Geography
Action! America's Backyard:
The Hawaii Geographic
Alliance and the National Geographic Society invite you to join us in celebrating
Geography Awareness Week. As the theme implies, much of the program is about
taking action. The website:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geographyaction
offers ideas to encourage teachers, students and families to make a difference.
In short, "Geography Action! America's Backyard: Exploring Your Public Lands" is not an end, but a means
to understand America’s backyard and to provide opportunities for taking
action to protect our public lands.
WHAT ARE
PUBLIC LANDS?
National Geographic Society
has described public lands "as everything from national parks, forests,
and wildlife refuges to urban parks and gardens. Included in this mix are
greenways and riverways, as well as historic landmarks and landscapes."
The public lands of the
United States cover more than 600 million acres. Where are the public lands in Hawaii? Think about our national parks,
Hawaiian forests, the wildlife refuges, monuments, coastal areas, wilderness
areas, marine sanctuaries, urban parks, and historical sites.
What role do public lands
play? They protect our ecosystems,
offer places for recreation, and provide natural resources. The federal and state agencies manage
our public lands to minimize long-lasting negative impacts.
GEOGRAPHY
STANDARDS:
Hawaii’s geography
standard that best fits the Geography Action theme is:
"ENVIRONMENT AND
SOCIETY: Geography Content
Standard 5: Students demonstrate stewardship of Earth's resources through the
understanding of society and the physical environment." To read the grade cluster benchmarks
and performance standards, go to:
http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/HIstandards.html Scroll down to Environment and
Society.
Other geography standards
that can be applied to the study on public lands are:
“WORLD IN SPATIAL
TERMS: Geography Content Standard
1: Students use geographic representations to organize, analyze, and present
information on people, places, and environments.”
“PLACES AND
REGIONS: Geography Content
Standard 2: Students understand how distinct physical and human characteristics
shape places and regions.”
“PHYSICAL
SYSTEMS: Geography Content
Standard 3: Students understand how physical processes shape Earth's surface
and create, sustain, and modify the ecosystems.”
“HUMAN SYSTEMS: Geography Content Standard 4: Students
analyze how people organize their activities on Earth through their analysis of
human populations, cultural mosaics, economic interdependence, settlement, and
conflict and cooperation.”
The following suggested
activities are organized by days.
Although the week is set-aside for Geography Awareness Week, feel free
to schedule your activities to fit the needs of your school's schedule and direction. The theme runs for the entire school
year.
FOCUS
QUESTIONS:
SUGGESTED
ACTIVITIES:
Play the Internet Scavenger Hunt using a few Web
sites about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. As an extension have students create additional questions
and exchange these with classmates.
Test your students’ trivia knowledge on the Nation’s
National Parks.
Check the Hawaii Geographic
Alliance website
http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/ for updates
and lesson plans.
MONDAY - November 18, 2002
INTRODUCE THE THEME -
Geography Action! America's
Backyard: Exploring Your Public
Lands
For background information
and lesson plans refer to the NGS website.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geographyaction/backyard/
Join the Public Lands
journey on the American Frontiers. http://www.publiclands.org/html/aboutus/frame_aboutus.htm
The journey is built around
six themes.
|
Theme |
National Geographic Society Website |
Hawaii |
|
Conservation |
||
|
History |
||
|
Lands |
||
|
Lifeways |
||
|
Nature |
||
|
Resources |
Resources
for Lewis and Clark explorations.
Lessons written by HGA
teachers can be found on the HGA website:
Song - Introduce
to students. Words are on the HGA website. For a copy of the tape, contact the
HGA office.
TUESDAY - November 19, 2002
POSTCARD CONTEST -
Participate in HGA Annual GAW Postcard Contest.
Postcards must be postmarked
by December 7, 2002.
See Postcard Contest Rules
for information. To see postcards
from the past years, go to:
http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/GAW.html
T-SHIRT DAY - Encourage your
students to wear a T-shirt that relates to the theme of public lands. Have the students explain why they
selected that particular T-shirt and how it relates to the GAW theme.
Explore what Geographic
Information Systems (GIS). What do
the GIS users do with the data they collect? How do the agencies use the data for public lands?
Celebrate GIS DAY. Check to see who is using GIS near your
school. The GIS users are
everywhere. You will find them in private
businesses, federal, state, and city agencies, or in many non-profit
organizations.
The City and County of Honolulu
Planning and Permitting Department has held GIS Day for students in
Honolulu. They will once again
sponsor the GIS Day 2002 on Tuesday, November 19 for a limited number of
classes. If interested, contact
the HGA office at 956-7698. Space
is limited.
To see past GIS Day events,
go to http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/GeoMatters/gis00/gisindex00.html or
http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/GeoMatters/gisday2001/gisday2001.html
STEWARDSHIP - Take
Action! Protect our greatest
resource -- the
Earth. Become a steward of
the land for America's (Hawaii's) Backyard.
Discuss how your home, school,
and community can be stewards of our public lands. National Geographic is asking everyone to take action by
completing a conservation activity to protect America’s public lands!
These activities can take as little as five minutes of your time but their
impact on the land can last a lifetime. To get started go to:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geographyaction/backyard/takeaction.html
Once you complete your
activity, National Geographic wants the world to know about your efforts! Just
fill out a simple Tell Us! Form, and your name and action will be featured on
the Geography Action! Americas Backyard Web site:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/cgi-bin/forums/ga_2002.cgi?forum=ga_2002&op=p$
Community Outreach - Have
students create GAW related posters and have them displayed at shopping centers,
libraries, school newsletters, etc.
Encourage students to take action in their community by cleaning up
litter or erasing graffiti. For
more ideas on how they can take action to help public lands go to:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/activities/18/steward_links_1.html
SPEAKERS -Invite speakers to
share about the public lands near you.
Or, study and visit a public land near you. It could even be the nearby park.
ARTICLES - Collect articles
on public lands from the daily newspapers and/or magazines. Discuss and apply
to them.
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
- See the HGA website for a list of books that can be used with your students.
ONLINE LINKS -
Linked from the HGA website. Includes sites for students and educators.
GAW REPORT - We
would love to hear from you and your students. Use the attached Report Form or
online Report Form to let us know about your classroom activities and
celebrations. If you have created a GAW site on your school's website that HGA
can link to, please contact HGA. Deadline for sending in the reports: December
21, 2002.
GAW Songs –
Includes GAW songs from 1993.
The Hawaii Geographic
Alliance: UH Manoa, Dept. of Geography,
2424 Maile Way, SSB 408,
Honolulu, HI 96822.
Phone: (808) 956-7698. Fax:
(808) 956-3512.
Email: uhgeohga@hawaii.edu
Hawaii Geographic Alliance. All rights reserved. July
2002.