Educator Spotlight: Exploring Human Geography Outside

Eric Carlson, this week’s Educator of the Week, is an American educator teaching human geography in Beijing, China. Eric is as passionate about geography as he is about teaching, and he uses his own personal travels to enhance his classes. In an effort to get his students out of the classroom and to bring geography to life, Eric created the Beijing Explorers Club, which tackles … Continue reading Educator Spotlight: Exploring Human Geography Outside

Giant Air Purifier Creates a Breath of Fresh Air

ENVIRONMENT The Smog Free Tower has arrived in China, bringing clean air and diamonds. Yes, diamonds. (Voice of America) What is smog? What are diamonds? Use our resources to find out. Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit. Discussion Ideas The Smog Free Tower uses innovative technology and beautiful design to create a “bubble of clean air.” What … Continue reading Giant Air Purifier Creates a Breath of Fresh Air

Looking Ahead: This Week in Geographic History, August 8-14

Here’s an advance look at a some of the “This Day in Geographic History” (TDIGH) events coming up this week.  For each date, we’ve matched it with a map or visual, background information, and a classroom activity so you can plan ahead. Tuesday, August 9 TDIGH: International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples The United Nations created this day in 1994 to promote and protect … Continue reading Looking Ahead: This Week in Geographic History, August 8-14

12 Things We Learned This Week!

What did you learn this week? Let us know in the comments or at education@ngs.org. This week, we learned … … Star Wars is really about feminism … and Jefferson … and Jesus.   … nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson will step up to the periodic table.   … how monsoon rains returned to lift India’s spirit and economy. (One assumes it played out like … Continue reading 12 Things We Learned This Week!

How Chinese Conquered QWERTY

TECHNOLOGY Conventional wisdom of the past 200 years held that China would have to abandon character-based writing and embrace alphabetization in order to prosper from world trade and technological change. Today, Chinese is a world script and China is an IT giant. How did that happen? (Los Angeles Review of Books) Get to know your QWERTY with these free, challenging keyboarding games. Teachers, scroll down … Continue reading How Chinese Conquered QWERTY