Join this webinar on December 6, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. (PT) to learn about the following:
For more information go to: https://www.esri.com/en-us/lg/industry/education/virtual-reality-with-gis-in-classrooms-webinar
The Virginia Council of Social Studies (VCSS) is hosting our annual conference on March 24 & 25, 2023, at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. We are incredibly excited about the conference and the opportunity it will give social studies educators across Virginia to connect with one another after several difficult years.
Submit a proposal to lead a conference session today or before the deadline on December 1. VCSS is interested in proposals that pertain to any aspect of social studies content or instruction. However, special consideration will be given to proposals that align with one or more of our conference subthemes.
To learn more about the 2023 VCSS Conference, please visit our conference website and register for the conference today! Early bird pricing ends on December 31! Schools and districts can pay for registrants by credit card, check, or invoice.
Applications are now being accepted for the 2023 Sacrifice for Freedom®: World War II in the Pacific Student & Teacher Institute. Program and travel fees (including flights, hotels, meals, and admission) are paid by the Pearl Harbor Historic Site partners.
A team consists of one student and one teacher. A prospective team submits a joint application. Teams must meet these requirements:
•Student applicants must be enrolled in tenth or eleventh grade in the 2022-2023 academic year.
•Teacher applicants of any subject from grades 6-12 may apply. School librarians are eligible for this program.
•Teacher applicants must be employed or serving as public, private, parochial, charter, independent, or home school educators.
•All accepted participants will be required to submit full proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
Teams selected will work over the course of six months to research the context of World War II in the Pacific and specifically, the life of a Silent Hero® who died in World War II and is buried in or memorialized at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.
Teams need to be available for travel from June 20 to 26, 2023. The program will begin in January 2023 with required online course work and continue after summer travel with the completion of the Silent Hero profile for NHDSilentHeroes.org.
The deadline to apply is Monday, November 28, 2023 at midnight HT. Teachers may submit one application. If a teacher wants to consider multiple students, the choice of student applicant must be made at the school level.
For more information and application form go to https://www.nhd.org/SFF2023.
2023 Chesapeake Bay Climate Institute
This place-based institute explores climate change and aims to develop transformational material to be used in classrooms, engaging students across K-20 curriculum. The four-day institute features a field excursion to Tangier Island, professional lectures, and emphasizes the science of climate change and equitable resilience.
All Virginia and Maryland educators are eligible to apply. Those interested in integrating climate-related content into their courses while teaching outside of traditional STEM disciplines are encouraged to apply; so too are pre-service and early-career educators.
There are two Institute options (August 6-August 9; August 9-August 12). All lodging, food, and on-site transport costs are paid by the Virginia Geographic Alliance, in partnership with the Maryland Geographic Alliance.
Questions can be directed to Dr. Michael Allen (mallen@towson.edu) or Jamie Young (jamie.young@vbschools.com).
Apply today; Space is limited: https://tinyurl.com/2023CBCI
Application Deadline: March 1, 2023
This institute is sponsored and supported by the Virginia Geographic Alliance and Maryland Geographic Alliance, educational organizations that enhance K-16 geographic literacy and engagement.
NOVEMBER 2 | 7:00 PM (EST)
Teaching students how to read and understand quantitative and qualitative data is a skill that must be repeated constantly and used throughout the year. Four veteran teachers of AP Human Geography share their strategies on how to teach students to efficiently learn content. Using data to provide students with constant formative feedback while also preparing students for success on the AP Human Geography exam. Participants will learn about Verbal FRQing and how to use NCGE’s bell ringers in your classroom as strategies to help students grow
NOVEMBER 9 | 7:00 PM (EST)
This webinar introduces the National Council for Geographic Education’s GeoCamp Iceland professional development program. Past program leaders Ellen Foster and Jeff Lash are joined by 2021 participant Debra Troxel to introduce the program, share experiences, discuss registration, and address potential GeoCamper questions and concerns.
Get students involved in the Slingshot Challenge: The Slingshot Challenge is about students sharing their ideas for slingshotting our planet forward. We are challenging 13–18-year-olds to create a one-minute video sharing their solutions to our current environmental problems. Prizes include five $10,000 prizes.
For more information on these programs and more, visit the NCGE website.
We at Climate Generation (a climate education non-profit) are reaching out to you to share some of the great, free resources we have for educators around this year’s climate change negotiations at COP27 (conference of the parties) in Egypt. These include live webinar share backs from our Window into COP27 delegates on the ground in Egypt, our Window into COP27 digest, our updated COP educator toolkit, and more.
Climate change intersects with every subject area and influences us on every imaginable scale, from individual to global. The annual international climate change conference, called the Conference of Parties (COP), is an excellent way to engage students in these interdisciplinary intersections and involve them in different scales of action.
Climate Generation’s Window into COP program connects your students to global climate change efforts through the eyes of the twelve leaders we’re sending to the international climate negotiations November 6-18. You and your students can participate in our COP27 experience with our updated COP Toolkit, new COP27 supplemental resource, and our upcoming virtual events!
As the United States makes unprecedented, yet controversial, progress in climate change policy with the Inflation Reduction Act and the ratification of the Kigali Amendment, it is important for students to see national and international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of climate change. At the same time, there is still a lot of work to do. Students’ voices are needed to ensure climate change policies meet everyone’s needs, regardless of race, class, geography, and more, so that no one is left behind.
Registration links:
Workshop #1: https://tinyurl.com/mapping-history
Workshop #2: https://tinyurl.com/mapping-meaning
Workshop #3: https://tinyurl.com/map-inequality
NEWS RELEASE, October 13, 2022
On September 24th in Richmond, Virginia, Chris Bunin, social studies and geospatial technologies teacher at Albemarle High School and associate professor (adjunct) for the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) was appointed to be the co-coordinator of the Virginia Geographic Alliance (VGA), a non-profit educational organization supported by the National Geographic Society and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Founded in 1986, the Alliance promotes geo-literacy by providing effective K-16 professional development programs that enhance the teaching and learning of geography and that demonstrate the value of geographic knowledge and spatial thinking to educators, policymakers, and community members. The Virginia Geographic Alliance fosters and supports the enduring power of the geographic perspective in social, environmental, and geospatial sciences as they develop in schools, universities, businesses, governments, and communications media to advance geo-literacy. Since 1992, the Geography Department at Virginia Tech has served as the primary host institution for the Alliance.
Acquiring geographic knowledge, skills and technologies enable people to become productive global citizens and lifelong learners. The Alliance conducts statewide programs to assist teachers and students through the distribution of classroom atlases, world maps, lesson plans, and activities for National Geography Awareness Week. In the past, VGA conducted the annual state geography bee and helped to implement Virginia Standards of Learning and Geography for Life: National Geography Standards.
Bunin, a graduate of Virginia Tech with degrees in history (B.A), geography (M.Sc.), and education (M.A.), has been an active member of the VGA since 2002. During this time he has designed and implemented K-16 professional development workshops and courses, organized international teacher institutes, and served as the principal investigator for multiple grants including the 2015 NCSS Grant for the Enhancement of Geographic Literacy, “Putting Social Studies in its Place,” and the 2017 Library of Congress project, “Placing Primary Sources.” Along with numerous articles and lessons on integrating geospatial technologies into classroom instruction he co-authored the books Jamestown to Appomattox: Mapping US History using GIS and GIS for Teachers: A Guide to Authentic K-12 Integration and Application. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Council for History Education and as a National Geographic Society explorer leading the project, “Revisiting Charlottesville.”
The position aims to maintain and forge new partnerships with state agencies including the Virginia Department of Education, and is viewed as a valued leader in a large network of educators across Virginia and beyond.
Inquiries may be sent to:
Anne M. Evans, VGA Co-Coordinator
Anne.Evans@richmond.edu
Celebrating 10 Years of the Project and Looking to the Future
Monday, November 7, 2022
5-6:30 p.m.
University of Richmond’s Ukrop Auditorium
Unpacking the Census, a partnership between the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and the University of Richmond’s Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, School of Professional & Continuing Studies, and Spatial Analysis Lab, examines structural inequality through census research.
Join us as we celebrate ten years of the project, share new research, and engage in conversation with regional experts.
Following a presentation by Unpacking the Census intern Sarah Murtaugh, ’23, and Spatial Analysis Lab director Kyle Redican, School of Professional & Continuing Studies associate dean Tom Shields will moderate a panel discussion with:
Congratulations to VGA’s own Matt Gerike for receiving the well deserved and prestigious Leadership Award at the recent URISA (Urban and Regional Information Systems Association) conference. Matt, PhD, GISP, is the Geospatial Program Manager at the Virginia Geographic Information Network (VGIN), 9-1-1 & Geospatial Services Bureau, Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
