quiz tomorrow

Economic geography.  Developed countries, developing countries.  GNP per capita.  Literacy.  If you've been paying attention in class, taking tomorrow's quiz will feel like unwrapping your first Christmas present. 

more Quality of Life

Again, we had guest teachers in class.  Many thanks to Gary, Annalee, and Makenzie for illuminating us about economic geography, developed vs. developing nations, and quality of life.

If you didn't get all your work done in class, it's homework for tonight.

Section 01 presented the results of their research in class today.  Sections 02 and 03 go tomorrow.  Friday, everyone takes the last Human Geo quiz of 2011.  Then... the longest break of the school year!

Standard of Living, Quality of Life

How are we doing?  Are we living the good life?  Here are some quantitative measures to determine how good we have it.

• urbanization
• level of economic activity (primary, secondary, tertiary)
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita (PPP)
• school life expectancy
• literacy rate
• life expectancy
• infant mortality
• population % below the poverty line

And here are some countries we will be researching:

• USA
• Brazil
• Germany
• India
• Saudi Arabia
• Canada
• Colombia
• Greece
• China
• Mexico
• Liechtenstein
• Afghanistan
• Kenya
• Japan
• United Kingdom
• Angola
• Egypt
• South Korea

Here is one way to do this assignment.

After completing your research, each group should collaborate on a paragraph that summarizes the quality of life for each country.  Describe what was revealed about each country through your research. 

quiz day

Now that you've taken the quiz, I will get grades posted soon.  If you didn't get to take the quiz (because you were in the play, on a field trip, or playing a sport), you'll be able to make it up during class on Monday.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for all the birthday wishes!  Here's a pic of me celebrating at home.

sneak peek

If I tell you it's coming, is it still a pop quiz?

Maybe not.  In any case, tomorrow you get a 15-question, 45-point open-blog quiz on energy sources, the levels of economic activity, deforestation, and The People's Republic of Capitalism.

If you were paying attention during the student presentations and during the movie, this will be a piece of cake.

video

I hope you are enjoying the video we have been watching in class, The People's Republic of Capitalism.  If you missed seeing it because you weren't in class, it is on the web here.  The Jib Jab video Big Box Mart can be found here.

I have a slight correction to something I said in class:  80% (not 86%) of the items that Walmart stocks are made in China (source: ChinaToday.com).  Still quite a bit, don't you think?

Consider these questions:  When you buy something at a big-box retailer, do you read the label to find out the country of origin?  Would that influence your purchasing decisions?

These and more intriguing questions will follow as we continue to study how connected we are to China in our unit on economic geography.

finishing up the presentations

Generally speaking, I think you guys are getting better at doing these mini-research projects.  If we can just get the bubbles and ooVoo interruptions under control, we might really start learning!

(Seriously, you really should log out when class starts...)

presenting...

Today was another day of you guys teaching each other.  Hopefully you were all taking notes on your classmates' presentations.  These notes are what you should be posting on your blogs.

It might be a good idea to check your notes against someone else's in the class, to make sure you are getting all the important points.  As always, you can stop by my room after school if you have any questions.

in-class research

I'm proud of you guys for all the good work you did in class today.  Is it because we are getting a little closer to finals?  In any case, you really kicked it into gear and did some serious researching on your group's topic.

Tonight, in 3 - 4 sentences, summarize what you and your group learned today.  That's your blog entry.