Current Event Connection, Main

11 Things We Learned This Week

This week, we learned …

… why Louisiana is spending $18 million on a 10,800-square-foot model of the Mississippi. Photos of the week!

This historical geology map is almost as pretty as the big hydrological one Louisiana has.
Map by John Kappler, National Geographic Education Programs

Walk all over your own giant map with our popular program!

 

 

… how the search for “hill rice” went from West Africa to the Gullah-Geechee Nation to, improbably and beautifully, a field in Trinidad. Read of the week!

This isn’t the prized red beaded rice, but it’s a sister.
Photograph by International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-2.0

Use our resources to learn more about the rich history of slave and African American contributions to American cuisine.

 

 

… the value of smarter teachers.

What’s the problem with our Grosvenor Teacher Fellow professional development program? There’s not more of it.
Photograph by CT Ticknor

Share your smarts. Join our educator certification program.

 

 

… we have new protected areas in Seychelles and Chile.

A blacktip reef shark prowls a mangrove forest in Seychelles.
Photograph by Thomas P. Peschak, National Geographic

Help your students create and manage their own conservation areas with our activity.

 

 

… the bittersweet history of border walls.

Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist

Use our extended lesson plan to go “beyond borders.”

 

 

… before-school exercise programs may help students thrive.

An exercise program that gets young children running and playing for an hour before school could make them happier and healthier, while also jibing with the needs and schedules of parents and school officials.
Photograph by Michael S. Yamashita, National Geographic

Looking for exercise programs? Here are 10 ways to take your class outside!

 

 

… seaweeds mitigate ocean acidification.

Oh kelp, is there nothing you can’t do?
Photograph by Brian J. Skerry, National Geographic

What are seaweeds?

 

 

… how the brilliant history of Nubian civilization was nearly lost to colonialism, and how archaeologists are working to recover it.

Some archaeologists subtly or explicitly dismissed the notion that black Africans were capable of creating art, technology, and metropolises like those from Egypt or Rome. Nubia, a region in what is now Sudan, boasts civilizations older than dynastic Egypt.
Illustration by Gregory Manchess, National Geographic

What makes a civilization?

 

 

… the geography of the U.S. Olympic team.

The United States Olympic Team parades during the opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium. Boston and Minneapolis-St. Paul boast the largest contingent of U.S. athletes at the games.
Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen

What Winter Olympic athletes are the fittest? Depends what you mean by fit.

 

 

… kissing may be influenced by geography.

The original caption here reads “New York City celebrating the surrender of Japan. They threw anything and kissed anybody in Times Square. 08/14/1945”
Photograph by Lt. Victor Jorgensen Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Naval Photographic Center. Public domain

Might language have been influenced by geography, too?

 

 

… what states are in the South.

Does our map align with how Southerners think of themselves?
Map by National Geographic

Download labeled and unlabeled maps of U.S. regions here.

Leave a Reply