Geography Day on Beacon Hill - April 19, 2017

EarthView in Nurses Hall, Massachusetts State House
Photo Credit: Ashley Costa Harris
Bridgewater State University Geography '13
This image appears on the first page of the National Standards for geography education.

The Massachusetts Geographic Alliance and Bridgewater State University will be returning to Beacon Hill on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 to celebrate and promote geographic education.

Sox are required when
entering EarthView

The highlight of the visit will be EarthView, a 20-foot inflatable globe of the earth that will be in Nurses Hall from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Project EarthView is a joint endeavor of the Department of Geography and the Center for the Advancement of STEM Education at BSU. By bringing people inside a physical globe of the earth, the project allows people to understand the planet and their connection to it in a different light. Since acquiring the globe in 2008, the BSU team has reached more than 80,000 students -- mostly middle-school students -- throughout Massachusetts and beyond.

Visits to the State House and other public venues serve to remind everyone of the importance of geography education, during a period in which it is shockingly absent from high-school curricula.

Geography Awareness Day on Beacon Hill will take place on Patriot's Day, in the middle of April vacation week, and in the lead-up to Earth Day. It is a reminder that geography is an integrative discipline that brings together global thinking and scientific literacy, in ways that learners can apply to daily life. In geography, after all, the "real world" is a big part of what we do.

The hand-painted EarthView globe is also a great example of STEM to STEAM
thinking -- bringing Art to STEM education.

During the day, geography students, geography educators, and geography professionals will be visiting the offices of legislators to discuss the importance of geographic literacy, and ways that the Commonwealth can promote it. Whether they can attend or not, friends of geography are encouraged to invite their representatives and senators to spend a few minutes in Nurses Hall with this beautiful and educational work of art.

More details at the Facebook event.