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magazine / apr10
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April 2010 issue |
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| Young men in Papua New Guinea (Photo: Wade Davis) |
SPEAKER SERIES
Keeping ancient wisdom alive
A Buddhist
nun at a Nepalese monastery greets a visitor. (Photo: Wade Davis)
In his stories, Davis showcases the many different ways humans approach life. Technological and economic forces are rapidly narrowing
this broad spectrum, he warns, ushering in a far more homogeneous global society. The pursuit of material progress is razing the treasures
of unique landscapes, banishing traditional societies to obscurity and extinguishing a collective past.
“There is a fire burning over the Earth,” he writes, “taking with it plants and animals, ancient skills and
visionary wisdom. At risk is a vast archive of knowledge and expertise, a catalogue of the imagination, an oral and written language composed
of the memories of countless elders and healers, warriors, farmers, fishermen, midwives, poets and saints.”
Far from being a collection of relics and artifacts, the exotic world that Davis portrays in his books, such as last year’s The Wayfinders, reflects
humanity’s true face. He asks us to reconsider the trajectory of our headlong plunge toward a spiritually impoverished
future, calling, instead, for a new quest to respect and preserve our many cultural roots.
“What ultimately we will discover on this journey will be our mission for the next century,” he says.
“Quelling this flame — and rediscovering a new appreciation for the diversity of the human spirit as expressed by
culture — is among the central challenges of our time.”
Davis, The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s 2009
Gold Medallist, will be at Ottawa’s Centrepointe Theatre on April 28 as part
of the Society’s Speaker Series.
— Tim Lougheed
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EDUCATION
For the love of teaching
RCGS Governor and Fellow Phyllis Arnold encounters a
colony of penguins in Antarctica. (Photo courtesy Phyllis Arnold)
When Phyllis Arnold toured Old Québec with her husband a few years ago, a class of grade-seven students
on a field trip caught her eye: the textbook they were using to learn about Quebec and Canada happened to be
one of her own. Although she retired eight years ago, Arnold, a Governor and Fellow of The
Royal Canadian Geographical Society, still runs into some of the 76 educational books she authored during her career. Arnold Publishing Ltd,
the company she started with $50 in 1967, became one of the most successful independently owned educational book
publishers in Canada.
“It’s a real challenge to take complex historical and geographical concepts and make them into something
that children learn from,” explains Arnold. She designed her books for “the visual learner of today,” using pictures and simulation
games such as Marooned — in which a class is stranded on an imaginary island — to help students remember facts.
Leane de Laigue, a high school environmental studies teacher in Vancouver, will remember Arnold for more
than her books. Last year, the Canadian Council for
Geographic Education presented her with the Phyllis
Arnold Professional Development Award, established by Arnold in 2001 to help educators attend
professional-development courses and workshops. De Laigue used the subsidy to take courses in navigational
skills and wilderness survival. “I just wanted to be more comfortable when I take students into the wilderness,”
she says. Arnold, a former schoolteacher in Edmonton, says it’s important for teachers to branch out beyond the classroom
and “get a feel” for what is going on in geographic education.
— Jessica Sims
Sailors aboard HMCS Saskatchewan raise
the new Canadian flag on Feb.16, 1965. (Photo courtesy Department of National Defence)
WEB
Naval salute
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of
Canada’s Navy, The Canadian Atlas Online has created a new thematic module on our seafaring
forces. Launched in March, it includes a special interactive map that profiles 372 vessels named after
Canadian communities, regions and First Nations,
a tradition that began in the first half of the
20th century as a way of unifying the country.
The module, produced in partnership with the Canadian Navy, features a variety of topics, including the history and traditions of the Navy,
the types of vessels currently in use, ranks and responsibilities, training and a section on life in the Regular Force and the Naval Reserve. In
addition to the online resources, the Canadian Council for Geographic Education is preparing lesson plans that will be available to high school teachers in the fall.
— Ainslie Cruickshank
EDUCATION
Back by popular demand
Call it a pedagogical bestseller.
Teaching about
Geographical Thinking — a resource book for geography teachers co-published in 2008 by The Royal Canadian
Geographical Society and The Critical Thinking Consortium at the University of British Columbia — has been so popular
that a revised edition is due to be published in May.
The book outlines ways in which teachers can encourage students to think critically about geographical issues.
“Rather than just passing on information, it’s about presenting a problem that students
have to solve,” says Bob Sharpe, editor of the second edition and a geography professor at Wilfrid Laurier
University, in Waterloo, Ont.
Teaching about Geographical Thinking draws on current and vital geographical problems,
such as climate change. One of the suggested activities challenges students to assess competing beliefs about this
global concern.
To help teachers apply critical-thinking concepts in the classroom, a companion resource kit, containing a series
of lesson plans on themes such as migration, natural disasters, and international aid is being developed for release in the fall.
— Monique Roy-Sole
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