Marriage and Divorce--Interactive Map

Interesting interactive map on divorce and marriage statistics in the United States. Roll your cursor over the state of your choice and get a little pop up telling you the facts.

For example I was looking at different states for the percentage of folks married three times or more. I thought that states that had an older population would be the highest so I looked at Florida (7%) and Arizona (7%). But found that Wyoming was higher at 9%. I wonder why?

That's a fun way to use a map like this in the classroom. Look for trends. Make predictions and see if the map supports you. If it doesn't try to figure out why. It can generate some great classroom discussions.

[Image captured from website: http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/flash/marriage/]

Hey What's That?

Found this one via an application on my iPhone called Where. One of the functions on this little app is something called Hey What's That? Based on your location it will create a panorama showing the names of all the peaks you can see from that point. If you don't have a classroom set of iPhones to use, it has a more full featured version online.




I live with the Rocky Mountains to the west. So, if I was curious about that peak I've looked at every morning for the past ten years as I drove to work, I could enter the appropriate info into this program and it will give me a panoramic view that looks like this:

















I can click on each of those little triangles and see the name of the peak and it's elevation. I also get a google map that shows the peaks in relation to where I am.




























If I click on one of the little triangles on the google map, it will plot a line between that peak and my location along with the degrees from my location (based on a 360 degree panorama).












I am already planning a lesson using this program and pictures of the front range that we can take with our digital cameras from the front parking lot of our high school. Still working on the final product and objectives.

[Images all captured from website http://www.heywhatsthat.com/]

Swine Flu Map

Here is a helpful Google map [Update: 5/3/09: This map has been moved here]you can use if your class is following the spread of the swine flu. It differentiates between suspected and confirmed cases. It also shows casualties.

I've been checking the map periodically over the past few days and it's interesting to see how it is spreading. Scary when you realize each of the markers is a real person who is sick and that some of them denote deaths.

Right now it looks like the majority of cases outside of Mexico have been spread via air travel. I am sure you could locate major airports near each outbreak. Have your students predict how it can spread from there and then follow that up with a discussion on what precautions we all should be taking. Visit the CDC site to gather accurate information.

Larry Ferlazzo has a list of resources you can use in the classroom at his excellent site, Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day. I suspect the kids (and us) are going to hear a lot rumours over the next few days as the seriousness of the situation is determined. Help yourself and your kids stay informed with good information.

[Image captured from http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&z=5]

The Fifty United States and Their Mottos

This needlpoint of the United States and their mottos by Emily Wick is great fun. I was having a good time deciphering the phrases when the thought struck me that this could be adapted for a graphics project for my Multimedia students. They would get to practice several skills:

• Looking up information
• Inserting a graphic into a specific shape (they'd get to practice this bit 50 times)
• Making it pleasing to the eye (design)

Then I got to thinking (once I start it's hard to get this old rusty train of a mind to stop) that you could do a variety of things using a map of the states to represent concepts graphically. An activity could be designed to show the kids how to present information in a graphical way. I came up with several ideas.

• Census information (population/density/age/ethnicity/etc)
• Date each state became a part of the union
• Picture of a famous person from that state inserted into that state
• State Flower (oooooooo pretty!)

I also thought of creating two maps that show two different aspects and then let the kids pull out correlations like:

• wealth and murder rate
• population and environmental rating (how green)
• wealth and money spent on each student

I don't know what the correlation is but it would be interesting to find out. I might even let the students brainstorm their own correlations to test. I used to do this with blank maps and colored pencils back in olden times. Maybe it's time to update it?

What else could the kids represent graphically on a map of the states?

[Note: Strange Maps also had a post on this map and included a list of all the mottos and a history of their origin.]

[via Neatorama]
[Image captured from Two Eyeballs: http://www.twoeyeballs.com/]

Historical and Educational Maps

This site, the Perry-Castaneda Library Archive, is for the Social Studies teachers in your building. I used to constantly be on the outlook for maps when I taught American History and geography. Back in those days, the map I am showing here would have cost me around $15 dollars to get something that I would be able to display in the front of the room. Some of the nicer pull down maps that were supplied by the educational houses cost upwards of a hundred dollars. This was for a specialty map you might use one day or maybe refer to for a couple of weeks. It was more cost effective to put our money into a couple generic maps that we could draw on and then some good line masters we could use to make transparancies for the trusty overhead projector.

Because I was stubborn, I often was down in the library using the copy stand and a 35mm camera to shoot pictures of maps that I could turn into slides for specific presentations. Many is the young teacher I have bored into leaving the teacher's lounge with my stories of how hard it was in the old days and how easy they have it with all this new fangled technology. But, Good Grief! It only took me two minutes to find this map and download it!!!

[Image: Captured from US-Territories-1860 (map) Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/us_terr_1860.jpg]

My Walk Score...Stinks!

My friends and I have been playing around with this neat little web site that determines a "walk score" for your home. Enter in your address and it will create a map centered around your house. All the amenities you can walk to are shown as little icons, such as restaurants, schools, coffee shops and parks.

It is an interesting filter to use in studying where you live. I already knew my score was going to be low as I've been complaining about the walk-ability of my neighborhood since I moved here. Now I have a little map and a score of 29 (out of a 100) to show that it's just not my imagination. If I wanted easy access to schools, I would be living in the right place. If I wanted music and entertainment. Not so much.



This could be a jumping off point for a geography class in talking about place. A science class talking about environmental neighborhood design. A husband talking about moving someplace where I, ...er he, can walk to get a cup of coffee!

[Images: "Walk Score." Walk Score. Front Seat Management. 3 Oct 2007 .]