Program
Overview: Introduction
Geography
is more important than ever to make sense of our changing world.
This workshop lays the foundation for the geography content and
pedagogical skills to assist you in teaching challenging lessons
in your classroom.
View this video==>
We
begin with an overview of the geographical perspective, highlighting
the 18 National Geography Standards and associated geographic
skills that inform the Teaching Geography series, as well as introducing
concepts of human and regional geography. These issues are illustrated
through two video case studies, one in the borderland region of
El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; the other follows NASA
astronauts on a space shuttle mission. This foundation in solid
geographic content and teaching methodology is seen in practice
in a classroom segment where students answer the question, "Why
is Russia's Aral Sea shrinking?"
Part
1. El Paso and Ciudad Juarez: Life on the Borderlands
|
Director-Lance Wisniewski
Producer-Cambridge Studios, USA
|
This
program introduces the 18 national geography standards,
showing how they can explain the complexity of our geographic
world. We also introduce regional geographer, Dr. Gil Latz,
and human geographer, Dr. Susan Hardwick. A case study on
the neighboring cities of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez
in Mexico highlights the importance of understanding spatial
relationships and geography's effect on human lives.
|
That case
study follows the compelling story of Concha, a single mother
of five, who had been living in a tar-paper shack in Ciudad
Juarez, Mexico, just south of the US border. Now working in
a maquiladora, she previously spent her nights sneaking through
the rattlesnake-infested desert smuggling cigarettes to sell
in Hispanic bars in El Paso, Texas. Her illegal journey, and
now her factory work, not only brings her across the border
of two countries but across two geographical regions. We thus
dramatically illustrate the concepts of regions, relative location,
size, and scale, spatial variation and human-environmental interaction.
Objectives
-
Identify
how the 18 national geography standards can help further understanding
of geographic concepts.
-
Examine
how a geographic perspective provides insight into a variety
of issues.
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Identify
concepts central to regional and human geography.
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Understand
how border regions shape people's lives.
