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MapMaker Activity: Explore and Protect the Ocean With Pristine Seas

MapMaker, National Geographic’s geovisualization tool, contains an ever-expanding list of map layers curated for students. Together, they form a geographic data set that learners can use to illustrate a concept or tell a story. These map layers are data that learners can overlay on a basemap, like a transparency on a projector. In September, we shared tips for getting started with MapMaker. Now, we have … Continue reading MapMaker Activity: Explore and Protect the Ocean With Pristine Seas

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Introduce Your Students to Mapmaking With This Interactive Tool

Are you looking for a new way to incorporate mapping into your teaching? Perhaps you’d like a hands-on tool for introducing a global topic or promoting spatial literacy. MapMaker, National Geographic’s online geovisualization tool, is here to help. It allows your learners to explore the world through various classroom-curated basemaps, data layers, and annotation options. With this web-based app, anyone can visually experience and interact … Continue reading Introduce Your Students to Mapmaking With This Interactive Tool

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“A Field Trip Anywhere”: Try This MapMaker Project With Your Students

The great news is that MapMaker was recently updated and features some incredible new tools students can use for exploration. Using MapMaker in the classroom is an easy lift to allow students to glimpse the tools of a geographer and begin to use them on their own. Teachers do not have to be fluent in mapmaking or technology to use MapMaker. In addition, using MapMaker provides an opportunity to talk about the role of cartographers and potential careers involving these skills. Continue reading “A Field Trip Anywhere”: Try This MapMaker Project With Your Students

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How the MapMaker Tool Helps Us “Wrap Our Arms and Minds Around Our World”

This post was written by 2020 Education Fellow Anita Palmer. Early on in my teaching career, I asked my school’s social studies department chair if I could ever teach geography. And they said, “Anita, we teach world history, don’t you think that’s enough geography for one department?” I felt that was my call to action to use geographic information systems (GIS) to teach geography through … Continue reading How the MapMaker Tool Helps Us “Wrap Our Arms and Minds Around Our World”

“Our World is All About Spatial Data”: A Conversation with Anita Palmer

Recognized as a “hero” in her industry, Anita Palmer has over 25 years pioneering the perception and education around the framework of geographic information systems (GIS). Anita is National Geographic’s first-ever GIS-focused Education fellow.  The growing field of GIS is continuously evolving and shaping the way we view geography beyond static maps. To further raise awareness and push the conversation around this focus, an annual … Continue reading “Our World is All About Spatial Data”: A Conversation with Anita Palmer