Visit the EarthView web site to meet the team and learn about the project.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Baker School Photo

Students at Baker School in Brockton were thrilled to have EarthView as part of Make-a-Difference Day, and the EarthView Team was thrilled to take part.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Oct. 30: Berkley Middle School

See the Math?
41° 50' 56" N
71° 05' 03" W
Look up other coordinates in an atlas or at Steve Morse

We look forward to visiting Berkley Middle School on Friday October 30 -- Halloween Eve!
The following is a list of significant geographic and historical events that coincide with the date of our visit:


EVENTS:
1995 Quebec Referendum votes to remain part of Canada
1991 Mid East peace conference begins in Madrid Spain
1982 Portugalrevises constitution 

1980 Honduras and El Salvador settle their boundary dispute 

1963 Morocco and Algeria signs cease fire
1944 Anne Frank (of Diary fame) is deported from Auschwitz to Belsen
1918 Slovakia asks for creation of Czechoslovakian state
1493 Christopher Columbus discovers island of Dominica

BIRTHDATES:
1735 John Adams in Braintree, Massachusetts; 2nd president of the United States from 1797 - 1801
Source: Brainy History - October 30th

Monday, October 19, 2009

Oct. 23: Baker School, Brockton

See the Math? Baker School is at
42° 5' 49 N
70° 59' 24 W
Find the latitude and longitude of other places on your globe, in your atlas, or at Steve Morse. Then do some math!


On October 23, we visited the Baker School Elementary in Brockton, Massachusetts. Teachers and students are invited to use the "comment" link below to post questions for the EarthView Team. We are especially glad to be visiting this GREEN building, which is similar to the new GREEN science building where EarthView will be kept at Bridgewater State College.

We are also delighted that geography professors from Brazil joined us for part of our visit at Baker School.

Dr. Hayes-Bohanan told some classes about the "wedding of the waters" in Manaus, Brazil. Explore the area on Google Maps to see where Manaus is, relative to the rest of the continent. This is a false-color image, typical of many satellite images. Tan is shown as blue and urban areas as pink. Geographers learn how to use satellite data to get information about places that is more detailed than what we see in photographs; false-color images are one example.

See the Rio Negro entering from the WNW and the Rio Solimões entering from the West and WSW. As they continue past Manaus, the tea-like water of the Rio Negro remains along the left bank (north side) of the Amazon -- which is officially formed at this confluence -- for many miles. Use the scale on Google Maps to figure out how far. Visit Dr. Hayes-boh's Rondonia Web for stories about his time in the Amazon.


View Larger Map




Our visit on this day also coincides with a great number of geographically significant anniversaries and birthdays, including:

1989 Hungary proclaims itself a republic and declares communist rule ended
1978 China and Japan formally end 4 decades of dissension
1977 Panamanians vote 2:1 to approve new Canal treaties
1975 Battle between Cuba and South Africa troops in Angol
1954 Britain, England, France and U.S.S.R. agree to end occupation of Germany
1954 West Germany joins NATO
1953 France grants sovereignty to Laos
1956 Revolt against Stalinist policies begins in Hungary
787 Byzantine empress Irene recovers Iconclastic cult at Nicaea

BIRTHDATES:
1922 Stuart Sloan, war hero/test pilot
1905 Felix Bloch, Swiss/U.S. nuclear physicist, Nobel 1952
1868 Rama V, [Chulalongkorn], leader of Thailand, -1910

Friday, October 16, 2009

GEOGRAPHIC BEE


The National Geographic Bee is a school competition for students in any grades four through eight. Excite your students about the world around them and reward those who excel in their knowledge of geography by giving them a chance to compete in a school geographic bee.


The final deadline for registration has been extended to December 11, 2009. After October 15, the registration fee increases to $90. School level Bees can be held up to January 15, 2010. Go to www.nationalgeographic.com/geographicbee to get complete information and other dates and deadlines.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

First Aerial Photo -- 1860



Aerial photographs are an important tool for cartographers and other geographers. In fact, most geography departments offer entire courses in the interpretation of photographs taken from above. Most of these are taken from specially-equipped airplanes with cameras mounted on the bottom, but early aerial photography relied on hot-air balloons. The very first was taken in Boston on this date in 1860!

Read the Mass Moments article for details.