Before
You Watch
Before viewing
the video programs for Workshop 2: Latin America, please read
the National Geography Standards featured
in this workshop. You may read the standards here on the Web,
in your print guide, or in Geography
for Life. We encourage you to read Geography for Life
in its entirety as you move through the workshops. It contains
further background on the National Standards, numerous examples
and rich illustrations aiding interpretation, valuable tools for
strengthening and developing lessons, and additional insight on
geography's significance to our daily lives.
The National
Geography Standards highlighted in this workshop include Standards
4, 7, 9, and 15. As you read the standards, be thinking about
how they might apply in lessons you have taught.
Also, prior
to attending the workshop, you should explore the associated Key
Maps and Interactive Activities and read the Video Program Overviews
below, paying close attention to the Questions To Consider.
Video Program Overviews: Latin America
Part 1.
Guatemala and Mexico: Population Migration
During a few
months of each year in Guatemala, millions of Maya have been migrating
from the highlands to Guatemala City for temporary employment.
Why is this seasonal migration so prevalent? Why don't the Maya
have sufficient land to support themselves and why is there so
little industrial growth? Geographer George Lovell relates this
seasonal migration pattern to the collapse and explosion of Maya
population. In doing so, he examines the Guatemalans' history
of violence against the Maya, starting with the sixteenth-century
conquistadors. Through historical survey and one-on-one interviews
with Mayan families, Lovell investigates the geographic roots
of migration; the cultural conflict regarding land use and ownership;
and the extreme effects of temporary displacement to the city
on the rural Mayan population. Using Guatemala as one geographic
example, we can begin to understand the nature of human settlement,
distribution, and interdependence.
This workshop
includes a classroom segment featuring geography teacher Randy
Hoover leading his class in an investigation into the reasons
Mexican people migrate to Northern Mexico and the United States
in search of employment. His class participates in group activities
creating visual organizers which they use to present their findings
and analysis to their classmates.
Objectives
Participants
will be able to:
Featured
Educator
Mr. Randy
Hoover, seventh grade world geography teacher, Dover-Sherborn
Middle School, Massachusetts
Randy
Hoover is social studies curriculum leader at Dover-Sherborn Middle
School, a public school in suburban Boston. A former member of
the Massachusetts Council for Social Studies Board of Directors,
Randy is a National Geographic Society teacher consultant, and
has presented workshops at the National Council for Geographic
Educators' conference and the Northeast Regional Conference for
Social Studies. Now in his tenth year of teaching, he is the recipient
of three summer fellowships from the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
Part 2. Ecuador: Preventing Tragedy Through Understanding Geography
In the Andes
of Ecuador, inhabitants live with the constant threat of eruptions
in a region called the Valley of the Volcanoes. Monitoring and
mapping these geological hazards are Patty Mothes and Peter Hall
at the Geophysical Institute in Quito, Ecuador. Their findings
will be applied to the population and infrastructure of the area.
One of the
volcanoes Patty has been studying is the 16,500-foot mountain
called Tungurahua, at the foot of which lies the town of Banos.
Since the tragedy of Tungurahua's eruption 90 years ago, Banos
has grown rapidly, tremendously increasing the potential for human
catastrophe. Using prisms, Patty measures the volcano for any
changes that might indicate activity. Despite her efforts, many
inhabitants are doubtful regarding the threat of Tungurahua and
such attitudes have prompted a campaign to increase public awareness
of the volcano and how to respond in the case of an eruption.
While researchers cannot control such geographical phenomena,
their attempts to understand and predict them are inherent to
the safety of the inhabitants of the Valley of the Volcanoes.
This workshop is followed by a classroom segment featuring environmental
science teacher Carole Mayrose as she engages her students in
an exploration of volcano location. Her class gains insight into
the relationship between volcanoes and earthquakes and discusses
the advantages and dangers of living near a volcano.
Objectives
Participants
will be able to:
Featured
Educator
Ms. Carole
Mayrose, 10th- through 12th-grade environmental science teacher,
Northview High School, Brazil, Indiana
Carole
Mayrose teaches all levels of high school Earth Science. As part
of her teaching mission, she endeavors to provide all her students
with the tools and skills that will help them complete school
and succeed in life. She is featured teaching a class about the
relationship between the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes,
and the effects of living near such natural hazards.
