In our increasingly global interactions, it's very important to know about places around the world. These simple steps can help make you geographically literate.
Difficulty Level: average Time Required: 10 minutes
Here's How:
- Read newspapers, newsmagazines, or online news sources daily.
- Any time you encounter an unfamiliar place name in the news or in everyday reading, locate the place in a good atlas or geographical dictionary.
- Use flash cards to memorize the names of major cities and capitals.
- Use a globe as a reference tool, as well. A map doesn't nearly show the planet as a globe does.
- A picture is worth a thousand words but a map is worth even more. When encountering maps in books, study them for at least as long as you would have spent reading text that would occupy the space.
- Recognize that the media often makes geographic errors - be sure to verify questionable geographic statements with your trusty atlas.
- Subscribe to the free email Geography Newsletter to stay updated about geographic changes around the world. New countries and capitals pop up, so be sure to know what's going on.
- It's important to use an atlas on a regular basis. By looking up places, you'll gain a much better sense of the world - helping you to understand where and why things happen where they do.
- Reading geography textbooks or taking geography courses (especially a "World Regional Geography" course) at a local college can really help give you an fantastic overview of the world.
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