Category Archives: geography

Geography 1: Maps — Presentation Video

Alabama Seventh Grade Geography Standard 1: “Describe the world in spatial terms using maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies.”
Also on TeacherTube.

The Plague Map Project

Students build maps of historic plague outbreaks in MinecraftEDU and make mini-documentaries using iMovie on the iPad in the Plague Map Project.

I developed this project in collaboration with Cynthia Fogleman and Wanda Richards from the Carver Magnet School Science Department. The rubric represents the social studies side of the project.

Plague Map Project

Teaching Math in Geography

Teaching math in geography? Yes! Social studies, or social science, involves mathematics. Geography is especially mathematical as maps, globes, and GPS systems are all based in mathematics. My trip to the HSTW14 conference convinced me that, as a social studies teacher, I could do more to reinforce math in my courses and thereby make them more applicable to the real world. I set a goal of doing five FALs this year along with at least two LDC modules. I’ll post here as I develop and test applications of MDC concepts in the geography classroom. Below are some links to help include mathematics in the study of geography.

 

Daft Logic

Free Map Tools

Gizmodo: Google Maps Now Lets You Measure Distances

Math Shell

Sketch and Calc

WikiHow: How to Read a Map

 

 

MinecraftEdu map of USA

The “Minecraft in Geography” Presentation from HSTW14

I presented on Minecraft in Geography at the High Schools that Work Conference in Nashville, Tennessee on July 18, 2014.  Many of the resources mentioned are linked on my Minecraft page. The software discussed includes MinecraftEdu, Spritecraft, and MCEdit. The presentation (with all those detailed instructions for you or your technophile students) is linked below in Acrobat (.pdf) format.  Contact me (Twitter, Skype, or email) if you need help, have questions, or want to share success stories.

Minecraft in Geography Shared Version — .pdf (Adobe Acrobat)