Mapping Ourselves: An Icebreaker

Where we came from affects a lot about how we perceive and act. You might have taken half a dozen classes with someone here and still not know where they came from. In this exercise you'll see how easy it is to create a map in real time that can be used to foster discussion.

View EDTEC 700 GPS Spring 2009 in a larger map

Log in to your Google account
Go to the larger view of the map you see above by clicking on its name.
Click and zoom in to the town where you were born.
Then click on the edit button so that you can add a marker to the map. Add your name and the city, state and country in which you were born. If you're male, choose Blue as your marker color. If femaie, pick Pink. If you have a personal web page, put in the URL. Then click submit.

Now that the map is in place, we can ask some questions to explore the composition of this class.

Who came to San Diego from furthest away?
What percentage of the class were born here?
Is there anything distinctive about the non-San Diegans?
If you had to invent a number of rules to predict that someone would end up in this class, what would they be?
Now add a stickpin icon to the location of where you got your undergraduate degree.
Draw a line between your birthplace and your college.

OK... another experiment. Where we grew up affects our views on things, and that affects our politics. Go back and change the color of your marker. If you would consider yourself on the liberal side of the political spectrum, color yourself blue. If conservative, red. If something else (e.g., Green, libertarian) color yourself green. If you're unsure or would rather not categorize yourself this way, make your marker yellow (you coward!).

Were the reds born in red states? The blues? Or is there no clear relationship? (Here's a red/blue map)
Did the reds go to college in red states? The blues? Or is there no clear relationship?

So... an easy and interesting way to begin, wasn't it?