email contact:

manning@chariot.net.au

Where am I??
Adelaide, Australia: S: 34º 55' E: 138º 36'

This link provides 33 unbelievable places to see as a geographer. To my knowledge they have not been manipulated to any extent and are just WOW places. Here are just a few of my favorites. How many have you visited and/or used as a starter in your geography class? Why not make them a screensaver on your class computer for every week of the year? Great discussion point for students about how formed, where are they and are they real??

Nature (human and animal) at its best

While on about the WOW of nature, this home video of rescuing a Humpback Whale and it’s thanking of its rescuers is certainly awe-inspiring.

Perception is everything

Maybe the attached series of photos show that sometimes the wonders of the world are actually just a perspective of reality as the ‘non-wow’ world of development and population encroaches.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Literacy, Geo-literacy!

Image above: A screen capture from the National Geographic geo-literacy video.

Related links to Spatialworlds
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Humsteach blog

Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it
Just real interesting Scoop.it

Follow Spatialworlds on Twitter

Email contact:

manning@chariot.net.au

Where am I??
Adelaide, Australia: S: 34º 55' E: 138º 36'

The argument for geo-literacy

The traditional definition of literacy is: “Literacy is the ability to read and write”. However in our modern technological society the concept of literacy is expanding to include the ability to function in a wide variety of contexts and areas of human endeavour and disciplines. It is not unusual to hear educators talking about scientific literacy, financial literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, spatial literacy and geo-literacy, to name just a few. Interestingly the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority in their overview has limited their definition to:

“In the Australian Curriculum, students become literate as they develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to interpret and use language confidently for learning and communicating…”

However the actual ACARA Geography curriculum does go further with the concept of literacy and gives credence to the idea of geo-literacy when it states:

“In Geography, students develop literacy capability as they learn how to build geographical knowledge and understanding and how to explore, discuss, analyse and communicate geographical information, concepts and ideas. They use a wide range of informational and literary texts, for example, interviews, reports, stories, photographs and maps, to help them understand the places that make up our world, learning to evaluate these texts and recognising how language and images can be used to make and manipulate meaning. They learn to comprehend and compose graphical and visual texts through working with maps, diagrams, photographs and remotely sensed and satellite images.”

Such geo-literacy is developing quite a following in the United States through the work of the National Geographical Society.

" In our modern, globally interconnected society, it is more important than ever that people understand the world around them. For that reason, National Geographic is committed to advancing geo-literacy in the U.S. and around the world." National Geographic 2014

Scoop.it aficionado, Seth Dixon has put together an interesting article on geo-literacy which contains some great short videos on geo-literacy from the National Geographic. Click here to view the article and videos.

As Seth says in his article:

“Students are not simply passive recipients of learning that is transmitted to them; students can actively shape what they learn. However, if we can create an environment that promotes and encourages higher-order thinking, we can help our students see their role in shaping a new world–that is our goal in promoting geo-literacy.”

and ...

Whilst talking about the Australian Curriculum: Geography and the reasons why geography is so important for student capacity building, the video introduction to the curriculum may be worth a look on the ACARA site.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Geography crusaders: Why Geography matters

Image above: A talk by a US Geography 'crusader', about 'Why Geography matters"
As Seth Dixon says on his Geography Education Scoop.it:
"Harm de Blij (author of many school texts in the US ) passed away early this week. He was a tireless advocate for geography and geography education. He understood that without geographic expertise, our foreign policy would suffer and our collective ability to thrive in an era of globalization would be curtailed. I was always captivated by his presentations and was continually astounded by the depth and breadth of his knowledge. Rest in peace."

Related links to Spatialworlds
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Humsteach blog