Every Doll Classroom Needs a Globe

Remount a globe novelty from
an old pen onto a former doll
stand by cutting down metal
bars and sticking these inside
of the pre-made hole where 
the pen used to be.

       Modern globes are designed and constructed for handling by the pupils and the teacher. Free-moving globes in cradles are more adaptable to examination and study than are globes in fixed stands. With the axis pin in place the globe is useful in demonstrating earth movements. From the static concepts of rotation and revolution to the dynamic concepts of military air strategy, the globe is a basic learning tool. (On the left side you can see that I have 'recycled' a child's novelty globe pen by removing the writing tool and replacing it with an altered doll stand to include in our doll's classroom.)

       The earth is the shape of a sphere, or more accurately a spheroid. A globe is a scientifically constructed device that interprets the earth as a whole more accurately than any flat map can. Children can discover many facts about their world by looking at a globe. As the globe is turned on its axis they observe that the distance along the equator is greater than the distance along parallels near either the North or South Poles. They see that there is more land area in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. By using the globe and an atlas young people can discover that about 30% of the earth's surface is land and about 70% is water. With a light representing the sun focused upon a rotating globe they see the continual progression of day and night; and when the globe is made to revolve around the light, the changing seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are revealed. With a piece of string and the globe they can discover that the shortest flying distance between places is along a great circle arc between them. 

       When we look down on the North Pole, then tilt the globe on its axis, we see that the relative locations of land masses and nations in the Northern Hemisphere are strikingly different than we expected. The short air distances be- tween the United States, Europe, and Asia be- come evident. The importance of the Arctic region for air routes is readily seen. With man's increasing control over his physical environment and the invention of modern means of transportation and communication, it is urgent that schools train young citizens to interpret the physical features of the earth.

Parts of a globe illustrated and labeled.