Geographical Resources
October 25-31
Atlases, maps, travel guides and gazetteers were not on my list of the most interesting reference tools before this class. After reviewing many of them in class this week I was surprised by how interesting they were to explore and use. I was shocked by how much information was available through the big Word Atlases like population maps, languages, education levels etc.
I really enjoyed the historical atlases which I never knew existed. These would be great resources to show students a timeline resource of history and maps together. I also loved the Kingfisher Student atlas broken into states with great color pictures and maps. Kids love to look at these kinds of things and they are important to have in the classroom or library for students to use. I was surprised by how much text information was included in these resources not just "maps". It was an important feature for me to use in evaluating these in the future- how does the text enhance the resource, etc.
I was also interested to see the connection between print and digital atlas resources such as the Rand with the scan code on each city's page that has touring videos. These skills are important for students in the COS and these resources should not be overlooked in the media center. These skills are often glossed over in teaching for more highly tested topics. Even though geography is not by best subject these resources could be very interesting and helpful to build these skills!
