World Geography Travel Guide
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only one page."
St. Augustine
"
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness."Mark Twain
Essential Questions
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How does where we live influence how we live?·
Why does where we live influence how we live?·
No matter where we live, how are we all connected with each other and the world?·
How does using multiple sources of information give us a more accurate picture of a place and its people?·
Why do we need to evaluate the quality and accuracy of information we find?·
How is our picture of a country dependent on the sources we use to investigate it?·
How do maps inform, explain and tell stories?As a result of completing this course, you will have acquired the following skills:
Evaluating source materials for bias and quality of information
Reading, analyzing and creating maps that provide information and solve problems
Sharing information, ideas and opinions with a variety of audiences
Formulating opinions and write persuasive papers
Conducting independent research from a variety of sources
As a result of completing this course, you will have acquired the following Content Knowledge:
Understand how to read and interpret charts and graphs
Understand how people change the environment and the environment changes people
Understand how places are similar to different from other places
Understand and describe the location and character of a place
Understand and describe the location and character of a place
Understand how maps tell stories about a place and can be used to solve problems
Understand how population can affect "environmental footprints."
In successfully completing work in this course, you will demonstrate the following attitudes:
Cooperation with other students to complete group projects
Responsibility for learning by being prepared and meeting all deadlines
Participation in class discussions
Travel Dates
September-May
According to Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, "With travel, our minds become more curious, our hearts more powerful, and our spirits more joyous. And once the mind is stretched like that, it can never return to its original state."
With this in mind, it is my job to open your hearts and minds to world out there. We will travel to countries on each continent. You will choose the countries you would like to visit as we move to each new continent and you will visit 20 countries before the end of the year. The trips and visits to the continents will last about six weeks and students can move through each country at their own pace.
As you visit each country, you will keep a travel journal from the perspective of a visitor to that country. You will:
Tell me about the geography (land features, main cities; climate, etc.)
Describe the place and the interesting features can be found there. Examples: what makes this an interesting place to visit?
Discuss the problems facing this country. Think about our essential questions to guide your work here. This should be a description and an analysis of the problem, not simply a list.
You will record information from your "visit" in journal entries. These journals should reflect the sights and culture of the place you visit. It is not just a journey from monument to monument (for example, do not write "Monday I saw Big Ben, Tuesday I went to Buckingham Palace). I am interested in you perceptions of the places you visit. I want to think about what makes it interesting, what are the people like, how do the people live and so on.
Additionally, you will "collect artifacts" from each country which illustrate the culture and geography of the location. An artifact can be a postcard, newspaper, magazine, video, photographs, artwork, literature, food (you can bring food and use recipes, photos and class reviews for the portfolio), collected music( with explanations about the artists/type of music) or other similar items. If you like to sketch or draw, you can also include visual reflections of your visits.
You will include maps of all countries "visited" in your journal.
"Always travel with a smile and remember that you’re the one with strange customs visiting someone else’s country. The more time you spend coming to understand the ways of other’s, the more you’ll understand yourself."
Additional Items:
Student teams will have roadblocks to solve as they journey around the world. Roadblocks will include current events reports, in-depth examination of issues, world religion, Socratic seminars and "Looking for an Argument."
Students will be responsible for creating a portfolio of maps and roadblock tasks for all places visited.