Happy Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day: Corn Maze Geography + National Assoc of Interpretation

I send you greetings and wishes for a delightful and spatial Geography
Awareness Week and GIS Day!

1) In acknowledgement of GAW, I have created 10 lessons based on corn and
corn mazes, on:

http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/public/outreach/cornmazegeography.html

Corn mazes are paths cut or plowed in a field of corn (maize) so that the
paths form a pattern when
viewed from overhead. The patterns can be famous people, maps, flags,
drawings, themes, or an
infinite number of others. Unlike tracing through a maze on paper, the
human being becomes the
" tracer" through the maze. Because corn mazes are maps, and because mazes
and maps have fascinated
people for centuries, they provide a unique and fun way to learn about
geography, including scale,
relative and absolute location, land use, soils, human-environment
interaction, and other geographic themes.
In this document, ten lessons for teaching geography through the concept of
corn mazes are presented. Some of the ideas work even if you do not live
near a maze or otherwise cannot visit a corn maze with your students. Some
of the lessons are applications of GPS and GIS.

2) I recently attended and presented at the National Association of
Interpretation conference. The jobs that people belonging to the NAI have
are real examples of geography and environmental studies in action! Tell
your students that there ARE nifty jobs to be had in interpreting cultures,
the environment, natural history, and geography to the general public, at
museums, state parks, national parks, national wildlife refuges, and so on.
See my report and photographs on:

http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/public/outreach/reports/nai03t.pdf

Author:  

Dr.  Joseph J. Kerski

Geographer
Box 25046 - MS 507 

Denver, CO  80225-0046 USA

jjkerski@usgs.gov 

Tel  303 202 4315