This year's Competition theme suggests that children might view our geographic world in many different ways depending on where they live, and how they may see their country in relation to the rest of the world. In the Teacher's Introduction to the competition, which can be found at the Commission website, you will find a special map projection which can help you think about "your world" in the ways suggested above. It is a world map on an icosahedron, twenty equilateral triangles which when glued together form a replica of the globe. But for the Competition you would want to leave it flat.

The Teacher's Introduction talks about the icosahedron in general terms but also more specifically ways that you can make the projection triangles larger and easier to use. The idea is to cut the triangles apart so that you can move them around and fit them together in some different ways, always being sure that they match in a correct geographic way where ever they meet. If we made them into a globe, all sides of all triangles would match another triangle. But when used as a flat map, some triangles have to separate and therefore may match only along one or two sides. To appreciate this, try making a few arrangements. If nothing else, it will help you learn where all the continents are and how they relate to all the others.

For the purpose of the Competition, you will want to arrange the twenty triangles so that they display your country in relation to all the others in some meaningful way. Two ways might relate to its POSITION on the globe or its ORIENTATION to the rest of the world. Let's explore these two ways in a little more detail.

POSITION:

You can think of your country's relative position in today's world. For example, you might think of it as being in the center of the world with all the other countries surrounding yours. Because there will always be separations between a number of triangles, this strategy often produces an interesting overall shape. It may be abstract, as some sort of "exploded" star or one resembling some familiar shape, such as an animal (see Figure 6 in the Teacher's Introduction). If that shape can be associated with your country, you have another element, an artistic one, to employ in your design.

ORIENTATION:

You might also think of your country as oriented toward the rest of the world or to some specific group of countries. Think of it as your perspective on the world. For example, countries in the Southern Hemisphere are often placed at the "bottom" of world maps; maybe the rest of the world should be seeing those countries at the top of the map! Not all world maps need to be oriented with north at the top. There may also be an historical dimension to this: some countries have been associated with some other country or countries. These may have been political associations or involved some trade relationship, for example. In these cases you might group these countries in such a way as to emphasize their position relative to each other, keeping in mind the need to preserve all the correct geographic relationships in your arrangement.

As in the past, you may wish to give your map a title of add any symbols that speak to your theme. You might also wish to attach a short paragraph explaining the relationship or perspective that you are trying to suggest or represent. We look forward to seeing your entry!

Note to the Commission (from Henry Castner):

Unfortunately, the two examples in the Teacher's Introduction at Commission website are very similar -- very "equatorial" I would say. But I liked the idea that the overall outline might convey some other idea (in the case of Figure 6, a dinosaur) and that children should be aware of this possibility. But there are numerous arrangements that involve extensions or "arms" that change the overall shape in dramatic ways and give the world a more "exploded" or star like look. These can be used to explore ideas of proximity or isolation, depending on what part or the world is in the triangle placed out at the end of some arm. Now this is a very sophisticated idea, as is perhaps the idea that a shape might be pursued to add another element to the design. For this reason we should not say too much about it to the contestants. But we should realize that they contribute to the richness and potential of having children work with this projection. It would be useful if Commission members tried a number of arrangements to demonstrate these possibilities to themselves. Perhaps we should add some more "radical" arrangements to the Teacher's Introduction just to give children and teachers some other ideas about the possibilities.