GeoSphere gives Waukegan kids inside out view of planet
BY DAN MORAN dmoran@stmedianetwork.com February 17, 2012 9:06PM
Greenwood School first grade students of teacher Sandra Giraldo walk around a 20 foot globe at the Hinkston Field House in Waukegan. The Geographic Society of Chicago, the Waukegan Harbor Citizens’ Advisory Council and the Waukegan Park District hosted the GeoSphere for students. | Thomas Delany Jr.~ Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: April 18, 2012 1:52AM
WAUKEGAN — What does it take to sustain the Earth?
“A standard-issue Sears floor fan,” said Steve Jensen, a board member with the Geographic Society of Chicago, pointing to the air supply for a 20-foot inflatable globe set up Friday on a basketball court in Hinkston Park’s Field House Sports and Fitness Center.
With the fan providing a lift, Geographic Society members were able to welcome visitors inside the globe during a visit sponsored by the Waukegan Harbor Citizens’ Advisory Council (CAG) and the Waukegan Park District. The GeoSphere, as it is known, gives those sitting inside of it a panoramic view of the Earth’s surface, immersing them in a geography lesson.
“It’s so cool to be able to show kids spatially where things are in the world,” said CAG Chair Susie Schreiber, who came across the GeoSphere last summer at a Chicago Botanic Garden event and decided to arrange a Waukegan appearance. “They’re seeing things in a different way.”
For example, sitting inside the globe surrounded by the color blue lends a sharper perspective on how much of the Earth’s surface is covered in water. Jensen had Greenwood Elementary School first-grader Denise Sanchez stand up and cross her arms at shoulder length to demonstrate that, if her body were the globe, only her head would be dry land.
Jensen explained that the globe began life as part of the Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier before it was rescued from storage by the Geographic Society about 13 years ago for educational tours.
“We travel all over the country with it — anywhere and everywhere, though we haven’t gone overseas yet,” he said. “We teach geography and climates, we teach math — latitude and longitude — anything a school or teacher wants, as long as it’s Earth-related.”
Greenwood teacher Sandra Giraldo said Friday’s experience helped her students understand recent lessons about animals in the Arctic and Antarctic.
“We were studying about animals in different areas of the world, like polar bears and penguins, and the children can relate it to the globe,” she said.
After exiting the globe, the students were invited to stand on a giant floor map of the United States to learn about freshwater systems and their connections to every corner of the country. At one point, they got down on all fours to trace the path from Lake Michigan to the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean.
Schreiber said the GeoSphere visit, which was covered by funds from a Great Lakes Restoration Grant, was intended to help Waukegan’s youngest citizens begin the path to being good stewards of the environment.
“The more they know,” she said, “the more they’ll understand why people shouldn’t throw stuff in the ravines.”
Comments Click here to view or make a comment