{"id":23681,"date":"2025-10-16T08:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/?p=23681"},"modified":"2025-10-16T08:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:16:11","slug":"elementary-geography-1-why-geographical-instruction-should-begin-with-a-globe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/blog\/2025\/10\/16\/elementary-geography-1-why-geographical-instruction-should-begin-with-a-globe\/","title":{"rendered":"Elementary Geography 1: Why Geographical Instruction Should Begin with a Globe"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This is the first of a series of posts aimed at helping parents home-school their children.)<\/p>\n

Although I love maps and use them extensively when teaching geography, I firmly believe that elementary instruction should begin with a globe. Throughout the first few years of instruction, a globe should always be at hand. A physical\/political globe showings both landforms and countries is best for general purpose. Raised relief allowing tactile exploration is also helpful, even though it is never very accurate. If two globes can be acquired, the second one should be political, depicting countries but not landforms.<\/p>\n

Repeatedly examining a globe is essential for several reasons. Most important, it shows the spherical [1] nature of the Earth, which is easy to accept but difficult to internalize. The most basic aspects of physical geography, moreover, are most effectively taught through globe demonstrations, as will be outlined in coming lessons. For young children particularly, the spinning of the Earth, the tilt of its axis, and the march of the seasons are most easily understood by manipulating a globe.<\/p>\n

The first step is to explain the color scheme, which vary from globe to globe. Almost all show oceans, seas, and large lakes in blue, and most signal ice-covered lands with white (Greenland and Antarctica essentially). For land, most political\/physical globes show elevation, often with shades of green for lower-lying lands and shades of brown for higher areas. Some globes show ocean depths in shades of blue, with the deepest areas depicted in the darkest color. For younger students, the concept of \u201csea-level,\u201d and of elevations below and above it, will need to be explained. On my globe, land area below sea level are depicted in the darkest shade of green.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Globe’s Color Scheme<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

\n

For older elementary-aged children, it is important to explain why the surface of the spherical Earth cannot be accurately represented by a map. One simple way to begin this lesson is to have students peel an orange in one piece. The flattened peel will always have huge indentations or interruptions. The next step is to show how a traditionally constructed globe would appear if its printed surface layer could be peeled off and flattened. The resulting globe gores<\/a> nicely preserve the sizes and shapes of land areas, but only within each individual section. A world map made of such gores is too interrupted to be of any use, except along the equator.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Peeled Orange<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>
Globe Gores as a World Map<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Non-interrupted world maps face a major challenge. In projecting a spherical surface onto a flat plane, either the sizes or the shapes \u2013 or both \u2013 of landmasses and water bodies are necessarily distorted. Sometimes these distortions are severe. The Mercator projection, for example, grotesquely magnifies the Arctic and Antarctic zones. In this often-used map, South America looks smaller than Greenland; actually, it is more than eight times larger [2]. World maps with correct land sizes, in contrast, severely distort shapes, stretching them out or compressing them down in different parts of the world. Compare the appearance of South America on a Gall-Peters equal-area projection with its actual form (second map below).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mercator Projection World Map Distortions<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Equal-Area World Map Distortions<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

My favorite world maps use a projection that distort both size and shape, but neither to an extreme degree. Such maps can still be misleading, however, as it is not obvious that their edges are actually adjacent. As a result, many Americans are surprised to learn that Russia and the United States are near neighbors. Pacific-centered world maps, which are often used in East Asia, do show the proximity of Russia and Alaska, but usually at the cost of dividing either Greenland or Europe and Africa.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The U.S. and Russia on a Standard World Map<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Proximity of Russia and Alaska<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Russia and Alaska on Pacific-Centered Maps<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Many potential problems in global perception can be avoided by becoming intimately familiar with a globe at an early age. Doing so reveals important global features that are not easily grasped by looking at standard world maps. The magnitude of the Pacific Ocean, covering roughly a third of the Earth\u2019s surface, is a prime example. A globe can be easily positioned so that little else is visible. Similarly, the interconnected nature of the world\u2019s oceans is not readily apparent on world maps (except on those using a bizarre Antarctic-centered projection). But if one looks at a globe from below, the maritime whole stands out. Similarly, only a rare Arctic-centered world map reveals the proximity of Russia and Canada, which are only a little more than a thousand miles apart at the narrowest point [3].<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Pacific Ocean on a Globe-View Map<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Antarctic-Centered World Map<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Interconnected Oceans<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

For most children, however, merely examining a globe is not enough, even if done repeatedly. Instead, active engagement is necessary. Some hands-on activities will be outlined in the next several GeoCurrents<\/em> posts. For some exercises, a globe with a markable\/erasable surface will be helpful.<\/p>\n

\n

[1]. The Earth is not exactly spherical, as it is slightly flattened at the poles, but this fact can be ignored in elementary education.<\/p>\n

[2]. For older students, it is important to note that the often-maligned Mercator projection was a brilliant navigational breakthrough, as it generates the only maps in which a constant compass bearing can be plotted as a straight line. Today, on-line maps often use a Mercator projection as they make it easy to zoom in and out.<\/p>\n

[3]. The northernmost point of Ellesmere Island in far-northern Canada is roughly 1,180 miles\u00a0(1,900 km) from the nearest point of Russia (Franz Josef Land), across the Arctic Ocean.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(This is the first of a series of posts aimed at helping parents home-school their children.) Although I love maps and use them extensively when teaching geography, I firmly believe that elementary instruction should begin with a globe. Throughout the first few years of instruction, a globe should always be at hand. A physical\/political globe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":23684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4549],"tags":[4718],"class_list":["post-23681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article-grid","tag-elementary-geography"],"geo":null,"yoast_head":"\nElementary Geography 1: Why Geographical Instruction Should Begin with a Globe - GeoCurrents<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/blog\/2025\/10\/16\/elementary-geography-1-why-geographical-instruction-should-begin-with-a-globe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elementary Geography 1: Why Geographical Instruction Should Begin with a Globe - GeoCurrents\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(This is the first of a series of posts aimed at helping parents home-school their children.) 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Lewis"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/GeoCurrents.info"],"url":"https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/blog\/author\/martin-lewis\/"}]}},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-scaled.jpg",2560,1521,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-210x210.jpg",210,210,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-300x178.jpg",300,178,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-768x456.jpg",768,456,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-1024x609.jpg",1024,609,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-1536x913.jpg",1536,913,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-2048x1217.jpg",2048,1217,true],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-scaled.jpg",300,178,false],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-scaled.jpg",400,238,false],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-scaled.jpg",600,356,false],"mailpoet_newsletter_max":["https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Globe-gores-1320x784.jpg",1320,784,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Martin W. Lewis","author_link":"https:\/\/www.geocurrents.info\/blog\/author\/martin-lewis\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"(This is the first of a series of posts aimed at helping parents home-school their children.) Although I love maps and use them extensively when teaching geography, I firmly believe that elementary instruction should begin with a globe. Throughout the first few years of instruction, a globe should always be at hand. 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