Nov. 2, 2006
Free Geography Sites and Resources!!!
Excerpts from Knowledge Quest Newsletter
by: Terri Johnson
Knowledge Quest, Inc.
877.697.8611
Knowledge Quest, Inc., 4210 Misty Glade, San Antonio, TX 78247, USA
Best Online Geography Sites (and they're all free!!)
ONLINE GAMES AND QUIZZES
1.Sheppard Software has provided many free and fun to play geography games at their website - http://www.sheppard software. com/Geography. htm.
There are various levels of play so that your beginners and advanced
students alike can find something to hold their interest. You do need
to have Flash Player 6 or higher on your computer to be able to play
these games, but no other downloading is necessary. The instructions
are minimal, so it takes a few minutes to get the hang of the games in
some instances (or at least it did for me!). Also, they do have other
games across the curriculum, so feel free to check out their science
and vocabulary games as well - plus many others!
3. Take
National Geographic's Geography Bee quiz! These questions can be
fairly tough, but you get a second and even third chance to get them
right (there are only 3 choices per question) thereby allowing you to
KNOW the answer, which you are unlikely to forget. Also, the questions
are new every day, so you can play every day and get new questions to
answer. Very fun! Here's the website - http://www.national geographic. com/geobee
4. Test your knowledge of world or regional geography with this fun quiz at http://www.lizardpo int.com/fun/ geoquiz/.
A great aspect of this game is that children can see improvement
quickly, even by their second round at the same quiz. Builds
confidence and knowledge!
5.This quiz site - http://www.ilike2le arn.com/ilike2le arn/geography. asp
- allows you to not only learn about the countries and capitals of the
world, but also the mountains and bodies of water. If you need a hint,
or the answer, it comes in the form of a pop-up, so you may need to
disable your pop-up blocker. This site seems to add new games
frequently. Great learning tool!
6.Another great quiz site - http://www.actionqu iz.com/quiz. php?trivia= geography.
Here you can play against other kids and teachers and see if you can
win. You do not have to use your real name (no reason to, so don't!)
and the game uses a pop-up window. So, if your computer blocks
pop-ups, you either have to disable that feature to play, or if you get
a message that allows you to open the pop-up, you can go about it that
way. Warning: this is a fun game to play and rather addicting. After
playing five times against some strong opponents, I finally won!
7.This website - http://www.geosense .net
- also allows you to play alone of against another player. You are
asked to not only identify countries of the world but cities as well.
It is quite challenging and also very addicting. I played six rounds
against my opponent and only won twice (and I thought I knew my
geography like the back of my hand - reality check!). If you do not
mind that your scores are not recorded in their log, you can play as a
guest. Or create a login ID to keep track of your scores and establish
an identity at this site.
8.This quiz site - http://www.garyradl ey.com/games
- has both "find" games and "quiz" games giving your students a
well-rounded familiarity with the countries of the world. My only
trouble with these particular games was that it was sometimes difficult
to click on the correct country because the hand spread over more than
one country area. But overall, this is a great site to round out your
online geography games.
GREAT REPORT SITES
Atlapedia
and CountryReports are two great sites for general information. If
your child or student needs to find some facts on a given country or
view/print some maps for a particular region of the world, Atlapedia is
a great all purpose website for gathering information for research
papers, etc. - The website is http://www.atlapedi a.com/index. html.
Full color physical and political maps are available. Also,
CountryReports lets you drill down on a world map to the country you
are interested in and gives you some great facts and information and
maps of that area. The website is http://www.countryr eports.org/.
JUST MAPS - BUT REALLY COOL MAPS!
Would
you like to see what the earth looks like a night as seen from space.
This view of the world was taken from photos of the earth at night from
a satellite. The earth is lit only from the city lights of
civilization. Spectacular! - http://antwrp. gsfc.nasa. gov/apod/ ap001127. html
Okay,
everyone knows about Google Earth, right? This is an incredible piece
of software that is taken from actual photographs of the earth. In
fact you can zoom right down into your own backyard. Mind-boggling!
The software needs to be downloaded onto your computer. It is located
here - http://earth. google.com/
FUN VIDEO SITES
Yes, this is one of my favorites! At this website - http://www.animated atlas.com - you can watch a five or ten minute video about the growth of our nation. Superb and educational!
TEACHER RESOURCES
Are
you in need of some worksheets to print out that will reinforce the
geography you are teaching to your students. Here is a great site with
lots of printables (my computer tells me that is not a word, but I
think you know what I mean) - http://www.tlsbooks .com/geographywo rksheets. htm.
This
has been so exciting researching these free sites for you. If these
games are played often and these resources tapped into and used, your
students will gain tremendous knowledge and retention in the realm of
geography (SO WILL YOU!). And it will be painless! That is the part I
love! Have fun!
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Jan. 13, 2007 - Well done
Donna Fawcett
Author of Thriving in the Home School
Donna Dawson
Author of Redeemed and The Adam & Eve Project
recipient of Word Alive Press' top author promotion
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