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anneph
Do you need to use new media to prepare for use of new media?
There are tools that can be used to help students develop new media literacies that do not involve using new media, which might help to get past the challenges with availability of and time for using technology, as well as problems when the server goes down.
1. Use of photography, from books? (i.e. Material World, Women in the Material World, and Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel) Students can evaluate similarities and differences in cultures around the world by analyzing photographs.
2. Last year National Geographic developed a tool for getting students into geographic learning in a big way — as resources for school based celebratory event. (Think “International Night.”) The result was a a 10’x20’ tile map, with 177 sheets of paper printed with a segment of a large map of the Americas. [I don’t have rights to publish a photo of students using this, of course : ), but here’s a link to the resource: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geography-action/americas.html] Once pieced together, students place symbols on the map for social and environmental data, i.e. population, agricultural patterns, earthquakes, etc.
We think to this as “Pre-GIS” learning — meaning students gain insight into layers of information and begin the process of analysis. We’re working on filling in the rest of the continents.
I’d love to hear your ideas or reactions to this!
Anne
ahaywood@ngs.org
