Dear Geographer

Geography education in Oregon needs your help.

Dr. Gwenda Rice (Western Oregon University) and I are going to Washington, DC in April to meet with our Senators and Representatives to urge them to support a bill—called the Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act—that would authorize $15 million annually for teacher-training and materials in geographic education.  Did you know that Geography is the ONLY federally-recognized core subject that has not received dedicated federal funding since No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002? Not one dime. Yet, every other core subject receives support.

It will help our cause immensely if the Members of Congress that we meet with have already heard from their constituents about the importance of geography education, and about the existence of the Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act.

We urge you to join us in a chorus of support for action by Congress. You don’t have to go to DC to help.

You can go to SpeakUpForGeography.org and send pre-written letters directly to your Senators and Representative. It takes only a minute to show support for K-12 geography education in our schools. By the time we visit Capitol Hill on April 19 our Members of Congress will know that we are speaking for a large and accomplished group of teachers, curriculum coordinators, university professors, and others who are making a difference here in the state.

Thank you for considering this opportunity to help us put geography “back on the map” with federal support. We are proud to represent the Oregon Geographic Alliance to our state leaders and are hopeful that we can correct the troubling oversight that leaves Geography alone without federal funding.

Please feel free to forward this message to others as well, and to contact either of us for further information.

Best wishes,

Oregon Geographic Alliance Coordinators
Teresa Bulman (bulmant@pdx.edu)
Gwenda Rice (ricesare@comcast.net)

Please join the public campaign "Speak Up For Geography: The 10,000 Letter Challenge".  As a leader in the geospatial industry, your support of geography education in K-12 schools is needed now more than ever. The goal of the 10,000 Letter Challenge is simple: to send 10,000 letters to Congress in support of the bipartisan Teaching Geography is Fundamental (TGIF) Act by November 18, 2011. This date marks the ending of Geography Awareness Week 2011 and the last day of the Congressional session before the Thanksgiving recess. It's easy to send letters to your Members of Congress at http://speakupforgeography.org. 

For full article go to:
http://apb.directionsmag.com/entry/national-geographic-asks-you-to-speak-up-for-geography/210856#.TqnKHMvgWQU.email

The list was obtained from the article, "Online Map games to encourage & engages your geographic awareness"  in GISUser.com.  here is the link to the full article:  http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/23043/222/

1. MapDuel: www.mapduel.com

This one may give you a bit of vertigo with all the zooming around, but it is the only one I've found with a question / answer format. It covers the whole globe. I did find one glitch. In a bonus question it asked me, "What is the language of this country?" when it was referring to a U.S. state. Be sure to click on the "Where the hell is Matt?" link too.

2. MapGame: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/just_fun/games/mapgame.html

Not a competitive game but the fact that it focuses on Middle Eastern and Northern Africa countries makes it pertinent to current events in that region.

3. States: http://www.sporcle.com/games/states.php

To win this game you must type in the names of all 50 states in 10 minutes. It places the name of the state that you've just typed in its proper location. Don't forget Alaska and Hawaii (or New Jersey).

4. 50states: http://www.addictinggames.com/50states.html

With this game you have to drag and drop a state shape to where it belongs on a U.S. map. It allows you to get it mostly right via snapping within a certain tolerance. You can compete with others for the best score.