Week 3: Finding my bearings on a world map!

Here we go again working our brains to its full potential! 

At the beginning of this week's class a question was posed which required my team members and I to engage in some critical thinking because aside from answering a simple yes or no question, we were required to justify an appropriate reason for choosing our answer. 

'Can snow exist on the equator? Explain why or why not.' 

Our initial answer was no. Why would snow even exist when there is direct sunlight at the equator all year round? Interestingly, I along with my team members were able to change our misconception about the existence of snow on the equator through the learning process without even realizing it until the very end of the class session. 

Halfway through the class, we were instructed to make a few calculations. This task was a bit confusing and challenging for me because I am not that good at math so it took me a while to figure out what exactly we ought to do. Thankfully, one of our team members is an expert at mathematics therefore we were able to use her strength in that area  to make the necessary calculations needed to determine the temperatures at the highest points on each continent.

After that, we were required to use a key skill that every geographer must possess. That is, the ability to locate countries/continents on a world map. However, as a team, we did not just locate a certain country/continent on a world map but we located the highest point in that country/continent and then plotted the points on a blank world map. 

There we were back and fought looking into our atlas and then at our blank world map, trying to ensure that we plot the points as accurately as we possibly can. It was quite easy locating most of the points on the map. However, it was hard to decipher where exactly Mount Kilimajaro was located in the African continent. When our instructor pointed out that we plotted that point in the wrong place I realized that I needed to sharpen my skills in locating countries and physical features on a world map. Therefore, in addition to all the assignments that I have written down in my to do list, I will definitely need to add "Print political map of each continent, label the countries, locate physical features of countries".

Anyway, what exactly was the point in making all these calculations and plotting these points on the blank world map though?

Initially, I thought the whole point in making the calculations and plotting the points on the map were to detect that temperatures vary at different locations on the Earth which is true BUT!!!. 

Yep! Here comes the aha moment.

Apparently this was a strategy our instructor used to clear up our misconception of the existence of snow on the equator. Here is were we realized that altitude is a contributing factor to the existence of snow at the equator. Aha! I can't believe I didn't think of that in the first place. Shame on me. The concept that we needed to understand behind all of this was lapse rate. 

Phew! That was a lot to take in which is why our instructor incorporated an energizer activity at the end of that exercise. 'ZIP, ZAP ZOP' definitely had us going and I quite liked that little activity. In addition to that, counting from 1 to 10 with our eyes closed wasn't bad either. Especially when we each had to call a different number and in the event that more than one person blurts out the same number we had to start all over again. The joys of being a student. Thank you Dr. De Four-Babb for those two wonderful activities. Its definitely something I will try with my students when i'm out on practicum this term.

All fun aside, our instructor demonstrated the way in which sunlight is unevenly distributed on earth's surface which accounts for the occurrence of the different seasons in relation to the tilt of the earth on its axis. This demonstration took me back to the time I was on my year 3 practicum. Although the demonstration was a bit different from what I did, the idea was the same but maybe I will try it another way to see how well the students grasp the idea.

Essentially, there was a lot to take away from this week's class. I hope that the strategies that I have picked up on will benefit me and my students in the upcoming teaching practice. Sharpening up my maps skills is definitely going to be on my to do list and reviewing the concepts of atmospheric cooling and lapse rate will be a priority before the week is over. 

By week 4 I'll be ready for more!