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Ask Me Anything about using geography to teach history with Rachel Hansen // November 2023

Kathy Hays

We are honored to have  join us this week for to answer your questions on using geography to help students understand history and the world around us. A Distinguished AP Human Geography educator and National Geographic Explorer, she is passionate about designing learning experiences that compel students to engage in meaningful, authentic projects in their communities, where they can build relationships that produce sustainable change the world. Rachel leads her students in using geography to take action in their own community.

As a Big History educator, Rachel has included geography in her instruction to help students understand the impact of both human and physical geography on world history.  In honor of Geography Awareness Week this month, she will answer your questions on incorporating geography skills into your history instruction.

To help get started, Rachel recommends checking out the following resources:

What questions do you have for Rachel? Here are some ideas you may want to consider:

  • What are the best ways to incorporate geography into a history course?
  • Why is it important to use geography when teaching history?
  • How can I make geography engaging for students?

Share your questions in the comments below. We look forward to exploring the world with you!

Want to learn even more about incorporating geography into your history instruction? Check out the recording of our recent OER Project Skills Clinic - Mapping History.

  • in reply to Rachel Hansen

     I like the activity based on a refugee's journey. We recently interviewed a Syran refugee living in Jerash, Jordan, so I foresee the applicability of this tool. I also use Google My Maps and I find it very user-friendly.

    Would you mind either sharing or providing an explanation on how you use the activity on Personal Supply Chain maps?

  • in reply to Rachel Hansen

    That's great advice. Thanks, Rachel! I was trying to figure out how to get the questions and directions to students in an efficient way (hopefully without recreating them in another doc). 

  • in reply to Rachel Hansen

     , 

    I love the sentiments in this post. And I love love love the slide deck. Question: what are you looking for students to do in slide number 8?

     Another question: do you have any such thing created for Africa by any chance? 

    P.S....I just ordered the book. It will be golden!

  • in reply to Laura Massa

      Beautiful sequence,  . Thank you for sharing!

  • Wow -- so many wonderful options. I started checking into the National Geographic Mapmaker site -- so many conenctions to Contagion (map of the 1854 cholera outbreak) and connections to the Climate Extension , being able to layer world cities in by population... so much goodness! 

     do you encourage your students to make visual scrapbooks of the places they've studied? Or, are you curating materials using these sites to provide a bit more intentionality of the learning process for students? 

  • in reply to Donnetta Elsasser

    Hi,  ! Slide #8 was a graphic organizer on the back of their sketchmaps to capture their notes about the geographic advantages of Europe. I included a new link in the post above to the Sketchmaps notes page. 

    I do have something created for Africa! Slight smile

    The young reader's book is tremendous! I appreciate that it keeps the complex, high-level analysis while adding in helpful graphics. Tim Marshall's first version of the book is available as a free e-book. 

  • in reply to Laura Massa

     , your learning opportunities around refugees sound engaging, important, and timely! I wish I could be a fly on the wall of your classroom.

    Here's an old blog post on how I do the Personal Supply Chain activity and mapping with students. Here are my Slides for how I set it up. Sometimes we got low-tech, sometimes we go high-tech. Here's what students need to include on their maps:

    • Locations of raw materials
    • Locations of manufacturing centers
    • Locations of distribution centers
    • Transportation route between raw materials, manufacturing, distribution (ship, truck, plane, rail)
  • in reply to Gwen Duralek

    Hi,  ! There are so many great layers on the Mapmaker site! It seems like every time I go back, they've added something new that sidetracks me. Slight smile

    I love your question about visual scrapbooks! I'm trying something new as a culminating project this year. *insert nervous laughter here* I'm going to have students create an ArcGIS StoryMap highlighting important geographic advantages/disadvantages and the geographic significance of the regions we've studied. StoryMaps are a way to tell a geographic story in a visually appealing way - within a pre-built website structure. StoryMaps makes it easy to embed maps as part of the storytelling process. 

    Here is a sample StoryMap that I created on air quality in the community where I live, just to give you an idea of what you can do with the tool. 

    Wish me luck on my StoryMap scrapbook adventure - and keep your fingers crossed! I'll share our results once we tackle the project later in December. Slight smile

  • in reply to Rachel Hansen

       I like the possibilities that ArcGis Story Maps offers. I use one on world population that was designed by other users but I never came up with one by myself. I created an account and it seems to be free but I am not sure if this is a trial period and then you have to pay a subscription. I would like to ask my students to create a story (they’ve done it using Google Maps).Do you know if its use is free? Do your students have an account for free?

  • in reply to Rachel Hansen

     Wow  !That study on air quality in Muscatine is impressive. I read that it is part of your Master in Geography. I like the statistical tools you applied in your research. StoryMaps have extraordinary applications and I would like to assign a student group research project based on a local phenomenon. It would be a comprehensive end-of-the-year project.