BSU EarthView

Chocolate Family

2012-02-22T05:46:00.000-08:00

With cacao in Nicaragua

At EarthView presentations, I sometimes mention that I spend a lot of my time teaching and learning about the geography of coffee. Everything that is produced in some places and consumed in others has a geography, and coffee is just my favorite example among many.

Because chocolate is much more popular than coffee among our elementary and middle-school audiences, I sometimes mention cacao, the fruit from which chocolate is made. Yes, chocolate and coffee are both made from fruits. They share a lot of other geographic characteristics, often growing on the same mountains in the Tropics.

I always mention that although they are similar, cacao and coffee are not from the same family. During our most recent visit to the Richardson School in Easton, a very sharp fourth grader asked a good question: "If coffee is not in the chocolate family, what is?" This blog post is to fulfill my promise to find out, for I had never before thought to check!

To begin the answer, we should identify each plant. Cacao is a single species from the genus Theobroma; its Latin name is therefore Theobroma cacao. (Wikipedia is not a source I usually recommend, but its coverage of Linnean taxonomy is informative and easy to navigate.) A close relative in the same species is cupuaçu, which is native to the Amazon rain forest. Many of my friends in the Amazon have cupuaçu trees in their yards -- I have enjoyed climbing the trees and eating the fruit, though its flavor is a little bit unusual.

Coffee is a bit more complicated, as two different species of the Coffea genus are produced commercially. About 70 percent of coffee is Coffea arabica, which was the first to be identified and which has the higher quality. About 30 percent is the robusta variety of the species Coffea canephora, which is almost always known simply as robusta. This is higher in caffeine and lower in quality, but easier to grow.

So what about the families? The Theobroma genus is part of the family Malvaceae, which includes some surprising cousins. One relative is the kola nut of tropical western Africa, which contains caffeine but is only sometimes used in cola soft drinks. Another is the extraordinary Baobab tree, which can live for up to 4,000 years! Most surprising to me, though, are that cotton and okra are also family members.

Baobab painting, Pew Gardens

Coffea is part of the Rubiaceae family, one of the largest families of flowering plants (any plant with a fruit has a flower). Its name derives from the word rubia for red, and the family includes chinchona, from which quinine is produced, and gardenia flowers.

The species of these two families are found throughout the world, mostly in tropical or other frost-free environments. Even those that are closely related may be native to different continents, evidence of the geologically recent emergence of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas.

H.H. Richardson School, Easton -- Feb. 17

2012-02-17T04:12:00.000-08:00

42° 03' 24" N
71° 06' 26" W
Learn more about Lat/Long (including how to look them up by address)

The EarthView Team is very pleased to be returning to H.H. Richardson in Easton, where we know students enjoy learning geography! The geography of Easton is interesting in a couple of ways. Like Bridgewater, Easton was once famous for making tools from local iron deposits. The same iron that give cranberries their red color was once considered a valuable resource for making tools in both towns, until bigger, purer deposits of iron made it more efficient to produce tools in other parts of the United States, and eventually in other countries.

Easton is also well known in this area for confusion about its name. Easton has only one town government and one official name. It is often thought of as two towns -- North Easton and South Easton -- though no map shows the line between the two.

Today's EarthView visit takes place on some interesting anniversaries.

It is the 49th birthday of geographer and basketball star Michael "Air" Jordan. He decided to major in geography after traveling to Venezuela for a basketball tournament in 1983. He went on to become one of the most famous geography students ever, along with Mother Theresa.

On this date in 1897, the National Congress of Mothers met for the first time. It later became the National Parent Teachers Association - PTA.

On this date in 1947, the Voice of America began radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
On this date in 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all Congressional districts needed to contain approximately the same population. This affects how Congressional districts are chosen each ten years.
On this date in 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China, ending 25 years of isolation between the two countries.
On this date in 2002, the Transportation Security Administration was put in charge of airport security in the United States.

Straits of Hormuz

2012-02-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

A lot of questions in history and politics are best understood through the lens of geography. Matt Rosenberg explains a geographic consideration that strongly influences how the United States and other industrial countries relate to Iran. The strait of Hormuz is a 21-mile wide passage shared by Iran and Oman, but a two-mile-wide channel within that strait has great importance for the entire world.

Nuna - Rodinia - Pangaea - Amasia

2012-02-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

The interior view of the planet makes EarthView an excellent place to learn about plate tectonics. The plate boundaries shown inside highlight zones of convergence such as the Pacific Ring of Fire and zones of new creation, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the African Rift Valley. We can see that when two continental plates collide, as the Indian subcontinent continues to do with the rest of Asia, impressive orogeny (mountain-building) can result.

What we see now is a result of the greatest break-up since the Beatles (actually, it predates the Beatles by quite a bit) -- the transformation of the Pangaea into Laurasia and Gondwanaland, and eventually into the continents we know today.

This leads many EarthView visitors to ask, "What's next?" In other words, will the continents eventually drift into each other again, or will they all be subducted into the mantle? None of us will be around to see the answer, of course, but Ross Mitchell at Yale posits that 100,000,000 years from now, Amasia will coalesce around the present North Pole. If so, it would be the fourth supercontinent to form at roughly a 90 degree angle away from the most "recent" one, as Nuna, Rodinia, and Pangaea have in the distant past.

Spellman Stamp Museum

2012-02-11T20:05:00.000-08:00

See Gatehouse News story.

This pair of stamps is a wonderful example of the geography lessons that can be explored with stamps. Some places are made significant by the monuments that people erect, and the two shown in this image are among the best-known in the United States. They are framed in this view by cherry trees that were a gift to the United States from the country of Japan. The annual blossoming of the cherry trees draws visitors to Washington DC in the spring of each year, reminding us of the connections between the two countries, and of the similarity of climates between the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. and much of Japan.

The Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History is full of lessons of this kind. The museum opened on the campus of Regis College in Weston on May 4, 1963. It is one of only two dedicated stamp museums in the United States, the other being part of the Smithsonian Institution. Cardinal Spellman built an impressive stamp collection through his own travels and gifts from church members and friends.

The museum built around that personal collection now serves thousands of visitors each year. The Spellman Museum's education programs provide insight into the history of stamps and postage systems, as well as general education on geography and many other subjects. With both permanent and changing exhibits, the Museum is an excellent destination for field trips and repeat visits, as the Gatehouse News recently reported.

St. Mary's School, Taunton -- Feb. 10

2012-02-10T03:36:00.000-08:00

N 41°54'21"

W 71°05'39"

Learn more about Lat/Long (including how to look them up by address)

The EarthView Team is pleased to be visiting St. Mary's Primary School in Taunton, just a few miles southwest of our campus. We enjoy and appreciate this school, which enthusiastically includes geography at every grade level in its curriculum.

St. Mary's is in the heart of the City of Taunton, near the famous Taunton Green, a classic New England Town Common. Taunton is known as Silver City, for its historically important silversmith industry.

Stanley Elementary, Waltham -- February 3

2012-02-03T03:59:00.000-08:00

N 42°22'04"

W 71°15'08"

Learn more about Lat/Long (including how to look them up by address)

The EarthView team is making its first visit to the Stanley School in Waltham, and we are pleased be arriving during a very exciting time for the school. Artist in residence Joshua Winer is working with the entire school on a mural, and we will be delighted to see this work in progress.

Smith Elementary, Danvers -- January 27

2012-01-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

N 42 ° 35' 10"

W 70 ° 57' 14"

Learn more about Lat/Long (including how to look them up by address)

The EarthView team is pleased to be making another North Shore visit, this time to the Ivan G. Smith School in Danvers. We are even more pleased to find that the Smith School has a newsletter with a perfect name: The Globe.

This is an interesting community in terms of its land and water connections to the entire region. Bordered on almost all sides by waterways, Danvers is criss-crossed by major, historic highways, including Route 1, Route 128, and Interstate 95.

Our visit comes on January 27, the 124th birthday of the National Geographic Society. The entire EarthView team is looking forward to the Massachusetts portion of the National Geographic Geography Bee this March 30 in Worcester.

Many do not realize that the first president of National Geographic was none other than Alexander Graham Bell -- some of the EarthView team members have visited his personal office in the National Geographic Headquarters in Washington. The second president was his son-in-law, and every president since then has been a descendant.

Danvers was part of Salem during the 1692 Witch Hysteria, and the home of victim Rebecca Nurse still stands in the town. The wife and daughter of EarthView team member Dr. Hayes-Bohanan are among her direct descendants (and distant cousins of at least one Smith School student).

Danvers has something in common with far-away Weslaco, Texas: both originated a specific variety of onion. In the case of Danvers, the onion is named for the town, and vice-versa (Danvers Onion and Onion Town, repsectively). In the case of Weslaco, the onion is named for the road along which it was developed, FM 1015 (Farm-to-Market Road 1015). It is simply called a 1015 onion.

Post-event update: The EarthView team often learns as much as we teach, and the Smith School visit was no exception. The Danvers Onion, it turns out, is among the most commonly sold yellow bulb onions, and Danvers once supplied most of the onions in the surrounding region. Onion Town is also known for the Danvers Carrot, a short variety bred especially for the clay-rich soils found in Danvers. These carrots are known as "half long" and are among the most popular baby-food carrots.

The clay soil deposits that make short carrots easier to grow than long ones are also good for an industry that Danvers historically shared with Bridgewater. In both towns, the glaciers left clay behind that was good for making bricks.

As we left Danvers, we noticed a fine example of what geographers call "sense of place." The owners of this restaurant have a geographic sense of humor: its function room is named for the famous onion of a town in Georgia.

The Presidential Map

2012-01-23T16:30:00.000-08:00

A June 29 2009 blog post, The Presidential Map, shows Earthview fans that the Commander-in-Chief appreciates Geography!

Where is Boston?

2012-01-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

When viewed at a global or even a national scale, almost all of the schools we visit with the EarthView program are located in the "greater Boston" area. The actual boundaries of the city are, however, much more constrained, encompassing less than 50 square miles. In a recent Boston Globe article, Welcome to Megaboston, Chris Marstall describes a proposal that would have made the city itself more than six times larger, and with a population more than three times the current number.

This is a great story to use in reviewing the Five Themes of Geography:

Location
Place
Human-Environment Interactions
Movement
Regions

Which themes does this story illustrate must easily? Which themes are more difficult to find in this story? What kinds of regions are described in this story?

Most importantly: What do you think of as Boston? Greater Boston?

Jane Goodall, Geographer

2012-01-23T09:08:00.000-08:00

Jane Goodall is known for her work with chimpanzees and for her work around the world encouraging young people to get involved in environmental protection, both locally and globally. Her Roots & Shoots organization provides a great opportunity for students to make a difference in the world, both locally and globally.

Because of this work, Dr. Goodall was the first person ever to receive the Atlas Award from the Association of American Geographers. Several members of the EarthView team were delighted to be in Washington DC for that presentation in April, 2010. We will never forget the chimpanzee greeting with which she opened her acceptance speech!

County Map Project

2012-01-20T15:52:00.000-08:00

Today at the Burkland and Goode Schools, I mentioned the County Map Project to several groups of students. This is a geographic "life list" that I began while living in Ohio more than 20 years ago. The project began with paper maps of the United States, on which I would shade in the counties I had visited at any time in my life. I encouraged my wife Pamela and several friends to take up the hobby, and eventually created this online version of the map, including larger-scale maps of each state.

A few years ago, I began to create a third-generation version of the project, using Geographic Information Systems, but have not yet completed the transition. As it stands now, I need to revise the maps, as I have visited many counties in Michigan -- and a few in New York, Vermont, and Maine -- since the last update!

I am not alone in this hobby. The Extra Miler Club is for people throughout the United States who enjoy going out of their way to visit new places, county by county.

Burkland and Goode Schools, Middleborough -- January 20

2012-01-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

Henry B. Burkland: N 41° 53' 12" W 70° 54' 37"

Mary K. Goode: N 41° 53' 14" W 70° 54' 42"

Learn more about Lat/Long (including how to look them up by address)

We are very pleased to begin 2012 with a visit to the Burkland and Goode Schools, adjacent schools in the town of Middleborough, to our south. Here it is worth noting that EarthView is usually stored in the Geography Department of the Conant Science & Math Center at Bridgewater State University. Using the same method to find coordinates as we used above, that location is:

Conant Science & Math Center: N 41° 59' 17" W 70° 58' 19"

This information is not perfectly accurate; each set of coordinates is the average of three estimates of latitude and longitude that are based on the postal addresses of each building. Geographers who need more detailed information would work directly from topographic maps or GPS to get a more accurate reading, or to select a specific point -- such as the entrance or the center of the building -- on which to base the estimate.

How far apart are the neighboring schools?

Assuming the estimates are reasonably accurate, however, we can use the coordinates to answer a few questions:

How many degrees, minutes, and seconds did EarthView travel to reach these schools?

How far apart are the schools in degrees, minutes, and seconds?

Which school is farther west? Which is farther north?

Where are both schools relative to the Geography Department -- are they east or west, north or south?

January 20

Our EarthView blog often includes significant anniversaries related to our visit. This one takes place on January 20, which is the date of more than the usual number of events that are important in history AND geography. It is the anniversary of every U.S. presidential inauguration since 1937, as well as many other significant events.

For example, on this date in 1986, a new word was made known to the world, as the "Chunnel" was proposed. Completed in 1994, the "Channel Tunnel" connects Great Britain to France, spanning the English Channel. By connecting this major island to the mainland, it changed the geography of Europe profoundly.

Moakley Center Premiere

2011-12-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

Members of the EarthView team met recently with other BSU staff to test placing EarthView in a new location: the Atrium of the John Joseph Moakley Center on the BSU campus. Built in 1995, honors the life of service of Rep. Moakley and is a teaching space that helped to establish BSU as a regional leader in teaching with technology.

It is also one of BSU's most popular meeting spaces for special guest speakers, campus-wide meetings, and regional conferences of all kinds. For that reason, although it is a bit of a tight fit, it is good to know that EarthView fits in the atrium of this vibrant building.

In May 2012, the Moakley Center and all adjacent buildings will be used to host several hundred middle-school students for a full day of special programs to promote STEM education -- that is, education in the very important fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Because of the importance of geography as both a social and a natural science, EarthView -- either in this location or elsewhere on campus -- will be a vital part of the program.

Phil, one of the Geography Department's newest majors and a double major in elementary education, helped set up and take down EarthView for this very brief appearance. We expect to see Phil at future EarthView events!

EarthView coordinators Dr. Domingo and Dr. Hayes-Bohanan had the privilege of posing in front of Africa with a citizen of the planet's newest country. Micheal is from New York City but is also a citizen of South Sudan, which was formed in July 2011. He was very proud to have participated not only in the referendum that formed the country, but in the inaugural ceremonies that took place at Boston City Hall.

See more photos of the fitting day on Flickr.

Pangaea: Another Possibility?

2011-12-22T05:26:00.000-08:00

In the trailer for Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, the hapless squirrel follows the elusive acorn on the most improbable journey yet: to, through, and around the center of the Earth! The result is a fast-paced alternative view of the breakup of Pangaea, the biggest breakup since the Beatles!

For another fun but more accurate version of the plate-tectonics story, see the Earth Floor site from Exploring the Environment, an educational project of NASA and the Wheeling Jesuit University. More advanced lessons are available from Plate Tectonics, which is currently developing related learning tools.

Mama Africa

2011-12-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

During the EarthView program, we learned that Ms. Flanagan's class has been listening to African music in class. This reminded us of the Brazilian axe (ah-SHAY) singer Chico Cesar and his delightful song Mama Africa. The video above was filmed at his home in Bahia with his own mother and the rest of his family and neighbors. He sings with great joy and pride of Africa as his mother. Salvador, Bahia is where many Africans were first brought to Brazil as slaves. Slavery did not end in Brazil until 1888. Although it was a brutal practice, it has influenced the cultural geography of Brazil in many ways.

EarthView team member James Hayes-Bohanan started his study of Latin America as an environmental geography, but eventually became quite interested in the cultural geography of music in Latin America as well.

Holiday Lessons

2011-12-16T03:11:00.000-08:00

The geography-education students at BSU are full of great ideas for teaching and learning about the world through the themes and skills of geography. See 'Tis the Season on our department blog for the latest idea, called Earthly Ornaments. The entry includes a detailed lesson plan.

Kennedy School, Woburn -- Dec 16

2011-12-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

N 42 ° 29' 34" W 71 ° 08' 46"

Learn more about Lat/Long (including how to look them up by address)

The EarthView team is pleased to return to the Kennedy School in Woburn, which we visited just over a year ago. Our visit this year is on December 16. Among the geographically significant anniversaries of this visit:

2010: Just one year ago, a controlled explosion underground connected the Medog county in Tibet to the to the highway network of China. Work on a tunnel had proceeded from each end of a tunnel. The explosion that connected the two ends of the tunnel also connected vast geographic realms, much as a Golden Spike an a single stretch of railroad at Promontory Point, Utah joined vast areas of the United States back in 1869.

Map: Tibet328

The geographical changes of the Tibet tunnel are described on the Tibet328 news site. Most countries recognize Tibet diplomatically as part of China, though its independence movement also has international support. This should be kept in mind when reading the story, as it does not come from independent journalists, but rather from a Chinese government news agency.

1976: Major oil spill near Nantucket, Massachusetts, as a Liberian oil tanker became stranded. Few if any major ships are owned by Liberians, but it has more registered ships than any other nation, because its inspection requirements are minimal. For this reason, ships from Liberia are often involved in oil spills.

1971: Don McLean's song American Pie was released. Its geography lessons are many, including the important word levee.

1971: On the very same day, Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) declared its independence from Pakistan. The original partition of India -- after its independence from England -- put all the predominantly Muslim regions into one country, even though most of the vast expanse of India lay between its two sections.

1944: The Battle of the Bulge began during World War II

1773: Boston Tea Party

Geminid Showers December 13-14

2011-12-12T20:50:00.000-08:00

Geminid meteors appear near the constellation Gemini, and are doing so this week, mainly on Wednesday and Thursday. Despite bright-moon conditions, people in areas of clear sky might see up to 40 meteors per hour during this storm.

The NASA Science News article on the 2011 Geminids explains how their origin in an asteroid (as opposed to a comet) makes these meteors distinctive. The article also includes suggestions for most effective viewing and a video of an early arrival.

NASA Science News allows users to sign up for email alerts for all kinds of interesting news about earth and space science.

North Reading Middle School -- December 9

2011-12-09T01:41:00.000-08:00

42° 34' 36" N
71° 05' 17" W
Learn more about Lat/Long

The day of the EarthView Team's return to North Reading Middle School happens to be on the last day of a United Nations meeting in eThikwene, South Africa, better known as Durban. Todd Stern was sent by President Obama to represent the United States at the meeting.

The last major agreement about climate change was made in Kyoto, Japan and is about to end. China and the United States are the two countries that contribute the most gases to climate change, but neither country agreed to the Kyoto Protocol. The meeting in Durban is ending without a new agreement.

The Global Climate Change web page includes links to more resources about the geography of this important problem.

Geographic Literacy by 2025

2011-12-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

The March 30, 2009 blog post Geographic Literacy by 2025 links to an article about geographic literacy from ArcNews, a GIS magazine from ESRI.

Deepest Mines

2011-12-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

A March 30, 2009 blog post entitled Deepest Mines explains the concept of scale and how heat and pressure affect mines.

Advocating for Geography

2011-12-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

Since 2007, close to 30,000 Massachusetts students have participated in EarthView programs. The curiosity and enthusiasm of thousands of students and dozens of excellent geography teachers throughout the Commonwealth continue to energize the EarthView team.

Unfortunately, the experience of in-depth geography education is still the exception rather than the rule for Massachusetts students. The Massachusetts Geographic Alliance is a network of geography educators that partners with EarthView and is advocating at both the national and state level for more geographic education and more in-depth preparation of teachers in this crucial area.

Visit the MassGeo blog for the latest information about efforts at both levels, particularly for information about Senate Bill 182.

Andrea Gail

2011-12-02T07:57:00.000-08:00

Andrea Gail before the shipwreck, Gloucester Times

The George Clooney film The Perfect Storm was, for many people, the introduction to the perils of commercial saltwater fishing. Coastal communities in Massachusetts are all too familiar with the risks. Even on ships with a multitude of modern technologies -- such as the Andrea Gail -- fishing remains one of the most dangerous professions in the United States.

The tale of how three North Atlantic storms converged was first told in a book of the same name by Sebastian Junger.

Earth at Night NASA

2011-12-02T07:31:00.000-08:00

This is an image mosaic, meaning that many images were "stitched" together to make it. It shows what the earth would like like if we could see it all at once, without cloud cover. Because neither condition is possible, hundreds of images are combined in this single mosaic.

On this image, light is a proxy for population, meaning that it tends to be found in the same places as humans. For this reason, we can see the places where humans live in large numbers and the places that human settlement is more difficult. Generally, the places that do not support agriculture do not support large numbers of humans. Places that are too cold, high, wet, or dry may have human settlement, but at low density.

Exceptions are often found where some natural resource attracts a population of workers.

Light is not a perfect proxy, though. Notice, for example, that South Korea appears almost as an island, because North Korea is barely visible. Some places with stronger economies look as though they have far more people than they actually do.

Some specific features show up very well on this mosaic. For example, the distribution of population in Egypt exhibits a form not found anywhere else on the planet.

Visit the APOD page for technical information and a higher-resolution version of the image.

Wonders of Nature

2011-11-29T21:47:00.000-08:00

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World are ancient marvels of human ingenuity that were chosen by a handful of individual Greek and Roman writers over a period of several centuries. Several lists were drawn up, all of which included constructed sites in the general vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea (whose name, after all, means, "In the Middle of the Earth").

In 2011, a project endeavored to identify a new Seven Wonders list, this time of natural features and this time chosen more democratically. Steve Curwood of Living on Earth recently interviewed the Eamonn Fitzgerald, who helped lead the effort. The 28 finalists are shown on the map below and described on the finalists page.

The list of Seven Wonders was announced on November 11 and is awaiting final certification. Geography students of all ages can, however, use the original list of finalists to organize their own votes and other educational activities.

For example, using latitude and longitude or a globe, students can identify the finalist locations closest and farthest from home, closest to each other, remotest from each other, farthest north or south, and so on. Finalists can be categorized as biological or geological wonders, or in a variety of other ways. What are the local languages (official and perhaps indigenous) spoken in the vicinity of each? Which are most threatened by human activities and why?

Language and Lands Beyond

2011-11-29T21:19:00.000-08:00

The National Public Radio (NPR) program All Things Considered is a daily radio show that includes a lot of different perspectives on news, science, and the arts. Although meant primarily for adults, many middle school and high school students learn a lot -- including a lot of geography -- from the program. It has been archived online for several years, so searching the archives is a good way to find a radio story about almost any area of the world.

On November 29, the program included a lovely story about the 50th anniversary of a children's book that almost did not get published. As many adults now understand, most children love language and wordplay. When author Norton Juster and illustrator Jules Feiffer first offered The Phantom Tollbooth, however, publishers thought it was too sophisticated for children!

The book is known mainly for its fun with language and for the interactions between words and images. In the interview between Michelle Norris and Norton Juster, though, it is clear that this is also a great book for young geographers! Once Milo starts exploring the lands beyond the tollbooth, he cannot help but continue to explore more and more.

Members of the EarthView Team are like young Milo in the story. Among us, we have been to all the towns in Massachusetts, all the counties in New England (one of us has done that individually!), all fifty of the United States, and more than 60 countries around the world. To do this travel, we have learned languages, consulted maps, and sometimes just taken a chance to travel for no reason other than to see what was over the next horizon!

Spofford Pond School, Boxford -- Dec 2

2011-11-28T15:46:00.000-08:00

42°41'46"N

71°01'02"W
(Visit more about Lat/Long for ideas that combine math and geography learning. This is our second visit to Spofford Pond, and it remains the farthest north we have taken EarthView.)

The town of Boxford is currently involved in an interesting project that will eventually benefit the entire region. According to a recent article in The Tri-Town Transcript (a great name for a local paper!), many people from Boxford turned out for a recent meeting to learn about the section of the Border to Boston Trail that is planned for the eastern portion of the town.

Because team member Dr. Hayes-Bohanan has a lot of friends and former students in South America, the first he heard of the current volcanic activity in Ecuador was in Portuguese! (What country was this former student writing from?)

According to BBC News, the Tungurahua volcano is currently emitting a plume of ash nearly to the top of the troposphere, and schools have been evacuated. So far the activity has not caused any damage, but over the past dozen years, this volcano in the middle of the Andes has been quite active, so authorities are being very cautious.

Tungurahua is not a Spanish name, by the way. It is of Quichua origin and may simply mean "crater" though the more interesting possibility is that it means "Throat of Fire." The volcano is in a province of the same name, and is located at 1°28′01″S; 78°26′30″W. How does that compare to the location of Spofford Pond School? What is the nearest point in North America with the same longitude as the volcano?

We encourage our Spofford Pond students to use the "Comments" link below to send us their questions or comments about geography.

Our visit takes place on December 2, the anniversary of several events with geographic significance:

1802 The British sold Suriname to the Dutch. (Because he speaks both of these languages, Dr. Domingo was successful as a Fulbright Scholar in Suriname, and is now considered a leading expert on the country.)

1823 President James Monroe Declared the Monroe Doctrine, discouraging European countries from involvement in the Western Hemisphere

1899 The United States and Germany agree to divide Samoa between them; Samoa eventually became independent, but American Samoa is still a U.S. Territory. Look for both of them on EarthView.

1933 Bertil Clason (of Detroit, Michigan) and Sigrid Carlson (of Stockholm, Sweden) married in the first transatlantic wedding officiated by telephone.

And as Spofford School students know -- December 2 is Crazy Hair Day!

Better not Bottled

2011-11-14T05:27:00.000-08:00

Most Americans used to get water from the tap. A five-minute cartoon narrated by Annie Leonard, The Story of Bottled Water explains how this changed in one generation. Many Americans now willingly pay $6 to $8 per gallon for their drinking water, generating a half-billion bottles of wasted plastic every week!

As with all of her "Story of Stuff" videos, Leonard does not just complain about a problem. She explains it as part of helping people think about how to solve the problem. This is five minutes of video every person should see!

Gates Intermediate School, Scituate -- November 18

2011-11-12T07:32:00.000-08:00

42° 11' 59" N
70° 45' 18" W
Learn more about Lat/Long

The EarthView team will be making its first visit to Scituate. The name of the town is derived from a Wampanoag word for the "cold brook" that feeds its harbor, but coincidentally sounds like an English word for an important geographic concept!

Because geography is the study of places, geographers are very interested in the many ways in which places can be described, categorized, and compared. Geography distinguishes between two equally important ways of describing places: site and situation. In choosing where to locate a new settlement (or a store or a house or an office), characteristics of the place itself (site) must be balanced with its position relative to other places (situation). The web site of the Barcelona Field Studies Centre lists several examples of site and situation relative to the location of that city.

What are the site and situation (or scituation) characteristics that led to the settlement of Scituate? What aspects of each continue to make it a popular place to live?

Geography Happenings on November 18

1993 A record for November cold was set on this date, when the temperature in North Siberia reached negative 55 degrees Celcius (that's negative 67 Farenheit)! Siberia is known for temperature extremes because of its position in the upper-mid latitudes and its continentality. A look from inside EarthView confirms that the interior of Asia is farther from the moderating influence of oceans than is any other place on earth. Incidentally, the radio program On Point recently featured an interview with Ian Frazier about his travels in Siberia, in which he discusses the human and physical geography of this place that is both vast and remote.

Vladimir Putin in Siberia, AP Photo from WBUR

1987 The Congressional report on the Iran-Contra Affair was released.

1980 A treaty between El Salvador and Honduras formally ended the so-called Soccer War of 1969, a brief but deadly conflict that had actually lasted only 100 hours. Because soccer is important throughout Latin America, some people assume that soccer was the cause of this war, which it was not. Tensions between the two countries had been building over economic issues, leading to the mistreatment of soccer players during a match, but the real conflict was over the treatment of workers.

1976 Democracy returned to Spain after 37 years of dictatorship.

1961 President Kennedy sent 18,000 soldiers as advisors to Vietnam.

1956 Although it technically became independent of France in March of 1956, November 18 is celebrated as Independence Day in Morocco, when King Mohammed declared independence upon his return from exile.

1941 Mussolini's forces left Ethiopia, in the early days of World War II.

1929 The Atlantic Ocean's largest earthquake broke the transatlantic telephone cable in 28 places.

1909 The United States invaded Nicaragua, later overthrowing President Zalaya.

1902 The Teddy Bear is named for President Teddy Roosevelt.

1883 Time zones are established in the United States and Canada, to simplify train schedules.

1805 Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first U.S. citizens to cross the continent.

1755 Boston's strongest earthquake occurred, though nobody was injured.

1307 William Tell shoots an apple off his son's head, though it probably did not look like this one!

Brockton UU Church -- October 30

2011-10-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

EarthView team members Dr. Domingo and Dr. Hayes-Bohanan were among friends when they visited the Universalist Unitarian Church of Brockton. Several members have participated in other programs of the Massachusetts Geographic Alliance or have seen EarthView in other venues. We were therefore pleased to make EarthView an integral part of the morning's service on October 30, with a program entitled "Our Earth, A Fascinating Place to Be."

Because EarthView had to be supported above the pews on a platform of dining tables, we had no "inside" program. Still, the two geographers shared a number of insights with the congregation, mainly from the African and Atlantic regions, including Cape Verde, whose eleventh island is sometimes said to be the city of Brockton!

Tantasqua Regional Jr. H.S. -- Oct 28

2011-10-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

42° 09' 24" N
72° 07' 44" W
Learn more about Lat/Long

The EarthView team is delighted to be returning to Tantasqua, where the one-and-only Globe Lady, Ms. Rosalie Sokol, first became a geography teacher.

She began life as a French speaker and her education career as a teacher of the French language at Tantasqua. During the 1980s, however, she participated in an intensive training program at National Geographic, and went on to be a geographer extraordinaire! As the Globe Lady, she is part of a team with a passion for geography education that now travels throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Our Tantasqua visit occurs on the anniversary of a few interesting events.

1636: Harvard University was founded. Sadly, Harvard closed its geography department in 1948.
1790: Vermont paid New York $30,000 to settle land claims, making way for the 14th state to be formed. It was admitted the next year, on the same day as Kentucky, so that the balance between free and slave states was maintained.
1886: President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France (which helped establish the USA during the Revolutionary War) and a beacon welcoming people everywhere to this nation of immigrants
1971: John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded Happy Christmas (War is Over) in New York City. (The links in this line are to two versions of the song that capture the paradox. The first shows Christmas; the second shows children in war.)

When time allows, BSU students who are part of the EarthView team share "extra" lessons about the geography of specific places. In this case, geographer Ashley Costa teaches some samba beats and discusses the cultural geography of Brazilian music with a group of Tantasqua students. Also shown (near bottom-left) is fellow geographer Brigitta Hart, who had given presentations about Alaska. Both students combined their academic training in geography with their own extensive experience in the regions they discuss. BSU education student Paulo Borges is also available to discuss life in Cape Verde.

The EarthView team can arrange for presentations of this kind to take place in conjunction with any school visit, and are happy to discuss scheduling possibilities ahead of each program.

Congratulations North Andover!

2011-10-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of years, the EarthView has been pleased to work with geography teachers at North Andover Middle School. In addition to the daytime program with students, we have also led programs in the evening for parents.

We have committed to these long days not only because we enjoy the company of the North Andover educators, but also because it enables us to be part of something truly innovative: Family Geography Night! Throughout the building, students and their families participate in a variety of fun, creative, and artistic activities, all of which teach geography and generate interest in learning more.

This year, the State Senate has recognized this achievement and has issued an Official Citation to North Andover Middle School. Family Geography Night is a wonderful model, which the Massachusetts Geographic Alliance and EarthView have started to promote at other schools.

Salem News

2011-10-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

Collins Middle School, Salem -- Oct 21

2011-10-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

42° 30' 52" N
70° 54' 22" W
Learn more about Lat/Long

The EarthView team is very pleased to be visiting Collins Middle School in Salem. Team members Domingo and Hayes-Bohanan attended the annual meeting of the New England and St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society when it met in Salem in 2009. They and other members of the team enjoy visiting Salem's many historic sites and museums, or simply walking around the beautiful center of the seaside city.

The Collins School is located very close to the most infamous event in Salem's history, and one to which EarthView team member Dr. Hayes-Bohanan has a family connection. His wife and daughter are direct descendants of Rebecca Nurse, one of the victims of the 1692 Witch Trials. Her hanging took place just a few hundred yards from the school, on aptly-named Gallows Hill. Even before we learned of the connection, the story of Rebecca Nurse has been of special interest, and we have appreciated both the educational materials provided by the Salem Witch Museum and the serene Salem Witch Trial Memorial. The stone benches that honor each victim create a serene space in the center of town where people can contemplate the tragedy.

Peter Hutton: FreePort (at PEM)

That tragedy from three centuries ago does not entirely define Salem, of course. Though the city is identified with witches in both serious and light-hearted ways, it is geographically significant in many other ways. These include achievement in the arts and architecture and of course a rich history of seafaring and trade. The delightful Peabody Essex Museum is a great place to learn about Salem, New England, and the world as a whole. Current works include exhibits about container ships, a means of transportation that has really changed the world!

As always, our orientation to EarthView will also include some discussion of the planet's second-largest continent -- Africa -- which some people mistakenly believe to be a single country, or entirely comprised of "jungle." In reality, Africa is large and diverse in both its physical and human geography.

We are very pleased that the EarthView team will be joined for this and other upcoming visits by Paulo Borges, a graduate student at BSU who will be speaking a bit about his home country. Like many students at BSU, he is from the island country of Cape Verde, located about 400 miles west of the westernmost part of mainland Africa.

Cape Verde is a fascinating country with a very small area but a rich history of connections to the rest of the world. Paulo will tell a little about the environment of his country, and why Cape Verde is much better known south of Boston than it is to the north.

Upcoming EarthView Events

2011-10-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

The following is a partial list of EarthView programs taking place in coming months (revised December 17, 2011). All town and city names are in Massachusetts, unless otherwise indicated. We usually bring EarthView to schools on Fridays; some Fridays are not listed below because tentative arrangements have not yet been finalized or because the team is not available. We are currently accepting requests for remaining openings in spring 2012 reservations and are starting to plan the 2012-2013 season.

Please see the EarthView web site for requirements and contact information.

For both pedagogic and security reasons, participation at school programs is limited to the students themselves, unless prior arrangements are made for visitors. Certain EarthView events are open to the public, as indicated below.

This schedule will be reposted as further programs are confirmed.
Friday, January 20
Burkland/Goode Elementary
Middleboro
Thursday, January 26 (evening)
CANCELED
Parker Middle School
Taunton
Friday, January 27
Ivan G. Smith Elementary School
Danvers
Friday, February 3
William F. Stanley Elementary School
Waltham
Friday, February 10
St. Mary's Elementary
Taunton
Friday, February 17
H. H. Richardson School
North Easton
On Friday, February 24, several members of the EarthView Team will be in New York City to attend the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG). Incidentally, EarthView itself was part of the 2010 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
Friday, March 2
Littleton Middle School
Littleton
Friday, March 9
Elmwood Street School
Millbury
Friday, March 16
Walton Elementary, using Woodville School gym
Wakefield
Friday, March 23
Wilmington Middle School
Wilmington
On Friday, March 30, the entire EarthView Team will be attending the Massachusetts Geography Bee.
Friday, April 13
The Hood School
North Reading
Friday, April 27
Sharon Middle School
Sharon
Friday, May 4
Howe Manning School
Middleton
Friday, May 11
Horace Mann Elementary (pending verification of ceiling height)
Franklin
Thursday, May 24 (day)
Bridgewater State University
CONNECT Summer of Science
Bridgewater
Thursday, May 24 (evening)
Quabbin Regional Middle School
Barre
Friday, June 1
Rumney Marsh Academy
Revere

Photos-North Andover Middle School

2011-10-07T05:46:00.000-07:00

North Andover -- Oct 6-7

2011-10-07T03:58:00.000-07:00

42° 41' 36" N
71° 07' 15" W
Learn more about Lat/Long (including how to look them up by address)

Photo: Ashley Costa

The EarthView Team -- newly constituted with geography students Ashley Costa and Brigitta Hart -- is in the middle of its fourth visit to North Andover Middle School, to take part in one of the Commonwealth's leading geography programs. See post from December 2010 visit for one of the interesting ways NAMS teachers used EarthView on a previous visit.

In addition to EarthView presentations, the school hosted its annual Geography Night, in which students are joined by their parents, siblings, and other family members get a glimpse of the geography program at this school through games, music, and special appearances -- such as a talk by Channel 5 meteorologist Chris Lambert.

NASA Image of the Day

2011-10-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) explores space, but its explorations of the earth are equally important. Fortunately, the Earth Observatory at NASA makes it easy for internet users to get an idea of the variety of ways in which NASA helps scientists, students, and the general public to learn about the earth, through its Image of the Day (IOTD) web site.

Each day, a different image is featured. The images are at a variety of scales, ranging in coverage from a single city or river delta to a continent to the entire planet or more. Each image is accompanied by a brief explanation, and often by a few more images that complete the story. The sampling above gives an idea of the variety of topics covered by IOTD and by NASA in general.

Users can check the web site each day or subscribe to the IOTD program by email.

Ahern Return

2011-09-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

42° 4' 27" N
71° 14' 18" W
Learn more about Lat/Long

The official postcards of Project EarthView feature a photograph that looks like we took students to outer space somewhere -- really is just the Ahern gym with some photo editing. Of the 30,000 students who have experience EarthView with us, we will have reached close to a thousand at this one school, which we visit for the fourth time this year.

Although we are usually not able to play videos during our school visits, we are going to start featuring on this blog a few videos that we find educational, entertaining and -- above all -- geographic. The first example is The Alphabet of Nations, a peppy song from They Might Be Giants, a rock band that has recorded many quirky educational songs. The song does not list all the countries of the word -- just 24 of them. W and X are left out, to the consternation of those who would include the West Bank.

Braintree East Middle School -- Sept 23

2011-09-23T04:07:00.000-07:00

42º 13' 14" N
70º 59' 20" W
Learn more about Lat/Long

The EarthView team is pleased to be returning to the town of Braintree, this time to East Middle School, after a wonderful visit to South Middle School last week.

Braintree is located south of Boston; the name is a bit puzzling, but even odder to newcomers in the region is the phrase "Braintree split," which is not a dessert item, but rather a very important division in the regional highway system. Coming south from Boston, drivers "split" toward Cape Cod or toward the rest of the country, at an often congested intersection in Braintree.

The town of Braintree gets its name from a town in England; we do not yet know the story of how that town got its name or what it means, exactly. Looking to the town seal for a clue, we are still more mystified. This summer, some controversy has surrounded the color of the seal and the shape of the "incorporated" ribbon, but we are still hoping to find out why an arm and sword are featured, and why it looks like someone is swimming with a sword.

We are hoping that an East Middle School student can provide some clues for us....

Thank Catarina!

The EarthView team is fond of its coffee -- particulary fair-trade, organic coffee that is often brewed by team member Dr. Hayes-Bohanan before a day's outing. In the Hayes-Bohanan household, we think about where our coffee comes from, and whenever someone thanks us for a cup of coffee, we say, "Thank the farmers!" In the case of the coffee the team is traveling on today, we can say, "Thank Catarina" because of a special coffee company called Coffee CSA, which is a coffee company in the United States that is owned cooperatively by coffee farmers all over the world.

Today's coffee was produced by Catarina Yac, a woman in southwest Guatemala who farms coffee on three acres in the region of Santa Clara Laguna. Her farm is located at 15.0848967º N and 91.9227488º W. Noting that these coordinates are in decimal (rather than degree-minute-second) form, we can use them to find out how far the coffee is from its farm today.

Try answering the following questions about Catarina's coffee:

1. How big is her farm, compared to the East Middle School campus?
2. How many degrees of latitude is East Middle from her farm? What direction?
3. How many degrees longitude is East Middle from her farm? What direction?
4. How many miles or kilometers away is the farm?
5. How far is the farm from the nearest road (see the Google Maps link on Catarina's web page)? The nearest city? The Pacific Ocean?

EarthView on International Day of Peace

2011-09-22T04:24:00.000-07:00

Thirty years ago, the nations of the world -- through the United Nations General Assembly -- voted to designate September 21 of each year as the International Day of Peace. For the past seven years, the day has been celebrated in EarthView's home base of Bridgewater. The recognition of the day has included religious and educational organizations in vigils, parades, concerts, and the annual rededication of a multi-lingual Peace Pole near the center of the town.

The pole is located between the First Parish Church (41° 59' 18" N; 70° 58' 26" W) and the University campus, and carries the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in about a dozen languages, each chosen because of particular connection to the community and region. Native speakers of the languages often assist in the ceremony.

Since the Geography Department at Bridgewater State University (then College) acquired EarthView in 2008, the giant globe has also been part of the festivities, being placed on a platform above the pews in the enormous and historic sanctuary of First Parish Church, Unitarian-Universalist. People marveled at the globe, which was a tremendous reminder of the importance of cooperation on a planet that all humans share and of the fact that the planet did not originally come with political boundaries. Dr. Domingo and Dr. Hayes-Bohanan were often on hand to answer questions about EarthView and the planet itself. Dr. Hayes-Bohanan even spent an entire night under EarthView's shadow!

Photo: Tony Esposito

Many visitors expressed a desire, however, to enter EarthView, which after all was designed specifically for this purpose. The entire EarthView Team therefore worked with the Peace Celebration Committee to set up EarthView as part of a five-day series of events. On Wednesday morning, therefore, the actual day designated by the United Nations, EarthView was set up in the Kelly Gym at BSU for the general public to view it, and even to enter it. Several university staff members who had not previously seen EarthView were delighted to have the opportunity, as were about a dozen students in a local home-schooling network.

Track the 50/50 team.

EarthView also had a very special visit from the three remarkable members of Project 50/50, who have dedicated themselves to a lives of full-time service to others. Each week, the team visits a different state of the U.S. to raise awareness of local human needs, and to assist directly in addressing those needs. In this way, Shay, Shane, Rob, and their border collie Zuzu are learning geography every day, and putting that learning to use in the service of others.

South Middle School, Braintree -- Sept 16

2011-09-16T04:20:00.000-07:00

42°11'02"N

70°59'53"W
(Learn more about Lat/Long)

EarthView seen through window in South Middle School gymnasium.
Photo credit: Ashley Costa.

The EarthView team was happy to be returning to South Middle School in Braintree to open the new season of programs. We look forward to an exciting new year with two new "EarthView Wranglers" -- BSU geography majors Ashley Costa and Brigitta Hart have volunteered occasionally with EarthView and are now going to be a regular part of the team.

We opened this year on the 16th of September, known for the "Grito de Dolores" -- a famous scream that declared the independence of Mexico from Spain in 1810.

Dr. Domingo discusses Africa with a class, while the
Globe Lady (not shown) teaches inside EarthView.

EarthView team members learn as much as we teach,
and we bring an atlas along!

Upcoming EarthView Events

2011-09-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

The EarthView schedule was updated as of Oct 9. Please see the revised schedule.

EarthView at WSU

2011-09-07T06:45:00.000-07:00

The EarthView team -- with new EarthView Wrangler Ashley Costa -- is proud to be helping our sister university kick off a very exciting series of events. Globalization is the theme for the first "Themester" at Worcester State University, called Worcester in the World. Throughout the semester, courses, projects and special events will be organized around that theme. Dr. Robert Brooks, WSU Professor of Criminal Justice, learned of EarthView as he was planning the semester's programs, and decided it would be perfect for opening day. Of course, we agreed!

Team member James Hayes-Bohanan will be returning to WSU on October 12 to present The World in a Coffee Cup as part of the Themester.

Supporting Geography Education

2011-08-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the first appearance of EarthView in the State House in June 2010, several legislators have submitted a bill to expand geography education in Massachusetts. Even more legislators got a peak of the world from the inside when EarthView returned in April 2011, so support is building for geography education and geography licensure in the Commonwealth.

The bill would expand geography education beyond its current one-year slot in grade 6 or 7, while also allowing high school teachers in Massachusetts once again to be licensed in geography, a possibility that was taken away in the late 1990s.

More information about the bill and how to support it is available at MassGEO, the web site of the Massachusetts Geographic Alliance. Currently the bill is being considered by the Joint Committee on Education, which heard testimony from the EarthView team and other MGA members on Flag Day, June 14. Dr. Hayes-Bohanan's testimony is posted on his blog. This autumn is a good time for other Massachusetts residents to contact their legislators to discuss the bill.

Welcome to BSU-EarthView

2011-08-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

This is the new location of the blog for Project EarthView, an outreach program of the Department of Geography at Bridgewater State University.

For earlier articles, visit the archive of the blog at its previous BSC address.