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Understanding misconceptions. This PowerPoint has been devised by Charles Rawding for the Edge Hill Geography PGCE course. It is based on the ideas contained within Jane Dove’s (2011) article in Teaching Geography. It aims to illustrate how misconceptions can be developed through entirely logical thinking. Slides 2, 6, 7 & 8 all illustrate the dangers of considering the UK as being aligned in a purely north-south direction when in reality the island of Great Britain is aligned NNW – SSE. Slides 3, 4 , 5, 9 & 10 demonstrate how we tend to ‘quarter’ the continents of North America, Europe, South America and Africa (with the Atlantic Ocean dividing the four elements). Thus Europe becomes north of Africa and east of North America, while N. America is north of S. America and west of Europe. Such misconceptions may then be compounded by variations in climate – heavy snows in New York – frequently alluded to on film and news clips - suggest a more northerly location because we don’t experience the same levels of heavy snow on the western margins of Europe. Slide 11 highlights how levels of publicity may distort realities - in this case the exaggerated size of the Mexican population as a consequence of US fears about illegal Mexican immigration to the US.
True or false ? London is much further north than New York Edinburgh is to the west of Cardiff Santiago (Chile) is to the east of New York London is nearer to Newcastle than Brussels The Equator runs through the Sahara Desert True : London = 51’ 30”N New York = 42’ 40”N True: Edinburgh = 3’ 11”W Cardiff = 3’ 10”W True: Santiago = 70’ 30”W New York = 74’W False False: it is some way to the south.
Which are the five most populous countries in the world? • China • India • United States • Indonesia • Brazil So why do American undergraduates ‘almost invariably name Mexico as the third most populous country ?’ (Hickey & Lawson,2004:106)
