Session 1B: Geography

[Anonymous]

Geology
There are several things that we notice the students do not have knowledge about, most of these things are not on the “test” or have been taken out of the curriculum. Measuring, making change, geology, simple verbal instructions, the small things in life. I notice that in Art if I hang a poster about the three parts of our government, the element chart, or the difference between solids, liquids, and gases the students notice them and make comments on why do I have these posters in Art class alone with my Art posters. I always tell them we learn more when things are out of order. They always agree! So when I hung maps up the students love to go over and find either a country or county or city, I have even made up games which use these maps and other posters.

I play a game “Base Ball” about once a month which for the most part uses stupid facts which is used with academic knowledge; I also make them find things on the posters or maps while playing. If you would like to know about this game let me know. It is hard to draw the game on this web site.

[Anonymous]

* I posted "Geography" twice by mistake. Please read the other one.
[Edit by="kirion on Aug 3, 1:01:01 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

It was interesting to learn about the main rivers in China (Song Hua River, Yellow River, Yanzi River, and Pearl River), their significance, and how the people surrounding areas live, especially the water pollution around Yellow River and Yanzi River (the city like Chongqing). There are too many people dying from pollution.

I remember when I was traveling in central-eastern China 4 years ago, the water in the river was not clear. People could not drink tap water (water has to be boiled to drink, or you need to buy the bottled water). The water must be bad for washing face and body, so on. I think that the goverment and the people around the area have to work very hard to get the water back to a good condition.

I heard that in the big cities like Kunming, the water is often treated and ok for washing, but may have water purification chemicals, like chlorine in it. Sometimes they use too much. The water quality is poor but not so much different as it is in other developing countries and in most poor countries. The Chinese are diligently working on this. Japan was like this in the 1950's to 1960's as it developed.

The comparison of the map of US-China, and US-Japan were interesting. I often use the map in my teaching of Japanese language (I have a huge Japanese and world map with Japanese writing on my classroom walls). I am sure my students will appreciate knowing more about the geography of China, Japan and Korea. Thank you for this interesting session.
[Edit by="kirion on Aug 3, 2:18:40 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

My aquaintance in China told me the following:

"The one child is enforced in a variety of rules depending on circumstances. Farmers in the country side are often allowed to have two children, especially if the first one was a girl. Rich people who can afford to pay the financial penalties just pay now in many cases. The people who lost children in the Sichuan earthquake will be allowed to have another child. The goverment adjusted the rules sometimes. They do intend to stick to the one child general policy. "

[Anonymous]

This presentation got me thinking that I should have a set of world maps in my language arts class as well as visual arts class. There is always a geographical connection with most of what I teach in these two classes. I have always viewed China, Japan and Korea as such distincly differnt places and separated by war, hatred and cultural differences. Seeing them today on the map and getting a visual of their poximaty was interesting, for example thinking about China and Japan once connected by a land bridge was very enlightening, as far as thier connection. I recently found some old maps of China at a used book sale that will be just perfect for introducing my students to East Asia. I can project them with my new document camera. In addition I found the history of the Yellow River fascinating, the use of the levy system and the continual build of of sediment.

[Anonymous]

In teaching geography, I've found that at the elementary level, students who hold the globe in their hands are intrigued and frequently look up all kinds of things and want to discuss ( from where a country is located, its neighbors, to how would the plane fly to go from country a to b. When students have a large wall map, some are interested to discuss and come up to point out things or stand at the map and discuss with each other....usually it's where they've traveled or where they have relatives. But when we ask the student to look in a text book, they don't connect to what you want them to see or learn. Maybe it's the small size of a book. I'm not sure if it's the same for middle school and high school, but I think it might be. If you can, put 2, 3, or 4 students together with a globe and see what happens. I was impressed by the mental image of lights out in N. Korea compared to surrounding countries. I'd seen the image before on a pbs television special where the NY Philharmonic gave a concert in N.Korea (recently). The N.Korean audience, all well dressed, did not sit in the front, close up rows. Those remained empty ( about 5-7 rows). The audience started out stiff, arms crossed, serious looks..... but by the end, they were much warmer, more confortabler, with smiles and open posture. After the concert, some of the musicians went out into the audience and shook hands, smiled, etc with the N.Koreans. A couple may have spoken in Korean. The narrator, after the show spoke on how music is international and communicates. The special also showed the lights/no lights satellite map and mentioned the people were so happy that night because the lights in the city were on for a little while at night. I don't know the title of the special, but I hope it is on again.

[Anonymous]

The most enlightening visual for me was the juxtaposed maps of China and USA as I had a misconception that China was a much larger country than the US. This will be an incredible resource for students because truly a picture says a thousand words.

TEACHING IDEA
It would be a good idea to give students maps of the various East Asian countries and have them research a country's current name, size, location, population, country age (if they could find the date of first inhabitants). This would help them internalize the information and visually and mathematically compare the countries.

[Anonymous]

Watching the population distribution and agricultural maps of China flash on the screen stimulated me to check the state of global warming vis-a-vis China and try to visualize what the maps might look like as global warming proceeds. By mid-century, the desert regions of the west and north have greatly expanded. The Taklimakan and Gobi Deserts cover huge areas having expanded by almost one-third. They are surrounded by very arid regions incapable of sustaining anything but the hardiest of animals and nomadic herders whose existence is tenuous at best. The majority of the former population has moved east and south. The winter monsoon's reduced effects has increased and prolonged the drought in the north. This, coupled with the melting of glaciers in Tibet and Qinghai and a weaker summer monsoon, have reduced the dry season flow of the Huang He and the Chiang Jiang to the point they may become seasonal rivers. It had been hoped that a number of canals could be used to carry water to the north from the south but their efficacy is in doubt. Cereal production is down by 25% and dependable arable land is found primarily near water courses. Emergency construction of dams along the major rivers emerging from the Himalayas has aroused the opposition of neighboring India and SE Asia that also depend on these waters. Tibet has become more isolated as the major railways become unusable with the thawing of the landforms that supported their track beds. Precipitation still accompanies the summer monsoon but it tends to be erratic and may come in the form of severe storms and flooding. Hydroelectric generation of electricity never reaches pre-construction predictions due to reduced and erratic river flows and the Three Gorges Dam produces much less electricity than promised as the reservoir silts up much quicker than thought due to unpredictable severe storms along the river's course. As the seas rise there is coastal flooding and typhoons are stronger and more damaging producing devastating tidal surges. The reefs of the China Seas are virtually extinct. Huge estuaries have formed at the mouths of the largest rivers increasing the effect of typhoons and storm surges on the nearby populations. Many coastal cities appear to be medieval moated enclaves surviving only through intricate networks of dykes and levees with the constant assistance of pumping. China's population has been forced further east by drought and away from coastal regions by rising sea levels and now nearly 80% of the population and 90% of the economy are cooncentrated in the land area that used to sustain one-half the population and 60% of the economy. Complicating this already tense situation of a more concentrated population with less food resources is the fact that global warming has subjected more of the population to tropical diseases and parasites that have moved northward with rising temperatures.
This is too depressing to continue; I wish them a better outcome, but they, like us, need to start thinking in other terms than just ever rising economic output.

[Anonymous]

Hi Kamiko,

I had a question regarding what your Chinese aquaintance told you regarding the parents who lost children in the Sichuan earthquake. What will happen to the male parents who had a vasectomy or female parents who might of had their tubes tied? Do you know if they will receive any kind of compensation for the loss of their children?

Thanks
Maria

[Anonymous]

To: mlacosta,

My understanding is that parents who lost a child will be allowed to have another. Everyone who lost a child is receiving some monetary compensation. I do not know the estimated numbers of parents that have had either procedure listed done in the affected areas. I would suspect that the percentage would be very low. Birth control pills, morning after pills and condoms are what is mostly used to prevent conception. Then withdrawal and abortion would also be used.

[Anonymous]

I liked this. I checked it out and found it useful. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

This session by Clayton answered the question I came to class with on the first day. Why is USC and the China Institute giving teachers money and credit; what's the real motive? I loved that someone (the Freemans) had been to Asia, loved it and wanted to help us to love it, too.

Clayton explained the Evident Need for study of Asia (New Media/Interconnectedness of Modern world)

1. The globe in interconnected via the web. 1.3 billon (1/4th of China's population has access. Korea has broadband 10xs faster than U.S. Wow!
2.Traditional media can't keep up. ICUE is NBC's attempt to keep up. And,we teachers can have our students put out their own newscast. Great idea.
3.Young democracies are using the Internet to shape opinion and whoever wins is the govt. we will deal with.
4.New leaders in Asia are emerging due to Internet usage.
5.Veteran leaders. We need to know about them.
6.Money. We're in debt to China. Massive trade with Asia.
7.Aftermath of wars with Asian countries tie us to them.
8.Our philosophy of the White Man's Burden and we still seem to be thinking that we are the ones to settle disputes and as a Super Power we ought to call the shots on the global stage...or so some think.
9.Our history of intervention in Asian nation's affairs.
10.We are working with Asian nations...e.g. 2001 Japanese navy provides support for the American led invasion of Afghanistan. NATO intervention often involves us.
11.China has four times as many people as the US.
12.We spy, we get caught and we want our high tech. spy toys back. We, accidentally, according to US, hit the Chinese embassy in 1999 in Serbia. China didn't buy this.
13.In California we have the demographics: two-thirds of three million people have ties with an Asian country.
14.Trade: US does 50% with China; 27% with Japan; 11% with Korea; 8% with Taiwan; 4% with Hong Kong. LA Long Beach is most important port of trade with Asia. "Chinda": India and China moving from poverty to highest population of technology using folks. We’d better get with the program.

[Anonymous]

Kamiko,

Thank you for the information. I asked about vasectomy and tubal ligation because I thought that since the law was strict about one child that strict measure where taken to prevent the birth of additional children. I'm glad you cleared that up.

Mlacosta

[Anonymous]

Geographic illiteracy is a problem at all levels of education; friends who teach at UCR and RCC deal with it and I struggle with it at the 7th grade level. Students enter neither knowing the continents and oceans nor the principal locations for Rome, Egypt, Greece, China, etc. which they had studied the year before. Much of it has to do with felt needs ( yah, I know; only those who live in "yurts" have felt needs). Current events are unimportant and reading for pleasure, especially about other places and times, is dwindling so geographic knowledge is subsumed under the heading, "Why do we need to know that!?"
I start with the continents and oceans and keep at it until every student can point them out on a blank map. Early on they are told they need to know how to spell the locations correctly. The biggest struggle is over capitalization; "Yes, they are proper nouns and need to be capitalized." With few exceptions, the students are required to do at least one map per unit. Usually this is historic in nature, but I also have them do a modern political map for selected portions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America, and a physical features map for northern Africa and South America. Recently I have sharply reduced the number of locations to about 15 or so since spelling is such a problem the law of diminishing returns is quickly violated.
Neatness is graded as is the functionality of the map-it must be useful, i.e accurate and legible. We look at examples in the text's atlas amd mimic the cartographic style. Color is not necessary; if it obscures the text, points are deducted; if it enhances the text, extra credit is given.
I have included on the attachment a copy of the China map I have been using recently. On the reverse, I provide a list of locations. In this case, the students will make three maps of differing historical periods mostly in order to reduce the "mess factor" of superimposing several empires one on the other. To lighten the load, the main physical features-rivers, mountains, deserts, seas-are repeated on each map; as we know the repetition also helps learning and retention.
I put blank maps up on overheads and we drill...and drill. Map locations are usually part of every quiz and test. To help fix the overall location I use Google Earth; we start in southern California and "fly" to our current study location.
This is one of those areas of teaching, I find, that there isn't always instant gratification. Students struggle and fail. However, there is what I call the delayed learning syndrome; students do know more than they or we think. Many students report back that when they got to high school. lo and behold, they surprised themselves with how much geography they actually knew.

[Anonymous]

I noticed as I read through the posts that some of us are asking about the one-child policy in China. I have a little information to share, which may or may not be new to you.
1. Some women use (illegal) scanning machines with their doctor to determine if the fetus is a boy or a girl and plan for the pregnancy or terminate it, to try again.
2. Some women will travel to rural areas to deliver a child, where records are spotty or not kept at all. Different family can "raise" the child, so they are not discovered to be a second child when they go to school (school records).
3. I spoke with someone who lives in Shanghai ( he was about 27 and had an older brother). I asked him how he came to have a brother and he volunteered his parents had to pay a fine for the second child(him) which was $20,000. 27 years ago... alot of money. They were allowed to keep both kids and send them to school, and on to college. (Money talks).
4. On a Chinese news website I visited today (8/26) it reported that if both parents of a child are known to be dead from the recent earthquake, the child can be adopted right away to Chinese ( no internationsl).Preference will be given to parents who lost children in the same earthquake. If parents are considered missing, not confirmed dead, there is a 2 year waiting period, at which time the parents will be considered dead and the child can be adopted. There are some new rules for adopting in China, and this article stated the parents had to be over 30, married, and have means to support a child. There were 88 children ready to be adoped out according to the report I read.
It's another amazing piece of information about China. Alot depends on where you're born there. It will be interesting to see if the birth certificates issued in China become clearer and less contraversial at the end of the "investigation" on the ages of the recent Chinese gymnists that did so well at the Olympics.

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