Outnumbered 20 to 1: Nations Notebook: World Geography Unit

My own geography teacher was an impressive figure. He had us select and research 3 countries and turn in a bound report after months of work. Although I was significantly older at the time than my current students, I knew I had to find a way to adapt his project when it came time for my own classes to apply their knowledge of map features.

My 3rd graders and I reviewed US maps for weeks, building upon skills taught in 2^nd grade. As I moved into features of the world map, I used Nations Notebook as an opportunity for students to apply their knowledge, acquire research skills and broaden their appreciation of other cultures and countries.

Length: 45 minutes Unit Length: 2 classes per week/4 weeks

All the student guides are here. Take, tweak, share at will and let me know how it goes! For more detail on how I conducted the project, read below.

Pre-Research Interview PDF
Nations Notebook Project PDF
Nations Notebook Menus PDF

Lesson 1:

To begin, I taught my students about the 7 continents, the equator, the prime meridian, the hemispheres, and the oceans. We talked about how borders can change, taking Sudan and Southern Sudan as a current example. In our previous study of US geography we had discussed the difference between political maps, physical maps, and thematic maps, and now we looked at how these categories apply to world maps as well.

Lesson 2:

I wasn’t surprised by how little the children knew of world geography…learning the 50 states is tricky enough! So the point of Nations Notebook wasn’t to memorize facts or locations, but to give students a way to apply their new map knowledge. In lesson 2, I paired students up and laid out large maps of 6 continents (Antarctica not included). With their partner, they chose a country based on their own criteria. Some chose countries they, or a relative, had been to, or one they had heard about on the news. Others closed their eyes and accepted the choice of a random finger landing.

In the end 40 different countries were chosen across the 3^rd grade, from Ecuador, to England, to Papua New Guinea. I think it is important to have children reflect on their prior knowledge and actively think of the questions they have before going into their research. I used the Pre-Research Interview PDF here to get students excited

Lesson 3 and On:

I am a firm believer in inquiry-based learning and allowing children to formulate their own questions to guide their research. I will be the first to admit that this project was considerably more structured. At my previous school, my students were accustomed to inquiry-based assignments and felt comfortable with wonder walls and exploration. My current kiddos, on the other hand are used to rigor, but grow agitated at the thought of being left to their own devices. As this was our first research experience of the year, I chose to ease in slowly by making guided question packets for each group to use with different resources.

The first resource was a world map. Students were able to use our class set of world map placemats to figure out their chosen country’s continent, hemisphere, neighbors, and/or bordering oceans.

The second resource was the National Geographic Kids World Atlas. We were fortunate to have a class set in the library, but you can explore it online at this site. Using the atlas was important. We talked about features of non-fiction books and learned interesting facts about the geographic regions where our countries were located.

Our third, and most important resource, was www.culturegrams.com. I cannot speak highly enough about this database. If your school is willing to purchase an account it is an excellent tool for any teacher. Students were able to use the kids edition to explore different aspects of their country; its economy, government, landscape, climate, population, languages, schools, foods, and even hear about daily life from actual interviews.

Final Project:

When I began Nations Notebook, I imagined that each partnership would present their findings through a poster. I anticipated needing two class periods in which students could paraphrase and transfer facts onto index cards and add their visuals. However, school was canceled after Hurricane Sandy hit, and in that time I was fortunate enough to attend a Teach21 workshop on Project-Based Learning. One of the ideas I took away was the concept of creating a menu of options. Try this book for more ideas: Differentiating with Menus. Instead of limiting my students to a poster, I made it one of six options. See the others here: Nations Notebook Menus PDF

I was amazed by how my students responded to the choice! Suddenly groups were asking to stay indoors for recess to construct hanging mobiles, or take their project folders home to write their interview questions. My class came alive and it was an absolute pleasure to observe. The projects are displayed in the hallway and I set aside class-time to listen to each group present.

While Nations Notebook took longer than I initially anticipated, in the end my students acquired research skills, practiced their public speaking, put together an informative project that reflected their interest and creativity, learned about other countries and cultures in a meaningful way, and most importantly, applied their map skills. It was a success and I cannot wait to repeat it!