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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Geotourism: Honduras as a working model

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/06/g912/geofriendly.html

A lesson plan for grades 11–12 Social Studies

Provider: National Geographic


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In this Xpeditions lesson, students will learn about a partnership between the government of Honduras and the National Geographic Society to highlight the concept of geotourism and its benefits. Activities in this lesson engage students in collaborative group work, online research, and whole class presentations.

Students will:

  • describe the characteristics of geotourism, including its challenges and benefits;
  • learn about the culture, physical geography, history, and economics of Honduras;
  • explain how countries that practice the principles of geotourism can attract more visitors; and
  • plan an itinerary for a geotourism expedition to a country of their choosing.

Xpeditions provides detailed instructions for completing the lesson, suggestions for assessment and extension activities, and links to helpful web resources.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 11–12 — Geography

  • Goal 1: The learner will understand the growing importance of tourism to global, national, statewide, and local economic development.
    • Objective 1.03: Summarize the importance of tourism to the world economy, the United States economy, and North Carolina economy.
    • Objective 1.05: Discuss the interconnections between global, national, and local tourism economies.
  • Goal 6: The learner will understand the importance of place images in tourism, how places are sold or represented as tourist destinations, and how these shape people's perception and interaction with the world.
    • Objective 6.02: Discuss how and why places are sold or represented as attractive destinations.
    • Objective 6.03: Summarize the importance of advertising to tourism development.
  • Goal 7: The learner will develop an understanding of how tourism affects the economy of places.
    • Objective 7.01: Recognize that tourism has power to generate foreign exchange, create employment, and stimulate economies in industrialized and developing countries.
    • Objective 7.02: Recognize the costs of hosting tourists, such as the building of hotels, increased law enforcement, construction of attractions, and transportation routes.
    • Objective 7.03: Define and explain the "multiplier effect" of tourism, how the monetary benefits of tourism development spread through a destination's local population directly and indirectly.
    • Objective 7.04: Define and explain the opportunities that tourism brings to a destination's local economy.
  • Goal 8: The learner will examine how tourism affects social relations in a place and identify the various social actors involved in the tourism experience.
    • Objective 8.03: Identify the various types of tourist and explain the various ways in which a tourist can see, treat and interact with a host, both positively and negatively.
    • Objective 8.07: Discuss how tourism discourages the local population of a tourist destination from expressing their real cultural identity.
    • Objective 8.08: Recognize how political situations can exercise a negative or positive influence on tourists through currency policy, violence against visitors, and government contribution to tourism organizations.
  • Goal 9: The learner will analyze how tourism affects the environmental/physical geography of a place, leading to both environmental deterioration and environmental conservation.
    • Objective 9.02: Identify and locate natural activities and attractions sought after by tourists.
    • Objective 9.03: Identify the environmental costs of tourism such as increased use of resources and increased pollution.
    • Objective 9.04: Summarize the history of the national park system in the United States and identify the positive and negative environmental consequences of park tourism.
    • Objective 9.07: Identify how tourism can encourage the conservation and preservation of plants, animals, habitats, and traditional indigenous cultures.