GEOGRAPHY
Then make a “geo-tour” of geosites using our MapMaker Interactive! Use the tutorial to make the most of MapMaker’s capabilities—choose your base layer, use markers, and add photos and links.
Here’s what ours looks like—be sure to click on the titles for links to our materials! Today, our map plus the 11 photos in this post make up our “Teachers’ Toolkit”!
Discussion Ideas
The first category is “Landscape.” The British winner is Assynt, a region in the Scottish Highlands. Take a look at Assynt here. What are some landscapes that help define the United States?

Photograph by Walter Meayers Edwards, National Geographic
The second category is “Industrial and Economic Importance.” The British winner is the Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire, the symbol of the Industrial Revolution. Look at the Iron Bridge here. What location do you think symbolizes American industrial and economic importance?

Photograph by Ramy Majouji, courtesy Wikimedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.
The third category is “Historical and Scientific Importance.” The British winner is Siccar Point, Berwickshire. Take a look at the “unconformity” here. Siccar Point is the place geologist James Hutton cited when developing a theory that became known as “uniformitarianism”—the idea that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now have always operated in the universe. Read more about uniformitarianism here. What location do you think symbolizes American historical and scientific importance?

Photograph by Jack Aeby, courtesy Department of Energy
The fourth category is “Educational.” The British winner is the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough, Yorkshire. The Rotunda Museum, which is still operating, was one of the UK’s first buildings specifically built as a museum (in this case, for geological specimens.) What location do you think symbolizes education in America?

Photograph by Charles Martin, National Geographic
The fifth category is “Adventurous.” The British winner is Staffa, a rocky island that is part of Scotland’s Inner Hebrides. Staffa is uninhabited and famous for its sea caves. What area best exemplifies American adventure?

Julie, you’ve lived from sea to shining sea—where did you feel most adventurous?
Photograph by W. Robert Moore, National Geographic
The sixth category is “Human Habitation.” The British winner is Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. What site of human habitation best exemplifies the cultural heritage of the U.S.?

Justine, you know urban planning! What would you suggest?
Photograph by Ira Block, National Geograhpic
The seventh category is “Coastal.” The British winner are the dramatically layered Hunstanton Cliffs, Norfolk. What coastal area symbolizes the U.S.?

Sean, I know you are partial to the Narragansett Bay.
Photograph by Emory Kristof, National Geographic
The eighth category is “Outcrops.” The British winner is Craster, Northumberland, where the rocky dolomite layer known as the Great Whin Sill is visible. What rocky outcrops help define the U.S. landscape?

Elaine, I know you are partial to the Badlands.
Photograph by Kathleen Revis, National Geographic
The ninth category is “Folding and Faulting.” The British winner are the zigzag cliffs of Millook Haven, Cornwall. What mountainous folds or tectonic faults contribute to the U.S. landscape?

Winn, I expect you to make a case for the Appalachians!
Photograph by James P. Blair, National Geographic
The final category is “Fire and Ice.” The British winner is Glencoe, a valley in the Scottish Highlands carved by an ancient glacier. (What a view!) What landscape typifies American “fire and ice”?

Photograph by Robert Madden, National Geographic

Photograph by George Steinmetz, National Geographic
I would vote to see the Adirondacks on this list! But, White Sands is a great consolation prize! Remind me to show you my pictures from there sometime!
I felt most adventurous when kayaking 200 miles in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. I knew I touched trees, and discovered brooks that no other human had explored. I felt like a real explorer!