Geography: Have Map, Will Travel

“I believe, now more than ever, in the transformative promise of geography,” said Eric Weiner, the author of “The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World.” He went on to write:

 “Change your location and you just may change yourself. It’s not that distant lands contain some special energy or that their inhabitants possess secret knowledge (though they may), but rather something more fundamental. By relocating ourselves, reorienting ourselves, we shake loose the shackles of expectation. Adrift in a different place we give ourselves permission to be different people.”

I believe this wholeheartedly, and I think it is vital that children have an understanding of life beyond their town, state, country and continent. Although travel in the physical sense may not be a blessing that everyone can afford, educating students about other countries and cultures is affordable. In fact, it’s downright profitable. It fosters understanding, peace and good global citizenship.

Mark Twain was on the same page.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

St. Augustine’s thinking was similar. “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page,” he said.

 Big Universe’s approach to education echoes this sentiment:

 “Our desire is to use children’s books online as a way to connect the next generation – our children – and help them look past the differences between our various cultures and instead focus on our similarities, so we can come together to explore our big universe.”

Recent additions to Big Universe’s library broaden resources for teachers trying to put together a well-rounded social studies curriculum that will stretch their kids’ horizons. Check out these cross-cultural and geography-related books. They’ll take your students on all sorts of travels, expanding their vocabularies, perspectives, dreams and ideas about this great big earth that we live on.

    “Keys and Symbols on Maps” (Rourke)

    “Kids Around the World” (Teacher Created Materials)

    “Maps are Flat, Globes are Round” (Rourke)

    “Japan” (Bellwether)

    “We Share One World” (Illumination Arts)

    “Machu Picchu…The Lost City of the Incas” (Mighty Book)

    “Counting the Continents” (Rourke)

    “North, South, East and West” (Rourke)

    “India” (Teacher Created Materials)

    “Canada” (Bellwether)

    “Secret of the Dance” (Orka Book)

    “Israel” (Bellwether)

    “Around the World with Money” (Rourke)

    “England” (Bellwether)

    “Greece” (Teacher Created Materials)

Big Universe also carries Step-by-Step Reading Corner books in a variety of languages, for example: “Oranges for Everyone” in Arabic, “Dorothy and the Glasses” in Polish and “The Icicle” in Spanish. To find additional books in alternative languages, go to the website’s “Read” section and browse by language.