Strategy Share: Empowering Students to Create Case Studies

Case studies are an excellent instrument for teaching that can be used across subject areas. They allow students to dig into learning because they connect complex concepts to the real world. The creation process is valuable in itself. I couldn’t let this opportunity pass my students by; I had to involve them in the process. Continue reading Strategy Share: Empowering Students to Create Case Studies

Strategy Share: Exploring Climate Change with Google Earth

I circumnavigated Iceland on expedition as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow in July 2017, not long after the announcement that the United States planned to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation. Back home in the U.S. at that time, there was a lot of political debate about involvement in the agreement and the value of combating global warming at home. Meanwhile in Iceland, I came face to face with the effects of global warming as we visited spectacular landscapes threatened by the warming climate. Continue reading Strategy Share: Exploring Climate Change with Google Earth

Iceland Is Growing New Forests for the First Time in 1,000 Years

ENVIRONMENT Within a few centuries, Iceland became “among the worst examples in the world of deforestation.” Today, the Icelandic Forest Service has taken on the mammoth task of bringing back the woodlands. (National Geographic) Use today’s simple MapMaker Interactive map to help students understand land-use patterns in Iceland. Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit, including a link … Continue reading Iceland Is Growing New Forests for the First Time in 1,000 Years

Educator Spotlight: Cultivating Geographic Curiosity

Charles Dabritz, this week’s Educator of the Week and a 2013 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, inspires students to ask questions and follow their curiosity. His students don’t only read and interpret maps. They also make inferences about why the places represented are the way they are. Charles is a library media specialist at Lyman C. Hunt Middle School in Burlington, Vermont.  Grade Level: 6-8  Time Commitment: … Continue reading Educator Spotlight: Cultivating Geographic Curiosity

Why I Choose to Believe In Trolls

 The following post was written by 2015 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Shannon Bomben during her expedition to Iceland. The Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Program is a professional development opportunity made possible by a partnership between Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic Education. Before venturing to Iceland on the National Geographic Explorer, I had heard stories of elves, trolls, and hidden people. I wasn’t convinced. And yet, on the sixth day … Continue reading Why I Choose to Believe In Trolls