ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

I bought this globe a year ago after an extensive search:
http://www.metskers.com/22400/238520/Desktop-World-Globes/B3-Basic-World
-Globe-12-Blue-Ocean-by-AtmosphereHema.html

In the picture it looks like it is illuminated, but it is not, so you
might want to double-check that this is the "blue ocean,
non-illuminated" one.
It is made of plastic, hollow, and easily detachable from its base -
leaving nice, clean, permanent holes that one can run a rod through for
demonstrating tilt and spin.

The base itself is not very sturdy - but I was buying for the
globe-sphere, I never use the base. I'm a fan of the "Earth on a stick"
style of globe-teaching. We put an acrylic rod through the center and
stuck it into place with some sort of hardening putty. Since we attached
the rod to the caps, the globe itself spins freely on the rod.

It is exactly 12 inches - making a scale model of the Moon a nice even
30 feet away. It is not cardboard like many globes, so will resist
denting. On our old globe Antarctica is concave. It is also a terrain
globe instead of a countries globe, so less of it will be out of date as
time passes.

It was $80 - which was a little steep for me, but not too steep when
comparing globes. I scrimped that much out of our budget over a year to
get it. I have a lot of hope that it will last us a long time. This
company had a small deal for educational institutions at the time I
bought it.

I am very happy with it.

Alice Enevoldsen
Planetarium Specialist
Pacific Science Center, 200 2nd Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
206.443.2385, [log in to unmask]

Life's boring without Discovery!


-----Original Message-----
From: Marc Taylor [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 6:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Cheap and simple teaching globes

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
************************************************************************
*****

For lessons with kids, I've been using an old, beat-up 12"/33cm globe.
It's split open several times, been taped and glued, and it's falling
apart again.

So, I'm looking to replace it. An ideal replacement would be:

-- big enough to see from all corners of a large room. the
aforementioned 12"/33cm at least.

-- Graphically bold and simple. Bright blue oceans, brown-green land. No
need for all the detail on a regular globe, and the existing one is a
little low-contrast.

-- Not too simple. What geographic features, cities, etc. there are
should be accurately depicted. No nubbly Floridas or vague,
paint-spatter Indonesias.

-- Rigid, ideally hollow. Inflatables deflate, they also are too
tempting to throw around.

-- Easily modified. The old globe has (rapidly enlarging) holes cut in
the poles to make "rotating the Earth" easier. Also, you can put a
figure of a little person on it, held in place by magnets, on the inside
and outside, and move her around.

-- cheap (of course)

Your suggestions welcome...

Marc Taylor
Coordinator, Andrus Planetarium
Hudson River Museum
511 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10701
914 963 4550 x223
Fax 963 8558
[log in to unmask]

***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and
the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft.
To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]

***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]