Students are getting the rare opportunity to trample on a very large Canadian map at Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute for the rest of the school year.
The school has been on a waiting list to host Canadian Geographic’s Energy Generation and Distribution Map for about two years. Now that the 10-metre by eight-metre map is spread out over a gymnasium floor, teachers and students are taking advantage of its capacity as a learning tool.
The map, as big as maps get, is like an illustration of the country’s energy nervous system. It maps the various kinds of energy used across the nation, the locations where it is found and processed, and the transportation routes over which it travels.
Along with the normal highway, rail and water routes of a typical map, the big map shows the energy transportation network - the pipelines, power-lines, and various shipping routes - for coal, oil, hydro electric, nuclear, solar, wind and biomass energy.
Students walk around the map exploring the sources, the generating stations, and the supply routes, and learn a lot about the country’s energy landscape in the process.
Guelph CVI geography teacher Kathy Gekiere was the tour guide for about 15 geography students first thing Monday morning.
“The students were very curious to see it, and really looked forward to the opportunity to walk around on it,” Gekiere said.
The educational map comes with ten different interactive activities. Those activities correspond to lessons in the geography curriculum, and are topics on the final exam, she added.
The study of geography, she said, still relies heavily on maps. And while there is lots of access to geographical maps online, the large map is an entirely different kind of exploration and interaction compared to one on a computer screen.
“The fact that they get to walk on it is very exciting,” Gekiere added.
Oil is still the dominant source of energy in the country, amounting to 44 per cent of all sources used. The oil pipes that snake across the country are long enough to wind around the moon several times. Natural gas is the next most used energy source at 33 per cent.
Alternative renewable energy sources have a relatively small role on the country’s energy map. Just one per cent of Canada’s energy needs are met by solar power, for example. However, there are several localities where solar, wind and biomass sources are extensive and important.
