How Many Rhode Islands is a simple web application that shows and tells you how many Rhode Islands would fit inside a given country.
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Global news with a spatial perspective: Interesting, current supplemental materials for geography students and teachers. http://geographyeducation.org
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Seth Dixon
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AIDS is a global issue, but clearly this impacts Sub-Saharan Africa far more than any other region. Tags: Africa, medical, infographic, development. Delete the scoop?
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"Schools used to be the heart of a neighborhood or community. Children and not a few teachers could walk to class, or to the playground or ball field on the weekend. This was relatively easy to do, because the schools were placed within, not separated from, their neighborhoods. They were human-scaled and their architecture was not just utilitarian, but signaled their importance in the community. Now it has become hard to tell one from a Walmart or Target." What better way to demonstrate the concepts of urban sprawl, automobile-dependent city planning and economies of scale than by analyzing the very geographic context of our schools themselves? This is a very nicely arranged photo essay that most could spark conversation and would foster some discussion on how best to plan neighborhoods and spatially arrange the city. Tags: transportation, planning, sprawl, education, scale. Delete the scoop?
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The world is becoming more and more interconnected. Globalization changes how people consume, work and live almost everywhere on the world. Today, many economic, political, cultural or ecological relationships are not explainable from a national perspective. At the same time, a controversial debate about the consequences of globalization has begun. Questions to ponder: What are the driving forces behind globalization? What areas are most impacted by globalization? How does globalization benefit some, and adversely impact others? Why? Tags: Globalization, economic, industry, NGOs, political, scale, unit 6 industry. 
Kyle Toner's comment,
September 10, 2012 12:31 PM
Globalization is an overall positive drive. In time globalization needs to mold developing countries who are in need of a better political and economical system
Sheyna Vargas's comment,
September 10, 2012 1:16 PM
After watching this video, it is becoming clear that Globalization isn't just one-sided. While making it easier to connect with people all around the world and lowering costs for businesses, it is also causing harm to less developed countries. The question that pops into my head is, "Does the ends justify the means?" One could argue either point.
First, Globalization has made the world a "smaller" place. Not only is it easier to communicate with one another on different sides of the world but it’s also easier and cheaper to transport goods across nations and bodies of water. These are obviously benefits to both the developed countries and lesser developed countries in getting goods in timely fashions and producing jobs in both areas. Globalization also creates competition amongst developing nations to learn or advance in new skills to bring and/or keep jobs in their country/area. On the other hand, Globalization is also wreaking havoc on cultural diversity around the global with Western music, food, and products becoming more available. Western culture is basically looked upon as the “money making” culture. Globalization, by creating competition is also harming local business in newly developing countries. This drives the prices down for the local businesses and makes them work for less. Delete the scoop?
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We often talk about life expectancy data at the national level; this simplification has a great deal of utility but obscures regional distinctions within a country. Some counties in the United States have life expectancies on par with Japan (84), while the worst off counties are more similar to Indonesia (69). Even more startling, in 661 counties, life expectancy stopped dead or went backwards for women since 1999. This is a dramatic look at the importance of scale within any geographic analysis to arrive at reasonable conclusions. So let's start looking at local demographic data instead of just nationally aggregated data. For more on this press release, see: http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/news-events/news-release/girls-born-2009-will-live-shorter-lives-their-mothers-hundreds-us-counties 
Roland Trudeau Jr.'s comment,
July 10, 2012 12:53 PM
I'm wondering exactly why each gender lasts longer in their respective states. Assuming it has to do with the totality of the situation. Life-styles completely encompassed
's comment, August 27, 2012 11:30 AM
I wonder what the link between male longevity and Iowa males is? Perhaps the connection the land -physical work and local food.
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Everything in the known universe, created by 14-year-old twins.
After you follow the link, click "Start," and then use the slider across the bottom, or the wheel on your mouse, to zoom in -- and in and in and in... or out and out and out... It will take you from the very smallest features postulated by scientists (the strings in string theory) to the very largest (the observable universe). This really is a fabulous visual demonstration of scale at micro and macro levels. This is an excellent way to bring spatial thinking into the math curriculum as well. See this on the twins website at: http://htwins.net/scale2/ 
baylee gelnett's comment,
September 12, 2012 9:41 AM
Its amazing to see how big our universe is! How small us humans are in it, and how difference in size is between the smallest and the largest thing are a huge size difference. It is also surprising that two twin boys at the age of 14 were able to create that, knowing all of those items and putting time to research all of that. I probably wouldnt be able to do that good of a job!
Josiah Melchor's comment,
September 12, 2012 11:41 PM
As the universe expands, Its interesting how our size compares to many things from the size of planck to the whole universe! With the graphical presentation and information presented,there is no question that the flash program created by 14 year old twins became a hit.
Kalin B.'s comment,
September 13, 2012 8:11 PM
I've seen this around, and it always reminds me of a fictional pair of glasses that would show you what little a part of the universe you are, causing you to go insane.
Erm, anyway.. Very neat. Delete the scoop?
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This blog post outlines an excellent craft activity designed for K-6 students to teach the concept of scale. 
's comment, April 9, 2012 2:26 PM
How cool!
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This type of mapping project is a fantastic way to teach scale to elementary school students. Delete the scoop?
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Discover why and how scale matters in geography education, with real-world examples using fieldwork, GIS, and much more. This video introduces the topic and ...
This is a sample Youtube clip from the 'geographyuberalles' channel which has over 800 videos produced by @josephkerski (NCGE president, Educational Manager at ESRI). This is a great resource. Delete the scoop?
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A fight broke out at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem after rival groups of Orthodox and Armenian clerics clashed over the boundaries of their jurisdictions inside the church.
This is a great video to show religious geography and how scale plays a key role in a patterns. Not only does the macro-religious geography of the Levant lead to politically contentious situations, but the micro-religious geography can also be problematic. This building itself has a curiously devided spatial pattern among Christian branches that demands tolerance, cooperation and searching for ways to share a place that many groups find holy...this could be seen as symbolic way to look at the whole area. 
Charles Matley's comment,
January 30, 2012 2:13 PM
This goes to show the world how tense of a subject religion is. Look at the fuss over the removal of the "School Prayer" in Cranston.
's comment, January 30, 2012 2:21 PM
It is ironic that Orthodox Christians, both Eastern and Oriental, have yet to figure out that the founder of their religion would strictly disapprove of this kind of behavior. Instead of trying to grab space from one another in holy shrines, they should instead be cooperating with one another.
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Two Yale architects pose the question in an ambitious research project. "Hsiang and Mendis have increasingly come to believe that the only way to study and plan for our urban planet is to conceptualize its entire population in one seamless landscape – to picture 7 billion of us as if we all lived in a single, massive city." Delete the scoop?
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It was just over two centuries ago that the global population was 1 billion — in 1804. But better medicine and improved agriculture resulted in higher life expectancy for children, dramatically increasing the world population, especially in the West. This is an excellent video for population and demographic units, but also for showing regional and spatial patterns within the global dataset (since terms like 'overpopulation' and 'carrying capacity' inherently have different meanings in distinct places and when analyzed at various scales). It is also a fantastic way to visualize population data and explain the ideas that are foundational for the Demographic Transition Model. Tags: population, scale, visualization, Demographics, models, unit 2 population, sustainability, regions, spatial. Delete the scoop?
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The Hubble Space Telescope has produced one of its most extraordinary views of the Universe to date. The Earth is an amazing place to study...but this makes it feel remarkably small. Tags: geospatial, space, remote sensing, scale, perspective. 
Matt Mallinson's comment,
October 1, 2012 11:32 AM
I like this kind of stuff, if i didn't choose geography I would probably have chosen astronomy. Everything about it interests me, there's so much that we don't know and will probably never know.
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Zoom from the edge of the universe to the quantum foam of spacetime and learn about everything in between. Click "Start," and then use the slider across the bottom, or the wheel on your mouse, to zoom in -- and in and in and in... or out and out and out... It will take you from the very smallest features postulated by scientists (the strings in string theory) to the very largest (the observable universe). This really is a fabulous visual demonstration of scale at micro and macro levels. This is an excellent way to bring spatial thinking into the math curriculum as well. Tags: Scale, perspective, space, spatial, Unit 1 GeoPrinciples. 
's comment, September 7, 2012 12:47 AM
This is an excellent way to teach everyone about scale … I love it… I got a better view and compare of how things look like, plus those naked eyes cannot see. Things that I heard and learned in science class but I couldn’t image it, now I saw a picture and it gave me a better knowledge. This will be a great tool for teaching many students.
's comment, September 10, 2012 2:38 PM
I felt that this is an excellent way to understand spatial thinking which is important in many areas beyond geography.
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An OverlapMap is a map of one part of the world that overlaps a different part of the world. OverlapMaps show relative size.
The above overlap map is the United Kingdom compared to the state of Pennsylvania. This is an very simple way to demonstrate the true size of remote places, and 'bring the discussion home.' This site is as simple and intuitive as it is powerful and easily applicable. This is a keeper. 
Hannah Provost's comment,
September 9, 2012 9:23 AM
This is a very useful tool because as illustrated in our class activity with the oranges and trying to flatten it out onto a flat piece of paper, it doesn't work. This causes distortion with most maps in most textbooks because they are Mercator. This tool will help people realize the actual size of countries in comparison to other countries.
Michael Grant's comment,
September 12, 2012 4:07 PM
This toll will and can provide a reliable mapping source to geographers everywhere. It is useful and fun. A neat way to learn cartography
Josiah Melchor's comment,
September 12, 2012 11:31 PM
The OverlapMap is a very useful tool that will allow a user to compare different places and parts of the world. Having a more accurate size of a place is critical when comparing 2 or more places. I think that many users besides me will find this very convenient when other resources are not available.
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The Royal Geographic Society is the latest to attempt to improve the flight experience with its Hidden Journeys project.
This is an article that describes the new, incredibly well-crafted module of instruction designed by the Royal Geographic Society. Designed as an alternative to standard in-flight entertainment, the user could learn about the many places they are flying over on (at the moment) 19 set flight paths. Most importantly, this modules uses the concept of scale nicely providing 12 imageswith linked information about each place at three scales: "flying at 12,000m," "flying at 1,000m" and "flying at ground level." This would be a fantastic resource for a student-guided lesson of discovery and exploration. To see the RGS modules, visit: http://www.hiddenjourneys.co.uk/ Delete the scoop?
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This resource is a comprehensive approach to teaching spatial thinking skills. Terms with spatial reference (i.e.-place, diffusion, migration, situation, scale, region, centrality, proximity, etc.) are defined within their spatial context and related to their multiple curricular connections such as Life Science, Physical Science, Earth Science and (of course) Geography. These terms and concepts then link you to teaching resources, online modules, lesson plans and classroom activities. While useful for all units, this is especially useful for the beginning of a course to teach the importance of spatial thinking skills to then have them permeate the rest of the year. Delete the scoop?
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Who wants to practice medicine in a country where they use power tools in surgery? The dilemma of doctors in the developing world.
This article's title is inflammatory, but it touches on some very real interconnected geographic issues. Economic development in the many parts of the world is complicated by the migration issue of 'brain drain.' The individual choices that doctors from the less developed world face often lead the best and brightest workers to leave their home country. If you could make a very good living as in the United States (the median salary of a surgeon in New Jersey is $216,000) or go back to your home country where your skills are more desperately needed (in Lusaka, Zambia a surgeon makes about $24,000 a year), which would you choose? This is not a hypothetical example (nor one with only one right answer) but one rooted in a globalized economy, where the places that offer the greatest opportunities for individual advancement get the top talent--excellent for the individual and family economies but problematic at the national scale. Delete the scoop?
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I live in the Providence metropolitan area so this particular blog posting about urban planning and economic revitalization hit very close to home.
Rhode Islanders: how accurate do you feel this perspective on Providence and it's economic assets (and deficiencies) is? What other aspects would you discuss in trying to understand the economic geography of the area? What are the biggest obstacles for improving the city? Delete the scoop?
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"Just this once, Samoa is making Dec. 30 disappear."
I hope you enjoy your Friday, because they won't in Samoa. It didn't even happen, since they've canceled Friday Dec. 30th and just skipped straight to Dec 31st. This would make no sense without an understanding of the International Date Line and the regional economic networks of Oceania. Since Samoa's economy in tightly connected to New Zealand and Australia (on the 'other' side of the IDL) it's financially beneficial to have their work weeks line up to faciliate same day communications and business interactions. For more see: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-29/samoa-time-zone-jump/3751254 and http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/world/asia/samoa-to-skip-friday-and-switch-time-zones.html?ref=sethmydans Delete the scoop?
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This site transposed global events or features (e.g.-If the Great Wall of China were in Europe, how many countries would it go through?) and placing that event on a portion of the Earth more familiar to students to help them relate more to the magnitude of global news. Delete the scoop?
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The Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance is as pleased as could be to discover this marvelously fun website. While the Ocean State is larger than countries such as Andorra, Nauru, Tuvalu and Malta, there are not many countries smaller than the smallest of the United States of America. Russia could contain 5,445 'Rhode Islands' and the United States could contain 3,066 Rhode Islands (that's a LOT of senators!).