Dedicated to the Teaching of Geography in the State of Illinois
Our purpose is the promotion and enhancement of geographic knowledge in the schools and among the general populace of Illinois. To achieve this purpose, the Alliance maintains a strong grassroots organization of geographic educators from schools and universities, participates in educational reform at the district, state, and national levels. We engage in an active program of preservice and in-service teacher education, develop curriculum materials based on the National Geography Standards, and foster public awareness of the importance of geography in our society.
News
Explore the Geography of Thanksgiving Dinner
Resources for exploring the geography of Thanksgiving dinner are available at http://faculty.wiu.edu/LR-Zellmer/thanksgiving.html thanks to Linda Zellmer, Government Information & Data Services Librarian at Western Illinois University (Macomb, IL).
Current maps and posters are available. Older editions are still available for comparison. (Note: If you do not have access to a plotter, you can print the poster on multiple sheets of 11 X 17 paper by selecting 11 x 17 Landscape in Page Setup. Then choose Custom Scale and enter 70%. The poster will print on multiple pages and can be pieced together for a bulletin board.)
Linda shares that one teacher that has used these resources would "teach nutrition and get the food ads for the grocery store during those weeks. The kids would plan a balanced menu, figure out how much food they need to feed the class (number of turkeys, pies, etc.), and then calculate how much it would cost to feed the class (you can get serving sizes from https://www.choosemyplate.gov/). Thus, they learned some geography, nutrition and math!"
East, west, north, south, rural, urban or suburban, all Illinois middle and high school students are invited to tell their hometown stories in the 4th Annual Illinois Map Competition. Thanks to Esri, there are prizes for winners! For more information, including how to register, visit https://thinkgeospatial.education
Please email contest organizers, Judy Bock or Jenni Dahl with questions at contest@thinkgeospatial.education.
Events
2019 Geography Education in the 21st Century Conference on Saturday, November 2
The Illinois Geographic Alliance and the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment at Illinois State University are excited to announce that the 2019 Geography Education in the 21st Century Conference will be held on the campus of Illinois State University (Normal, Illinois) on Saturday, November 2, 2019. This is a 1-day, drive-in conference for geography educators that includes networking opportunities, a keynote, and a variety of breakout sessions to choose from.
Conference registration is free and includes a box lunch! To register for the conference, please submit an online conference registration form.
Please visit Conferences and Workshops for more information about the conference.
2019-10-10T13:39:59.261-05:00
2019