Geography Awareness

Everyday...well, frankly, it hasn't quite been everyday. ALMOST everyday I have posted a "GeoQuestion" on Facebook. A couple I use from National Geographic, a couple are from my books, but most of them are wrought and brought from my butt. I enjoy asking people tricky, or challenging questions. Frequently people confess that they Googled the answer or something similar, and other times they don't confess but it is obvious to me anyways. I urge people to Google the answers if they do not know the answer, because the time put into typing "Micronesian countries" and reading enough to find the answer is time put towards Geography awareness, which is what this blog and my questions are all about.

We in the United States, and honestly others as well, severely lack geographical knowledge. Where is the logic of preparing children for twelve years to go out into the big world without teaching them what the big world even is. Where is the logic in people trying to find themselves if they don't even know where they are. Where is the logic behind forcing kids to recite the fifty states of America if two kids in every high school class cannot even find the USA on a world map (approx 1 in 20 cannot) or if one third of those children cannot find a given state such as Louisiana on a US map? Why do we learn the "whats" if we do not understand where those "whats" are? "Fewer than 50 percent of those polled in the survey could identify the U.S. states of New York or Ohio on a map."

Where is one of the most important pillars of understanding along with Why, How, What, When.

Except Geography is a little more important than simply supporting the "Where" pillar. I could connect every (or almost every) school subject to Geography quickly and easily. I will in a later post. A good understanding in geography helps development in nearly all other subjects, and especially in skills involving spatial thinking and connectivity.

My journey begins to spread the word of Geography. Test yourself on this: Geography Zone Challenge You may very well score low this first time, but after a while try again, and soon you can breeze through the whole thing.