Canadian Geographic Education (Can Geo Education), formerly The Canadian Council for Geographic Education, is a joint initiative of the

Royal Canadian Geographical Society The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: ''Société géographique royale du Canada'') is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization. It has dedicated itself to spreading a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada, i ...

of Ottawa, Ontario, and the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

of Washington, D.C.; the initiative was established in 1993.

Programs

The programs of Can Geo Education aim to foster geographic engagement in Canada. In addition to increasing the emphasis on geography within the school system, Can Geo Education endeavours to increase the geographic literacy of all Canadians through the formal K–12 education system.

Giant floor maps

Can Geo Education creates innovative educational resources for teachers in K-12 education. Since 2012, the organization has been producing giant floor maps—themed maps printed on 11 metre by 8 metre heavy-stock vinyl that can be walked on. Teachers are provided with lesson plans to educate their students on the map, and the maps circulate Canadian schools at no cost to them. Current and past themes have included the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, Canada from space (with the

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...

), a circular

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

map (with the

Canadian Museum of Nature The Canadian Museum of Nature (; CMN) is a national museums of Canada, national natural history museum based in Canada's National Capital Region (Canada), National Capital Region. The museum's exhibitions and public programs are housed in the Vi ...

), the country's

national parks A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

(with

Parks Canada Parks Canada ()Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 37 National Parks, three National Marine Co ...

), and North America's animal migrations (with the

Canadian Wildlife Federation The Canadian Wildlife Federation () (CWF) is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to wildlife conservation. History and mission The Canadian Wildlife Federation was founded in 1961 and chartered in 1962. The Canadian Wildlife Federatio ...

Canadian Geographic Challenge

The Canadian Geographic Challenge (formerly the Great Canadian Geography Challenge), established in 1995, is the longest-running Canadian national student geography competition organized annually by Can Geo Education for students from Grades 4 to 10. There are two levels of competition—Level 1 is for Grades 4 to 6 is at the school level only, and Level 2 for Grades 7 to 10 offers students the opportunity to compete at the provincial and national levels. At school level, students answer up to 90 geography-related questions. The student who succeeds in his school takes an online questionnaire, then can move on to provincial and national levels.

Other

Other programs of the organization include the Classroom Energy Diet Challenge with

Shell Canada Shell Canada Limited () is the principal Canadian subsidiary of British energy major Shell plc and one of Canada's largest integrated oil companies. Exploration and production of oil, natural gas and sulphur is a major part of its business, as ...

and Canada's Coolest School Trip with Parks Canada.

References

External links