Educator Spotlight: “Reading Landscapes” to Explore the Local Environment

Jim Bishop is the Associate Head of School at Bozeman Field School, a new independent school in Bozeman, MT. His students learned landscape-reading techniques to hone their observation skills and share resulting insights with the community. Continue reading Educator Spotlight: “Reading Landscapes” to Explore the Local Environment

A Quick Dip in the Aquifer!

By Jennifer Adler, National Geographic Young Explorer The thermometer in my car read 45° F, yet every inch of my trunk was stuffed with life jackets, masks, and snorkels. Beneath layers of fuzzy sweatshirts and leggings hid a pink bathing suit. I wasn’t the only one dressed for summer in mid-March. Forty fifth-graders from Williams Elementary School in Gainesville, Florida, also woke up and donned … Continue reading A Quick Dip in the Aquifer!

GIS, Community Action, and Drone Flying!

This summer, Tim Hawthorne was proud to teach the next generation of GISers at the Urban Atlanta Geospatial STEM Academy—work that earned space as a finalist for the Fourth Annual STEM Education Awards. He has 10 years of teaching experience and is the former coordinator of the Georgia Geographic Alliance. He recently relocated and is now part of the faculty at the University of Central Florida.  Topics: GIS, Student-Driven Projects, Community Action, and Drone … Continue reading GIS, Community Action, and Drone Flying!

Intern Introduction: Evan Gover

Why am I a geographer? I didn’t set out to be. I was starting my second semester of college, and I was at a crossroads. I knew I didn’t want to pursue a history degree, as I had originally planned, and I remembered hearing good things from people I trusted about geography, so I signed up for a few classes—and was hooked. A few months later, … Continue reading Intern Introduction: Evan Gover

Myanmar: A Step Back in Time

Editor’s Note: Mero Geesey is a recent graduate of the University of Florida, where he studied biology and served as a leader in countless student organizations. In August, he will begin studying towards an MBA at Florida Atlantic University, where he has been hired to start an outdoor recreation program for students. He is a frequent traveler, who enjoys experiencing others cultures, interacting in foreign tongues, and going on spontaneous adventures.
On a recent trip to Southeast Asia, I wanted to visit a place that I knew very little about and that isn’t on the regional tourist circuit. I found Myanmar to fit both of these criteria. My first impressions of Myanmar pegged it as a scary and dangerous place, since my parents had claimed that it was full of crime and not a place for tourists. Going in, I knew that the country had been controlled a military dictatorship for nearly 50 years, up until last year.  As a result, Western influences were few and far between in Myanmar. 

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Traveling affords an insight into places and cultures that you can’t get any other way, and I think that experiencing a place first hand is the best form of education, allowing you to learn in a unique way. Myanmar was no exception, and traveling there debunked any misconceptions that I had and provided an insight into a fascinating country.
Going to Myanmar was almost like a trip back in time. ATMs were nowhere to be found, credit cards are not accepted, Coca-Cola is smuggled in from Thailand, and traffic jams include oxen and horses. My favorite destination in Myanmar was Inle Lake, located in the center of the country.  It was fascinating to see how the locals coexist with their environment in their everyday lives. The lake is more of a highway, a source of transportation between the various villages, some of which are built entirely on stilts in the lake or on the shore. The lake is their livelihood, a place to collect water, to bathe and wash clothes, to catch fish, and my favorite innovation- to grow food.  
Above: Typical pagoda at Inle Lake.

Continue reading “Myanmar: A Step Back in Time”