Smoking or Non- Smoking?

A Biology student might be interested in what smoking can do to your lungs. A Geography student would want to know where do people smoke the most and least. A Geography student would want to dig deeper and ask "why there?" What environmental and social conditions would lead people to smoke tobacco and ensure access to it? How do people in different cultures view tobacco use? Why are people in certain areas less likely to use tobacco? That is what the folks over at Geocurrents wanted to know, so they found some data, mapped it and then explained their findings in an article you can read here. 

The Importance of Scale

   Scale is a concept that is surprisingly simple, yet somewhat confusing. References to places and events in the news can be misleading without a reference of size or scale. Check out the story How Big Was It, Really?  by NPR and the multiple Strange Maps posts on Bigthink.com .

This map details how much of the moon was explored by the first Astronauts to land there.

Hunger Games Geography

  Last summer I couldn't put down the Hunger Games trilogy. I even went and saw the movie. Of course I was thrilled to find maps of Panem that other fans have created based on the geographic descriptions in the book. Check this one out.

Looking at it sparked an idea for a new lesson on Geographic Perspective. Students can create maps based on their favorite works of fiction! Maybe mapping imaginary worlds will help spark their interest in mapping this one.