The main purpose of this Atlas is to provide material for University of California students and teachers. This page aims to provide examples of successful teaching activities using the Atlas. A second page, Ideas for teaching and learning, seeks to gather ideas that may not have been tested. The Atlas team encourages teacher and student contributions to both pages.

Other Examples:

Occasion: Atlas exercise introduced in lecture, basis for individual research, discussion in section, then individually written essay (with data table)

Activity description: Students were asked to choose a country, describe changes in one survival indicator and one economic indicator, compare to changes in 3-5 other countries, then identify differences and similarities in the chosen country, and attempt to explain those differences in the particular history of the chosen country.

Learning goals: Using Atlas, finding data, exploring interaction of survival and economic indicators, researching simple regional and country histories.

Evaluation of outcomes: Excellent student essays. Student response positive. 

Intended improvements next time. More specific advice could be provided on country selection, tabulation and comparison of data, and guidance on making connections among economic and survival indicators.

Sociology UCSB: Introduction to Global Studies, 330 students

Occasion: lecture

Activity description: going to website, showing some of the indicators of global inequality (a major theme in the course)

Learning goals: to show north-south differences, as well as growing inequality within regions (I use the World Systems Theory core-semiperiphery-periphery distinction)

Evaluation of outcomes: it was fun, worked fine

Intended improvements next time: none considered.