Talk About Schools and Schooling with Students

Dear Educators,

The start of a new year is a great time to talk about schools and schooling with your students. For children, school is a major part of their lives and experience. They often spend more of their waking hours in school than at home, especially as students age. Many do extracurricular activities, such as participating in sports, band, or assorted clubs and organizations. But how much do students think about school itself? What was school like before industrialization, for example? How much does school cost? How many people achieve bachelor’s degrees compared to high school diplomas? How does assigned homework in America compare with that in schools around the world? With COVID-19 still keeping students out of the classroom, what are best practices for doing schoolwork at home? This week’s GeoJournal Newsletter highlights the many resources that answer these questions as we at Maps101 explore school and schooling this week.

The U.S. Census provides population statistics on a wide variety of topics, such as income, ethnicity, employment, and education. While the census data for 2020 is still being compiled, Maps101 has found data for 2019 that illustrates the students who achieve high school diplomas or bachelor’s degrees. 

Part of students’ education continues at home, whether they are in a classroom or studying directly on the internet from home. They still must continue to process the information discussed through homework assignments. These assignments help gauge student understanding, reinforce the lesson, or help prepare students for the next day’s learning. Look at this article to find out more about homework in other parts of the world.

Many states and districts are having students return to classrooms. However, many others are not or have adopted a hybrid model. Some students and families have a choice. Those who are still at home can benefit from a refresher on managing schoolwork from home, which is the topic of this GNN article written when COVID-19 began to affect everyone, including students. 

Defending Have students review each of the Geography News Network articles and pick which was the most compelling to them. Have them explain why they picked it. They should also identify what they learned from it. Hold a class election to pick which of these GNN articles comes out on top with your students. Feel free to share the winner with us and the reasons students gave. Email us at Maps101@maps.com.

Discussing Each of the Geography News Network articles includes critical-thinking questions at the end that can be used to engage students in classroom discussion. Use them as prompts.

Asking Questions You can also encourage students, before they read an article, to create their own lists of questions they want answered, inspired by looking at the title and predicting what the article will be about. Then, see if there are any questions that remain and help students research to answer them.

Comparing Using the provided maps, compare the data about educational attainment. What conclusions can students draw from the information? Are there trends that are revealed by looking at all three maps? Take a classroom poll to see which students intend to continue past high school. Does your class follow the state average? If not, how does it differ? Why?