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Today in class...

Friday, September 26th, 2025 - Today we focused on land navigation. The discussion was around connections between math and geography.

Direction = Lines & Angles
Timeline = Number Line
Grid System = Coordinate Plane

We also talked about Great Circle Routes.

Great circle routes are the shortest paths between two points on the surface of a sphere, such as the Earth. While they appear as curved lines on flat maps, these routes follow the shortest geodesic path on the actual spherical surface. Airlines use great circle routes for long-distance flights to save fuel and time, although actual flight paths may deviate due to factors like weather, airspace restrictions, and air traffic.

Thursday, September 25th, 2025 - Today we focused on map projections. Since maps are tools, understanding the distortions on maps helps us to pull useful data from maps. The homework this week was focused on map projections, All maps have some sort of distortion....

Conformality (shape) - the shapes of places are accurate
Distance - measured distances are accurate
Area/Equivalence (size) - the areas represented on the map are proportional to their area on the earth
Direction - angles of direction are portrayed accurately

Mercator Projection

The Mercator projection's main pro is that it preserves local shape and direction, making it excellent for marine navigation and for showing accurate compass bearings. Its main con is that it significantly distorts the size and area of landmasses, especially near the poles, causing regions like Greenland to appear much larger than they are in reality.

Gall-Peters Projection

The Gall-Peters projection's pro is its accurate representation of landmass sizes, providing a less biased, more equitable view of the world by eliminating the Mercator projection's exaggeration of Northern Hemisphere countries. Its primary con is the extreme distortion of continent and country shapes, especially near the poles, which makes them appear stretched or squished and makes the projection unsuitable for navigation or accurate measurement of angles.

Hobo-Dyer Projection

The Hobo-Dyer map projection's advantage is its equal-area property, accurately representing the relative sizes of landmasses and providing a more equitable view than typical Mercator maps. Its main disadvantage is that it has significant shape and direction distortion, particularly near the poles, and is less suitable for navigational purposes, although it offers a better balance of size and shape than some other projections, like the Peters projection.

The Mercator projection preserves shapes and angles, making it useful for navigation, but drastically distorts landmass sizes, especially near the poles. In contrast, the Hobo-Dyer and Gall-Peters projections are both equal-area projections that preserve landmass sizes but distort shapes and directions. The key difference between Hobo-Dyer and Gall-Peters is their aspect ratio and the location of their distortions; Gall-Peters produces a more square map and distorts equator regions more, while Hobo-Dyer is more compressed at the poles.

Map Projection Comparison Tool

Wednesday, September 24th, 2025 - Today we circled back to Bias. Working in small groups (3-5) students picked one type of bias and, as a group, discussed what the bias looks like. After talking with their group, students posted about the bias using the following guidelines.,

Why the group chose this particular bias
What you think of it (Is it a problem or not? Support what you say with evidence and/or examples)
How could you try to counter the bias if you encounter it?
Do this to the best of your ability

They also needed to respond to at least 1 peer in a thoughtful & constructive way. This last part is to start easing students into online discussions in Google Classroom.

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 - No school (Rosh Hashanah)

Monday, September 22nd, 2025

Today we reviewed what the homework for the week is and then we talked about maps. So, to start with there are 3 main typyes of maps...

These maps are intended for general use and display a variety of physical and human-made features, with the primary purpose of showing location.

Political map: Shows the government-created boundaries of countries, states, counties, and cities. They are often brightly colored to make the divisions clear and can be highly detailed or show a broad view of the world.
Physical map: Depicts the natural landforms and features of an area, such as mountains, deserts, rivers, and lakes. Instead of contour lines, physical maps use color gradients (like greens for lowlands and browns for high elevations) and shading to show changes in elevation.
Thematic maps - These maps focus on a specific topic or theme, using a base map to show the geographic distribution of a particular dataset.

Resource map: Shows where specific natural resources are located in an area, often used by mining and drilling companies.
Economic map: Displays economic data for an area, such as median household income.
Weather map: Shows weather conditions for a given area, including pressure systems, cloud cover, and precipitation.
Geologic map: Provides information about the types and ages of rocks and other geological features in an area.
Population map: Details how many people live in each area and may also break down the population by other factors like income or age.
Choropleth map: Uses different colors or shades to show the variation of a specific variable across different regions, like a map showing median household income by state.
Cartogram: A type of map that purposefully distorts the size and geometry of geographic regions to reflect a particular value. For example, a cartogram might enlarge a state with a high population and shrink a less-populated one.
Dot distribution map: Uses dots or small shapes to show the presence of a specific feature. The concentration of dots indicates the spatial pattern of that feature, such as population density.

We took a look at maps of Australia. The question that we discussed was "Why do the people live where they live in Australia?"

Political Map

Physical Map

Thematic Map (Population)

Friday, September 19th, 2025

Today we started out with a pre-class activity about HEI (Human-Environmental Interaction). After watching the video and posting thoughts, observations and/or "Oh Wow!" moments we had brief small group discussions and then came together for a whole class discussion.

Controlled burns, or cultural burns, were done for a very long time and proved effective. The focal point of the conversation was...
We need to try and live "in harmony" with the planet as much as we possibly can. It benefits the planet and it benefits life on the planet.

Sometimes "the old ways" are forgotten. Now, that does need some unpacking...

-As we progress, or advance, sometimes we do lose site of things that work. That's not to say we need to go backwards, but we do need to think things through as we move forward.

From there I posted keys (answers) in the Australia map assignment (from 9/18) and the New Zealand map homework (Due 9/18). This was so students could self correct their maps. On Monday we will review and discuss the maps.

Thursday, September 18th, 2025

Today students worked on maps of Australia (physical and political)

Wednesday, September 17th, 2025

Today we revisited Logical Fallacy and Cognitive Biases. The learning target was to be able to identify and describe bias.

Bias - Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
Ignorance - Lack of knowledge or information.
Stupidity - Behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgment.

Students, in small groups, worked with cards (informational) to learn about what types of bias they could encounter in the news and discussions. There is also a need to understand bias when we write because we all have our biases. We need to do our best to remain as objective as possible when we write.

Examples of Bias...

The Dunning-Kruger effect - The more you know, the less confident you're likely to be.

Because experts know just how much they don't know, they tend to underestimate their ability; but it's easy to be over-confident when you have only a simple idea of how things are. Try not to mistake the cautiousness of experts as a lack of understanding, nor to give much credence to lay-people who appear confident but have only superficial knowledge.

Belief Bias - If a conclusion supports your existing beliefs, you'll rationalize anything that supports it.

It's difficult for us to set aside our existing beliefs to consider the true merits of an argument. In practice this means that our ideas become impervious to criticism, and are perpetually reinforced. Instead of thinking about our beliefs in terms of 'true or false' it's probably better to think of them in terms of probability. For example we might assign a 95%+ chance that thinking in terms of probability will help us think better, and a less than 1% chance that our existing beliefs have no room for any doubt. Thinking probabalistically forces us to evaluate more rationally.

The Barnum Effect - You see personal specifics in vague statements by filling in the gaps.

Because our minds are given to making connections, it's easy for us to take nebulous statements and find ways to interpret them so that they seem specific and personal. The combination of our egos wanting validation with our strong inclination to see patterns and connections means that when someone is telling us a story about ourselves, we look to find the signal and ignore all the noise.

Groupthink - You let the social dynamics of a group situation override the best outcomes.

Dissent can be uncomfortable and dangerous to one's social standing, and so often the most confident or first voice will determine group decisions. Because of the Dunning-Kruger effect, the most confident voices are also often the most ignorant.

In-Group Bias - You unfairly favor those who belong to your group.

We presume that we're fair and impartial, but the truth is that we automatically favor those who are most like us, or belong to our groups. This blind tribalism has evolved to strengthen social cohesion, however in a modern and multicultural world it can have the opposite effect.

We will be cycling back to this topic frequently. It will take time to build good habits and skills for discerning "good" information versus "bad" information.

Tuesday, September 16th, 2025

Today talked about why Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia are regions...

Region (How is a place similar to, and different, from other places?)

Formal
Functional
Vernacular (perceptual)

The division of the Pacific into Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia was primarily a construct by European colonizers and explorers in the 19th century, not a traditional categorization by Pacific Islanders themselves.

Micronesia - The name was coined by European geographers to describe a group of small, scattered islands in the western Pacific Ocean, a geographic classification based on the collective small size of the islands

Melanesia - Considered a region because it comprises a distinct geographical sub-region of the Pacific islands with significant cultural and demographic similarities shared among its inhabitants, who were historically characterized by dark skin and frizzier hair by European explorers

Polynesia - Due to the cultural and linguistic commonalities of its islands and people, particularly their shared Austronesian heritage and navigation traditions, despite being spread across a vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean

A question did come up about where Kiribati belongs. This led to a brief discussion about how different resources will present information differently. Kiribati is primarily part of Micronesia, although some of its islands are located in Polynesia. The country's main component, the Gilbert Islands, is in Micronesia.

Ultimately, students settled on the regions being Vernacular (perceptual) because the reigons were created by Europeans using European perceptions of the regions.

From there we moved into another of the 5 Themes of Geography, HEI (Human-Environmental Interaction)

“We are living on this planet as if we have another one to go to.” – Terry Swearingen

Human-Environmental Interactions (What is the relationship between people and their environment?)

Humans adapt to the environment
Humans modify the environment
Humans depend on the environment

Monday, September 15th, 2025

Today we reviewed homework for the week. We also worked on identifying the regions of Melanesia, Micronesia & Polynesia. The first block got off to a rocky start, and that's on me. I had some issues with the assignment that was posted. The instructions were not clear and that was my issue. We fixed everything in Google Classroom. I say "we" because students helped me to navigate what the issue actually was. We will talk about Melanesia, Micronesia & Polynesia in class tomorrow.

Friday, September 12th, 2025

Today we had our first vocabulary quiz. Those will happen every other week. Now, the quizzes are 5 questions, multiple choice. They will not counbt towards a student's grade. Here is why. They are formativce assessments. To be clear, they let kids practice study skills and it helpos with the assimilation of vocabulary. This tends to help kids to understand the content more clearly, and the content is what they will be assessed on.

After the quiz we did some self-correcting of maps and some review of the maps with a focus on regions (SE Asia and Oceania).

Thursday, September 11th, 2025

Today we talked briefly about the significance of the date 9/11. After that we pivoted to talking about movement & region as themes of geography.

Movement (How are people and places connected?)\

People
Goods
Ideas

The discussion focused on transportation and communication. As technology has developed the spread of people, goods & ideas has increases exponentially. With the internet, and social media, change tends to happen faster in some cases than others. Also, ideas can spread without people or goods due to social media.

KPOP
Authoritarianism

Then we moved onto...

Region (How is a place similar to, and different, from other places?)

Formal
Functional
Vernacular (perceptual)

Formal Region

A geographic area with high consistency in a specific cultural or physical trait, defined by shared, measurable characteristics and well-defined, agreed-upon boundaries.

Functional Region

A geographic area defined by a set of activities or interactions centered around a central node, such as a city or airport, where people live and work in proximity to it because it is essential for their lives or work.

Vernacular Region

Also called a perceptual region, is an area defined by shared perceptions, cultural identity, and informal beliefs rather than by strict, scientifically defined boundaries. These regions are based on "mental maps" that people hold in their minds and are often tied to a collective sense of place, culture, or experiences.

Wednesday, September 10th, 2025

Today students worked on maps of Australia & Oceania.

Australia is a country and a continent, while Oceania is a broader geographical region that includes the continent of Australia, along with New Zealand and numerous Pacific island nations. Think of it this way: the country of Australia is located on the continent of Australia, and both are part of the larger region known as Oceania, which is defined by the vast Pacific Ocean. For all intents and purposes the two, Australia and Oceania, are used interchangeably at times

If the map work was not finished in class then it does need to be completed for homework. The due date is Thursday, 9/11 by 8:00 PM. We will be reviewing and discussing the maps on Friday. If students need an atlas they can sign one out from me. Also, my website has a page titled "Links". There are map resources there that can be used to complete the assignment.

Tuesday, September 9th, 2025

Today started talking about argumentation skills. At this point, the only expectation is that students work on learning the definitions of Logical Fallacy and Cognitive Biases. We did work on understanding this in class, but there will be more work to reinforce thinking on this topic. The learning target was to be able to define and describe the two terms...

Logical Fallacy A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning that results in an invalid argument, often making it seem persuasive but without sound evidence or logical structure. These fallacies can undermine an argument's validity by distorting an issue, misusing evidence, or employing manipulative language, and they can be used intentionally to deceive or unintentionally due to flawed thinking.

How a Logical Fallacy Works

Flawed Reasoning:
At its core, a logical fallacy is a mistake in the way a person thinks about something, leading to an incorrect final judgment or decision.
Invalid Structure:
An argument containing a fallacy is structured in a way that does not logically lead to its conclusion.
Deceptive Appearance:
Fallacies often have the appearance of being correct, making them effective at tricking people into accepting them, even though they are not logically sound.

Why Logical Fallacies Are Used

To Persuade:
People often use logical fallacies to try and persuade others, especially when they don't have strong, evidence-based arguments.
To Manipulate:
Fallacies can be a manipulative tactic to distract from the real issue, distort facts, or play on emotions.
Accidentally:
They can also occur simply because the person making the argument is not thinking critically or has a misunderstanding of logic.

How to Identify a Logical Fallacy

To avoid being misled, it's helpful to:

Apply Critical Thinking: Ask yourself if the argument's proof actually leads to the conclusion.
Assess Logic vs. Rhetoric: Consider whether the argument relies on genuine logic or on clever but misleading rhetoric.
Be Cautious: When encountering arguments, be alert for weak reasoning or a lack of evidence.

Cognitive Biases A cognitive bias is a systematic, often subconscious error in thinking that affects how people process information and make decisions. Rather than evaluating every piece of information logically, the human brain uses these mental shortcuts, or heuristics, to make quick judgments and navigate the overwhelming amount of information it receives every day.

While often serving as an efficient coping mechanism, these cognitive shortcuts can lead to illogical interpretations, misjudgments, and distorted perceptions of reality. Everyone, regardless of intelligence, is susceptible to cognitive biases.

Key aspects of cognitive biases

Systematic and predictable: Biases are not random errors. They are predictable patterns of deviation from rational thought.
Driven by mental shortcuts: Our brains rely on heuristics to conserve mental energy and make faster decisions.
Not always negative: In certain situations, such as a moment of danger, a cognitive bias can help you make a quick decision that leads to a positive outcome.
Distinct from logical fallacies: While both are errors in reasoning, a logical fallacy is an error in the construction of an argument, whereas a cognitive bias is an error in a person's thought process.

Examples of common cognitive biases

Confirmation bias: The tendency to seek out, interpret, and remember information that confirms your pre-existing beliefs, while ignoring evidence that contradicts them.
Anchoring bias: Relying too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the "anchor") when making a decision. For instance, a high initial asking price in a negotiation can influence subsequent offers.
Availability heuristic: Overestimating the likelihood of events that are more easily recalled in your memory. For example, fearing flying more than driving because vivid images of plane crashes are more memorable than car crashes.
Halo effect: Allowing a single positive trait of a person to influence your overall impression of them. This can lead to assuming an attractive person is also intelligent, funny, or kind.
Hindsight bias: The "I-knew-it-all-along" phenomenon, where past events are perceived as more predictable than they actually were. This often leads to overconfidence in one's own predictive abilities.
False consensus effect: The tendency to overestimate how much other people agree with your own beliefs, values, and opinions.
Self-serving bias: Attributing your own successes to internal factors (your skill) and your failures to external factors (bad luck or outside circumstances).

So, cognitive biases (biases in our thinking) can lead to logical fallacies (faulty reasoning leading to an invalid argument).

Monday, September 8th, 2025

Today we reviewed the homework for the coming week. After that we talked about the homework from last week, The Danger of a Single Story.

Friday, September 5th, 2025

Today our focus was on Movement, which is one of the 5 Themes of Geography.

Students started out watching a video about Movement. >>>>

When we talk about Movement we want to think about how are people and places connected...

* People

* Goods

* Ideas

We also want to think about...

Globalization - The process of increasing interconnection and interdependence between people, economies, cultures, and politics across the globe.

We went on to talk about vocabulary...

Migration - Migration is the movement of people away from their usual place of residence to a new place of residence,
Immigration - When people come to one country from another.
Emigration - When people leave one country to go live in another.
Push Factor - Reasons people leave a place.
Pull Factor - Reasons people come to a place.
Urbanization - The movement of people from rural areas to cities.
Population Distribution - The population pattern (where do the people live?)
Population Density - The average number of people in a square mile or a square kilometer.
Urban - Relating to, or constituting a city
Suburban - A district lying immediately outside a city or town, especially a smaller residential community.
Rural - Pertaining to, or characteristic of the country, country life, or country people; rustic:

After that we completed an activity about population density and distribution.

Enrichment - This is another type of migration. We did not see this in class...

Thursday, September 4th, 2025

Today we talked about the 2 Aspects of Geography (physical & human) AND the 5 Themes of Geography.

Slideshow (Aspects & Themes of Geo)

Each theme includes one of the aspects, or both. Additionally, all 5 themes overlap with each other.

Vocabulary

Atmosphere - The envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet
Hydrosphere - The total amount of water on a planet, including all water found on the surface (oceans, lakes, rivers), underground (groundwater), and in the air (water vapor, clouds).
Lithosphere - The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
Biosphere - The sum of all the parts of Earth where life exists, encompassing all living organisms (plants, animals, microorganisms) and their environments, including parts of the lithosphere (land), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air).
Geomorphology - The study of the physical features of the surface of the earth and their relation to its geological structures.
Erosion - The process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents.
Weathering - The geological process by which rocks, metals, and other earth materials are broken down into smaller pieces through physical, chemical, and biological processes at or near the Earth's surface. It differs from erosion, which is the transportation of these broken-down materials by wind, water, or ice. Weathering alters the color, texture, composition, and hardness of rocks, changing the landscape and contributing to the formation of soil.

Points of Clarification

How many biomes are there?

There isn't a single, agreed-upon number of biomes; different systems categorize them into as few as 5 major groups (aquatic, forest, grassland, desert, tundra) or as many as 14 distinct ecoregions, depending on the level of detail. Major terrestrial biomes typically include biomes like forests, grasslands, deserts, and tundra, which are then further divided into more specific types based on climate factors like temperature and precipitation.

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025

Today we reviewed the world map that students worked on in class yesterday. This was a pre-assessment, and a bit of a refresher.

We talked about the Prime Meridian, the Equator, Hemispheres and Direction being "Human Conventions". Human Conventions would simply be a conventional, or standardized way that we, humans, have decided to look at things.

We also began to talk about the two aspects of geography, which are the physical aspect and the human aspect. Tomorrow we will pick up with physical geography.

Aspects of Geography.doc.pdf

Tuesday, 9/2/2025

Today we practiced classroom routines, reviewed homework for the week and worked on a world map. We will review the map tomorrow. So, if it was not finished in class it does need ot be completed for homework.

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