One special difficulty in teaching world geography is overcoming the scale differential between individual students' direct experiences and the immense size and complexity of the world. An innovative framework of operational principles, or maxims, has been suggested, and an application of the framework is described. Students search out examples in the "New York Times" of maxim use or misuse by public figures to test their understanding of the maxims' applicability to information regularly encountered outside the course. Changes are proposed based on the nature of student responses to foster a more constructive learning experience.