Five for Friday: Best of BioBlitz 2011!

On October 21-22 National Geographic and partners hosted BioBlitz, a 24-hour event in which teams of volunteer scientists, families, students, teachers, and other community members worked together to find and identify as many species of plants, animals, microbes, fungi, and other organisms as possible; in Saguaro National Park, Tuscon, Arizona. The results were fantastic: Scientists and citizens identified 859 species in one day (This is an unofficial count, the final numbers will be confirmed in January.). Congratulations BioBlitzers! To celebrate the outstanding success of this year’s event, My Wonderful World is highlighting five of the many fantastic factors that made this year so special.

1) Glowing scorpions
Quite literally, these unusual creatures were a major highlight of the BioBlitz. Found most easily at night, glowing scorpions are located by using black lights, which then re-emit the light as green light. According to Paul Marek, an entomologist at the University of Arizona, “[if] you go out at night into the Sonoran Desert with one of these UV lights, these scorpions light up and glow like a little star field on the ground.”

2) The “Water Bear” (Tardigrades)
–a microscopic species found for the first time in Arizona! Watch this video of Baker University Student Kyrie Bair as she talks about this exciting new discovery.
3) BioBlitz-inspired technology is an awesome new way to participate in the event year-round. For starters, check out the social media website, Project NOAH, a tool to explore and document wildlife and harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere. This community-based site “makes a scientist out of all of us” as it allows users to report species and share them with tens of thousands of others. Another way new technology has expanded the reach and longevity of the event is through an electronic field trip designed to allow students around the world to “attend” the BioBlitz in Saguaro National Park. Although the event itself happened October 21, the recording of the electronic field trip can still be enjoyed by following this link: electronicfieldtrip.org

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ngeducationintern11/04/2011Leave a comment

Geography In the News

New “Borders” at the New York Times

Anyone who is a self-described map geek–and we number many here at National Geographic Education–can cite some formative early experiences with maps, both real and imaginary. For me, it was the Candyland map, a delicious marriage of my fledgling passions for sugar and space. I used to love to manipulate my game piece through this colorful fantasyland of gumdrop mountains and lollypop woods.

For Frank Jacobs, it was a map of the mysterious world of J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle Earth, and an incidental connection between the made-up Bree and his family’s ancestral home in the real-world Bree, in Belgium.

In the first installment of a new New York Times series called In Praise of Borders, Jacobs recounts his childhood experiences navigating Bree, in a curious corner of Europe’s German-Belgian-Dutch region shaped by a unique history. It is at once a personal yet relatable narrative.

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10/25/2011Leave a comment

Classroom Ideas, Geography In the News

BioBlitz 2011: Saguaro National Park & Electronic Field Trip

Mark your calendars, BioBlitz 2011 is just around the corner and it’s going to be the best yet! The annual celebration of biodiversity takes place this year on October 21-22 in Saguaro National Park, Tuscon, Arizona and online as a free electronic field trip. Information about the live event, how to register for the electronic field trip, schedules, goals, links, and more are provided below thanks to National Geographic Education, and the partners of BioBlitz 2011–Enjoy!

Summary of BioBlitz:
BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of volunteer scientists, families, students, teachers, and other community members work together to find and identify as many species of plants, animals, microbes, fungi, and other organisms as possible. A BioBlitz gives adults, kids, and teens the opportunity to join biologists in the field and participate in bona fide research expeditions. It’s a fun and exciting way to learn about the biological diversity of local parks and to better understand how to protect them. National Geographic is helping conduct a BioBlitz in a different national park each year during the decade leading up to the U.S. National Park Service Centennial in 2016. –www.natgeoed.org

Group and individual registration is now available online. Families, schools, clubs, scout troops and other groups are encouraged to participate. For questions or to receive updates and registration information when available, send an email to bioblitz@ngs.org.

Goals of the Saguaro BioBlitz:

Count, map, and learn about the park’s diverse organisms, ranging from microscopic bacteria to migrating birds, elusive mountain lions to 200-year-old cacti.
Provide scientists, school kids, and the general public an opportunity to conduct fieldwork together.
Add to the park’s official species list.
Highlight the importance of protecting the biodiversity of this extraordinary place.

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ngeducationintern09/29/2011Leave a comment

Classroom Ideas, Geography In the News

Monday Funday Photo of the Week: Palestine.

As a fresh way to kick off the work week, My Wonderful World is now bringing its readers a Monday-Funday Photo of the Week. Designed not only around aesthetics, this photo sharing start to the week is also about facilitating geographic discussion on current events and relevant topics. Our second edition of Photo of the Week is in conjunction with the geopolitical events surrounding Palestine’s … Continue reading Monday Funday Photo of the Week: Palestine.

ngeducationintern09/26/2011Leave a comment

Classroom Ideas, Geography In the News

Five For Friday: Cool Maps I Made on WorldMap

Harvard University’s Center for Geographic Analysis is the process of developing WorldMap, an open source web mapping system available to anyone. The project is a fantastic new opportunity in modern education. Teachers can now assign mapping project for students and have access to view and aid in their progress through map sharing. This will allow teachers more direct contact with student questions, struggles and successes. The best part is, it’s easy to use! The tools for mapping are streamlined down from traditional forms of GIS and made simple for any skill set to enjoy. The project is still under construction, so many amazing additions are scheduled for the coming year. Highly anticipated new additions include: geo-referencing of photos, videos, and text directly onto the map. Another user-friendly feature is the unlimited access to external data that anyone can export and add to a map. WorldMap requires a quick registration that asks for a user name, password, and e-mail in order to login. The capability is truly amazing; to show you what I mean, I made this week’s Five-for-Friday a collection of five unique, beautiful and useful maps I made using WorldMap. Make one yourself and share the link to your map in our comments box below! Clicking on the maps I have created will show them in their full size and detail.

1. Map of Cuba that combines satellite imagining with Wikipedia reference points. Using the “identify” tool I was able to find the city of Santiago, as shown in the red box and provided with a direct link to Santiago’s Wikipedia page. 2. Map of the Southern United States from the 1860’s population distribution of slaves. Just one example of the historical maps that are provided in WorldMap.3. Map of Eastern Africa that layers place names and boundaries with soil types of the region. The red outlined shape in Kenya represents the soil class Zo9-3a.