3/7/2014
COGA Winter Newsletter 2014
Colorado Geographic Alliance
Winter 2014 Newsletter
In This Issue
News from C OGA
Educator Resources
Survey Requests
Geography Headlines
Quick Links
C OGA
Newsletter Archive
C OGA on Facebook
C OGA on Pinterest
Welcome to the Colorado Geographic Alliance Winter Newsletter, which has
enough conversation starters, upcoming events, and resources to keep
cabin fever at bay. Be sure and check out the next "Night with a
Geographer" in Fort Collins, the MapMaker kits from National Geographic,
and a geographic look at the crisis in Ukraine.
News from COGA
In Memory of Dave Hill
by Rick Gindele, COGA Leadership Council Member
The geography education
community in Colorado lost our
guiding founder when Dave Hill
transitioned January 19th, 2014. A
celebration of his life was held on a
sunny and warm Saturday
afternoon, January 25, 2014 at the
CU Stadium Club, Folsom Field, in
Boulder. Those sharing their
memories of Dave were Jimmy Dunn
(celebrant), Suzanne (niece), Tiffany
(daughter), Graham (son), and Kelly
(daughter). The common themes by
those speaking and in casual
conversations consistently
commented on Dave's generosity,
concern for others, kindness,
humility, patience, sense of
adventure, and love of the outdoors.
Jimmy Dunn concluded the celebration with a beautiful rendition of John
Denver's Rock y Mountain High. Dave influenced hundreds of students, K-12
teachers, and professors across the country and around the world.
National Geographic Provides Training for
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COGA Leadership
Network of Alliances for Geographic Education meets in
Washington DC
Each year Alliance Coordinators
from across the United States come
together in Washington DC to hear
about new programs and processes
at National Geographic, develop new
skills, share information, and visit
our legislators on Capitol Hill to
advocate for geography education.
This year the Alliance Network
incorporated a training for policy
point people in our Alliance. Stan
Hickory, member of the Leadership
Council, agreed to take on that role. He accompanied the Coordinators to
Washington DC, spent a day in meetings, visited the National Geographic
museum, and talked about the importance of geography in schools. You
can see Stan above with Senator Michael Bennet during the Colorado Meet
and Greet.
Stan notes, "One of the most fascinating and truly educational exercises
was a legislative simulation. We were asked to take on the persona of a
fictional legislator and put through a number of decision making processes
that an actual legislator would be asked to do. The experience gave me a
new perspective of the difficult job our legislators have. We were able to
meet with every one of our Colorado representatives (or a staff member).
Washington rejuvenated my faith in our democratic process and lit in me a
desire to actually become an elected part of the process. The take-away
here is that we live in an amazing country and during an amazing time in
history. Education is the biggest part of the puzzle that will help us
continue to grow and take part in shaping what the world will look like in the
future. Hopefully, our small bill is just one of many that will make it through
Congress to help fund our tomorrow."
NCGE is On The Move
New Location - Same Great Benefits to COGA Members
The National Council for Geographic
Education is moving from the National
Geographic Headquarters building to a new
location just a few blocks away. COGA
members still can take advantage of all the
benefits that come with our NCGE
partnership, including discounts, free
subscriptions to NCGE publications,
professional development opportunities including full access to NCGE's live
Webinar series & much more. For more information on what benefits your
NCGE membership brings, visit www.ncge.org/alliance And don't forget
to visit COGA's website for the latest Colorado-focused news and
resources.
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Grant Awarded to COGA by the
Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado
Benefits Colorado Geospatial Technology Education
The Colorado Geographic Alliance recently
received a grant of $15,000 from the Gay &
Lesbian Fund for Colorado as part of its focus on
support for science, technology, engineering,
and math (STEM) education. COGA will use the
funds to provide stipends for teachers who are
working to increase the use of geospatial
technology in K-12 classrooms across the
state. Geospatial technology includes geospatial information systems
(GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), and readily available computerbased platforms such as Google Earth. Inservice and preservice teachers
will participate in a five-day workshop in June on the UCCS campus. In
addition, five teachers in rural and underserved areas, including Windsor and
Arickaree, have identified needs in their schools that can be addressed to
move geospatial technology into the classroom. COGA will undertake
professional development in these districts, as well as provide funding for
materials and resources. We are excited about this partnership to develop
an effective framework to provide instruction in geospatial technology
implementation in more secondary and elementary schools. To learn more
about what the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado does to serve our Colorado
communities, click here.
COGA Leadership Council News
Strategic Planning Meeting
Teri LeFebre, Chair, COGA Leadership Council
The winter meeting of the Colorado
Geographic Alliance's Leadership Council
was held at History Colorado Center on
Saturday, February 1. While the meetings
in spring and fall usually last about three
hours, this meeting focuses on discussing
the strategic direction for the year ahead,
and provides an opportunity for the
members of the Leadership Council to
delve deeper into opportunities and
challenges. We approved COGA's
Strategic Plan for 2013-2015; discussed
opportunities to reach out to educators,
students, and the community through events such as "Night with a
Geographer"; brainstormed about ways to improve the COGA website; and
considered the possibility of developing a giant traveling map of Colorado.
Liz Cook, History Colorado's Environmental Educator, provided a guided tour
of the "Living West Exhibit". I am excited about the variety of people
involved in COGA's work, but there are plenty of opportunities for you to
make sure geography education is available to all students across the
state. Please email me if you are interested in working with COGA
(Teri.LeFebre@d51schools.org).
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In addition, information on COGA's history, membership and the leadership
council can be found on the COGA website history page.
Geographic Alliances in Arizona, Colorado,
Nevada, and Oregon receive $50,000 grant
from National Geographic Education
Foundation
Grant to fund Development of Workshop Model for Educators
The Colorado Geographic Alliance at
the University of Colorado Colorado
Springs recently received an inaugural
collaborative planning grant of $50,000
from the National Geographic Education
Foundation, one of three such grants
awarded to members of the Network of
Alliances for Geographic Education.
Using the grant, the Colorado
Geographic Alliance, in partnership with The Library of Congress' Teaching
with Primary Sources and the geographic alliances in Arizona, Nevada, and
Oregon, will create a program to develop a workshop model for teachers.
The workshop model will incorporate historical maps, primary source
thematic maps, and other geographic representations. This information can
be used to obtain, describe and compare spatial patterns and information
about people, places, events, regions and environments as an essential
resource for answering key questions. Teacher leaders in these four states
will serve as the initial developers for this project, which has potential to
affect how students think about maps across the country. Read the full
story at http://www.uccs.edu/coga/news-and-events.html.
Geographer's Minute
This is What Geographers Do!
Colorado Advanced Placement Human Geography Teachers
Selected to Join Dr. Joseph Stoltman of Western Michigan University
for South Korea Tour
Being part of the National Geographic
Alliance Network means that COGA is
able to share opportunities with
Colorado educators from across the
country. Congratulations to Unity
Hartman of George Washington High
School in Denver and Robert Gilliam of
William J. Palmer High School in
Colorado Springs who will be joining the
delegation to South Korea this summer with other AP Human Geography
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teachers to learn more about this culturally and politically rich country.
Teachers participating in this tour will collaborate to bring depth, knowledge,
and expertise about South Korea into the content that they teach. They
look forward to sharing their adventures with you and with their students
upon return.
Coordinator's Corner
What can I do to support COGA?
Rebecca Theobald, Coordinator
This question comes to the Colorado Geographic
Alliance Coordinators on a regular basis. If the person is
an educator, we usually we suggest that the first thing
they might want to do is invite a COGA representative to
provide professional development at their school or in
their district. Being in schools is a great way for COGA
to share resources across the state. If the question
comes from a nonprofit or a business, then there are myriad ways to partner
with COGA to move projects forward, from sharing space to contact lists to
unused materials. For instance, we just learned that the Missouri
Geographic Alliance received a donation of ten helmets with headlamps to
use in their field trips - Missouri has a lot of caves to explore! However, you
might be an individual who is looking for an opportunity to get a bit more
involved with the National Geographic Alliance Network. Serving on the
COGA Leadership Council - see the description of responsibilities and
expectations in this document - or a task force is a great way to begin to
understand the challenges and opportunities available in providing geography
education across the state of Colorado. If you are interested in getting more
involved with COGA leadership, please email coga@uccs.edu, and we will
set up a time to chat about any questions you might have.
Upcoming Events
Night With A Geographer
For Educators and Community Members
In conjunction with the Fort Collins Museum of
Discovery and the Geospatial Centroid at
Colorado State University, the Colorado
Geographic Alliance is sponsoring "Night with
a Geographer" to engage the public as well as
K-12 geography teachers in better
understanding the scope and depth of
geography. Following each lecture, there will
be an informal discussion about how this
content is relevant both to current issues of our day and to classroom
teaching. This is a great place to meet other geography minded educators,
share ideas, and make connections.
Mark your calendars - seating is limited and preregistration is required.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
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Place and Identity: How We Define Ourselves
Phil Klein, Ph. D., University of Northern Colorado
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
The Geography of Natural Disasters
Melinda Laituri, Ph.D., Colorado State University
The program is FREE to educators and members of COGA. Use the link
below to register (required). If you are an educator, check that box. If you
are a member of COGA, but NOT an educator, purchase the desired number
of NON-MEMBER tickets. That will take you to another screen where you
have the option of entering a DISCOUNT CODE. Enter COGA into the
discount code box, which will discount 100% of the ticket cost.
For tickets and detailed information of each event, please visit
Night With a Geographer.
Colorado Council for the Social Studies
Conference
April 18, 2014, Denver
Deadline to Register: April 11, 2014
Do you know how lucky we are
in Colorado to have such a
great group of social studies
teachers, administrators, and
nonprofits who work together to
provide professional development and support for the discipline? (Not every
state's organizations play as well with others.) Take advantage of this
opportunity to gain new knowledge and acquire resources and hear keynote
speaker Patrick Hunt. Go to this link to
register:http://cosocialstudies.org/conferences.php.
K-12 Social Studies Teachers' Summit
May 9 - 10, Casper WY, FREE
From GIS story mapping skills to implementing
Library of Congress primary sources, this event
will bring you tools and skills to enrich your
social studies classroom. Guest speakers, free
materials and best of all, time to connect with
other educators. Click for details or to register.
Teaching Outside the Box Conference
March 20 - 22, University of Denver "Share, EEvolve, Grow"
Join the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education for the opportunity to
connect, share, learn and celebrate the great work and accomplishments of
the environmental education community. The annual Teaching Outside the
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Box Conference and awards banquet brings together over
250 classroom teachers, environmental education providers
and managers, community organizations, businesses,
natural resource to further environmental education in
Colorado. "Share. EEvolve. Grow."
Click for further details and registration information.
LEGO to Award Scholarships for
Xperience STEM Conference
July 29 - August 1, Denver
LEGO has announced that a limited number of
participant scholarships are now available for the
XperienceSTEM Conference in Denver, July 29,
2014. Apply at http://xperiencestem.com/legoscholarship/ This opportunity is open to
educators nationwide within 3 tracks: K12
Formal Education, informal Science Education, and Higher Education and
Research. LEGO wishes to support educators who might not otherwise be
able to attend. Scholarships will be awarded on a rolling basis so apply
early. Click for further details and registration information about the
Xperience STEM Conference.
6th Annual GIScience in Higher Education
Summit - Colorado
March 21, 2014, Denver
The Department of
Geography & the
Environment at the
University of Denver is
organizing and hosting this
year's 6th Annual
GIScience in Higher
Education Summit - Colorado. The summit will be held on Friday, March
21, 2014 from 8:30am to 3:30pm in the Anderson Academic Commons on
the University of Denver campus.
The GIScience Higher Education Community in Colorado will take the day to
collaborate and present GIS education ideas and best practices. Join us as
we peer into the future of GIScience education.
Click for further information and registration details.
Resources for Educators
Story Maps in the Classroom
Esri's Joseph Kerski brings us a video series on using Story Maps
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This video series is a great overview on using
story maps to teach in a variety of settings,
assess student knowledge and allow students
to communicate their knowledge in a dynamic
way.
Esri Story Maps for Education
When you've viewed the series, head over to
ArcGIS for Storytelling to browse through their extensive collection of Story
Maps. Want a little encouragement about making your own story map? (Or
showing your students how to make their own?) Here's Joseph's essay
"The 15 Minute Story Map" to get you started. And a Six Step Guide to
publishing your own story maps.
Surveys and Calls for
Proposals
National Geographic's MapMaker Kits
Survey to Collect Activity Ideas for MapMaker Kits in the Classroom
MapMaker Kits are downloadable black and
white maps that can be assembled into wall
size mega-maps or fit on a table top. If you
have ideas about how you would incorporate
them or experience using these in the
classroom, National Geographic wants to
know about it! All ideas that are chosen for
inclusion in the project will be credited. Follow this link to the survey.
Looking for that state map of Colorado? It will be coming soon - we'll let you
know when National Geographic has it posted.
NCGE Invites you to Share Your Experience
as a Geography Educator!
Proposals for the 2014 National Conference on Geography Education
Make a contribution to the greater geography
education community at the National
Conference on Geography Education! There
are several ways you can participate. Options
and instructions for submitting a proposal can
be found at NCGE's Annual Conference
Proposal Page.
T3G'rs, GeoTechnology and Educator Professionals
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Advancing Teacher Professional Development with Geospatial Tools
Brought to us by EdGIS, this survey focuses on the
incentives and motivation of educators interested in
geotechnology professional development. Results
will be shared and yes, there are prizes! (T3G
participants are particularly encouraged to take this
survey, at the request of Tom Baker, Education Mgr
at ESRI.) Follow this link for the survey.
Geography Headlines
New In Flight Geo-Entertainment
CNN shares details on airline's newest venture.
New in-flight maps, which not only
plot a plane's course in real time but
also offer photos and information
about the land or sea beneath the
plane, are being unveiled at Singapore
Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle. "I
think people just love to know where
they are, and what's down there. It's
quite a simple thing, really," said Ben
Jarman, the project manager for Hidden Journeys, the program used by
Singapore Airlines. "Many people look out the window and are amazed by
what they see, but many aircraft don't give them the tools to learn about
what's down below." CNN (2/10)
1932 Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United
States Brought to Life with Geotechnology
The New York Times shares details
When this 1932 atlas was published, one of
it's creators noted that "The ideal historical
atlas might well be a collection of motionpicture maps, if these could be displayed on
the pages of a book without the paraphernalia
of projector, reel and screen." Read more
about how geotechnology has brought his
vision to fruition in this NYT article. Be sure to
browse the updated atlas as well! NYT(12/26)
For more like this, take a look at COGA's collection of maps at
http://www.uccs.edu/coga/resources/interesting-maps.html
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Esri Interactive Map Provides Geographic
Look at Ukraine and Crimea
A coup in the Ukraine served as a precursor to predominantly Russianspeaking forces mobilizing in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Explore
events, locations, and differences in languages in Crimea and Ukraine.
Crimea: geography hot spots
Colorado Geographic Alliance
VISION:
Changing our understanding and experience of the world.
MISSION:
To instill and nurture spatial awareness and geographic literacy
VALUES:
Inspiring passion for Earth and its inhabitants
Connecting people with geography
Honoring inclusivity and diversity
Exploring physical and human environments
Developing spatial perspective
Thanks to Teri LeFebre, Stan Hickory, Rick Gindele, and everyone in the
COGA Leadership Council who has contributed to this newsletter.
Colorado Geographic Alliance coloradogeographicalliance@yahoo.com
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
719-255-5217
Ideas for upcoming newsletters? Great topics, links or
upcoming events you'd like COGAto share with geography
educators? Let us know! We're here to connect...
coga@uccs.edu
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