The Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance seeks to promote geo-literacy here in the Ocean State.  So what is geo-literacy? The National Geographic Society’s Educational team have put together these fantastic videos. The first one to explain what the term geo-literacy actually means:

And the second video elaborates on geo-literacy to show why having geo-literate citizens and students are critical for society.

At a different scale, a geography blogger produced a video to emphasize the workforce applications of geo-literacy and geographic skills.

In an informal way, I think this sign embodies what geography education and geo-literacy is all about… Now is the time to open our eyes to the world around us.  I see this as a bit of ‘geo-inspiration‘ that I want to spread and I seek to further distribution geography education materials to any and all that can use them.

So go explore the world.

I enjoy the sentiment of this quote; it embraces creative pedagogy while empowering students to be creative agents that can reshape the world.  I love the idea of geography enabling young minds to be inspired to imagine a better world and giving them the tools to so.  While I love the ethos that is embedded in this quote, I feel that it also underestimates our students and their ability to see past some of the limitations of the educational process.  They are simply not passive recipients of learning that is transmitted to them; students can actively shape what they learn.  However, if we can create an environment that promotes and encourages higher-order thinking, we can help our students see their role in shaping a new world–that is our goal in promoting geo-literacy.