Taking A Trip Throughout The World; Lessons in Geography

Why is teaching Geography important?

Teaching geography is important because students should learn know how to read a map and learn about places around the world. Some children may want to know where their relatives are from, or how where they are living developed over time. Teachers can also integrate many different aspects when teaching geography, along the way teaching their students. Having  technology in many classrooms today, teachers should find ways to use that to their benefit to have their students explore the world. According to Mary Haas (2000), “Geography helps one understand the physical and cultural characteristics of the world. Geographic education provides the values, knowledge, concepts, and skills to better understand ourselves, our relationship to the earth, and our interdependence with other peoples of the world. The locational organization scheme of geography provides a framework for learning the physical, social, and historical phenomena studied in both elementary and secondary schools” (p.1). Therefore by the students learning these aspects of geography and building their skills on social studies, they will have a better understanding on the relationship with have with people around the world. When I was in elementary school, I do not remember learning about geography, therefore when I teach geography in my future classroom I want to engaged the students in an activity they are going to remember. Although teaching geography may be difficult in lower grade levels, there are many ideas that teachers can use to engage students to have them study and understand the importance of geography.

Mystery Boxes

After reviewing the PowerPoint on 103 Creatively Simple Ways to Teach Geography, I learned many new tools and strategies that I can use in my future classroom. Think back to when you were a child during Halloween; I know at school I would have to stick my hand in a box and guess what was inside. For example, I remember touching and feeling something long and slimy, and as a child I thought it was worms. My teacher would ask us what it was and why we would have to describe why based on what we thought. In the box it was spaghetti with some oil or butter, but as a child I thought it was worms since it was Halloween time and usually during this time things are gross and scary. In my future classroom, I would use the Mystery Box idea that I saw on the PowerPoint. Students love to guess what mystery objects are and I think by doing this activity it will engage them in what they may be learning. Noel Jenkins used this idea for students to connect objects to a new topic that is being introduced. Noel would put all these object in a box, or jar and use water or soil to make these mystery boxes fun; the students were given about ten seconds to feel around in the box or jar and they had to identify what the topic is they may be learning. In my future classroom, I would do the same idea, except I may use it within a topic and separate it by subtopics. For example if my class is learning about the different types of biomes such as the desert, arctic, rainforest, and tundra, I would have four different boxes or jars. For the desert I would have sand in a box with a camel and I would want the students to guess that this box is displaying the desert. I would have ice cubes in a jar of water to describe the arctic. For a rainforest I would have a box of wet leaves, sticks, grass and some plastic animals that live there. I would want the students to know that there are animals in the box and they may need to figure that out too, along with the biome. I will have a box and fill it with grass, plastic plants and some mountains to have the students illustrate that this biome is not just flat and there can be trees, rocks, lakes, and mountains. I would have a graphic organizer that the students would take to every jar or box to write down their observations.

Exploring the World- Google Earth Trip

The way to teach geography I saw in this PowerPoint was using Google Earth. When I was completing fieldwork for my Psychology class, the seventh grade student I was observing had a brain inquiry and for him to learn about the world, his speech pathologist teacher used Google Earth. As I was observing I found this to be very interesting and the seventh grader was excited and engaged. His speech teacher told me that he looks forward to this every time they meet. Before they used Google Earth, they read a short chapter on the White House in Washington D.C. I was unaware that Google Earth allows you to “walk” through a building and up and down the streets. This student was given an iPad and he put “White House” on Google Earth and then dropped a person in the White House and was inside. There were some rooms that you could not see, but that is so engaging for students and makes them more eager to want to learn.  Although this student has a difficult time hearing and learning, he has made so much improvement this past year his teacher said and using Google Earth makes him feel like he’s been to a specific location before. I think this “Google Earth Trip” is a great idea for my future classroom because students can use an iPad, computers, or smartphones to use this tool to explore the world.  I would create a passport for each student and they will receive a stamp every time they go to visit and explore a new location around the world.  Using technology engages the students, however using Google Earth, will make the students feel like they went there and got to know what it is like. On the passport sheets, I would ask what their destination is and interesting facts they learned about it. I think that this activity would teach students have to use Google Earth and the goal is for them to explore the geography around the world and what places have similarities.

Local Adventures

During long school days, students get very jumpy and need time to just go outside, therefore this activity would be a great adventure for my future class. The students will be given a worksheet that has multiple pictures and each picture will display a different locations, such as the pictures in the image. I would ask my students to go on a walk with a partner, but we would outside as a class and walk around the playground area. I would want students to see the type of environment they have at school and than compare it for homework to see what they have at home. The goal of this activity is to get the students to learn that every location has a different aspects and it is important to observe your surrounding areas, even if you go on vacation. Once the students complete this in-class activity and homework assignment, they second half of this assignment will be that the students have to create a photomontage of where they went and what the explored. One the back of each picture the students will need to write their observations and what they learned about each location. When all of the photomontages are completed, I would have the students share theirs to the class and describe what they learned through their observation. If I have a bulletin board outside my classroom, I would connect all of the photomontages and put them outside the classroom for everyone to see where my class has been.

Adopt a Rock

Children in elementary school like to hold physical objects, therefore I think children in younger grades would like to “Adopt a Rock.” Tony Cassidy asked his “students to identify the rock’s name, it’s make-up, where it may come from, and what processes have shaped it” to engage the students in the activity. This critical-thinking activity could introduce a topic that the students may be learning that they need to pass ideas around. For example if there was a class rock name “Rocky,” at the end of every lesson I would want to hear what every student learned about or what they may still have questions on. Rocky would get passed along and if a student had a question, another student can try to help answer it and I will step in if needed. Having a rock passed around will just engaged the students and it may help students be less nervous if they are holding a physical object. This activity reminds me of what I did in my Social Studies Methods class with the globe being passed around. In Dr. Smirnova’s class all the teachers’ candidates formed a circle and explained how they would teach geography in their future classroom. From the globe being passed around in class it made me less nervous to talk because I had something to squeeze and hold onto, along with hearing all the ideas my peers would used to incorporate geography in their future classrooms. Overall we all had a similar idea, but branched off in multiple ways, such as creating a passport for students, using Google Earth, using maps, etc. Although we are all in the same class, we all have different perspectives and ideas that we could use to incorporate geography. Students will be the same way if they share what they learned after a lesson. Many students may have learned about the same thing, whereas other students might still have questions. It is important for teachers to always evaluate and observe where each student is on the content of the lessons; this rock activity would help both the teacher and students as the closure of a lesson.

Postcard from a Destination

As a teacher it is important to engage the students in an activity and to have them be explorers.  Before starting this activity throughout the year for geography, teachers should keep in mind that they will need postcards from various places around the world. This activity has a lot of materials that are required, but once a teacher has all of them the students should be activity engaged. According to Tony Cassidy, “The postcards make a great display, but students can also present and analyze the destinations” which is allowing the students to be explorers. To prepare this activity, the teacher must have a map on a board that can be pinned to. The postcards will surround the board and the students will take a piece of string and link the picture to the destination. Throughout the school year this could stay up and as the students learn more about countries and places, they can see how different every place is around the world. At the end of the school year the students can see how many places they learned about and reflect on the similarities and differences. In my future classroom I would introduce this in the beginning of the year and carry it throughout the year. I would try to incorporate this activity when reading literature, therefore students can make a visual connection with where the location is on a map. Students should be exposed on how to read a map and how to look for a place on a map by using their prior knowledge, which can be based on where another location is that they are familiar with.

Geography Bingo

Every student knows the game bingo and loves to play it, therefore I will use this in my future classroom to review vocabulary words, people or key ideas. Tony Cassidy said, “Who doesn’t like Bingo?” This would be a great review when discussing geography because sometimes students get confused about where a place is located. By playing bingo and the students receiving a prize at the end, it will motivate them to be involved and by them playing they will retain the information. If I was discussing the different countries, I would make a 3x3 grid and place the different countries within each box. For a description I would describe their culture, language, or location and the students would have to figure out what country I was talking about. In my future classroom, I may even create a bingo card with pictures on it from locations and the students would know, which location I was describing based on the information I provided them. Bingo is an individual game, therefore I will be able to access my student’s knowledge on the content and be able to identify what still needs to be reviewed.

Playing Taboo with Geography

Incorporating a game with geography will keep students attention as they are learning. The key concept to Taboo is to describe the top word you see and not use the words under it. For example if I had the word, “firefighter” and the words I could not say are truck, siren, fire, emergency, I would need to think of other words that I could use to describe “firefighter” to my partner. I may say, “This is a person that responds to a scene quickly to save someone in a crisis.” This should lead my partner into thinking about people that help save lives, such as a police officer, firefighter, doctor, EMT, nurse, etc. If my partner needed another hint I would say, “This person gets dressed up into heavy gear to protect him or herself, while saving someone’s life since it can be dangerous. They also come from their base and ride in a very big red vehicle and speed to the destination that has smoke. This person has to go through a series of training.  Many men are involved in this volunteer program within their community.” If my partner still did not get my hints, I may want to relate it to something they may know. I could say, “My brother volunteers his time and listens to his radio to see if there is a call. If there is a call, he will rush down to the main house and get on his gear.” By now if my partner did not guess “firefighter” the timer would go off, however I would explain to my partner how the word I was describing was a “firefighter.” I would use this in my future classroom for unit plans in social studies. I think it is a great game for review and it will help the students have a better understanding of some concepts after they play because they are thinking of information they learned that they can use to describe the word. Katharine Hutchinson  made “a set of cards with key words” for topics teachers teach. For teachers it is easy to create cards fro this game on the topic they are teaching in school. This game could be used for various subjects, and the students will be excited that they are playing a game. The students will be paired up with someone else and be given about ten cards. The students will play this game as review on a topic for about ten minutes and then I would have my students come back together and discuss what words they had and what they learned.  

Wordle Stereotypes

Using this wordle application could be used in a classroom and it can help students summarize a topic, or focus on a specific place, view, person, etc. There are multiple places students can generate a wordle from, such as wordle.net, tagul.com, abcya.com, worditout.com, tagcrowd.com and tagxedo.com.  These applications are free for teachers and student use. In my future classroom when introducing a topic I will display a wordle, however the next topic we discuss in class I will have the students create their own wordle after learning the content. They can use this wordle to study, or just to summarize what they learned within the unit. Wordle’s are beneficial for visual learners because it pinpoints the main ideas into one image. Students can put vocabulary words, people, events, locations, etc. into their wordle based on the topic. This is an easy task that the students can complete and it will be very useful for when they need to study for a quiz or test. All these programs are user-friendly and you can save your work. If the user is working on a wordle and wants to finish it later on, the user has the ability to do so. The tool is very helpful and can be easily accessed from anywhere.

Landscape in a Box

When doing hands-on projects, the students have their minds-on too; therefore I would want to use this landscape in a box idea in my future classroom. This is not only incorporating social studies, but art is also being included in this project. Alan Parkinson said, “Take a burger box, and ask students to create a landscape that fits inside the box, so that when it’s opened the landscape is revealed. A map is put on top of the lid.” In my future classroom, I would have the students start their project ideas in class and then they would have to finish it at home until the due date that is provided. I think students will enjoy doing this project and they can be creative while completing the project. I would give the students specific topics to pick from that way it is easier for them to start the project right away. Since this project is focusing on geography, the students should be doing some research if needed on the topic they chose. 

As you can see from the image to the right, another class completed this activity and sent pictures to Alan Parkinson. Once my students projects are created and finished, I would want them to present them and be proud of the project they just accomplished. In elementary school it is very important for students to present in front of their peers and feel comfortable talking in front of an audience because throughout their life they will always have to do public speaking. After everyone presents, I would try to hang the projects from the ceiling to display their work. It is important for students to see their work displayed because it gives them encouragement and they all take pride in the work they complete. It is interesting to see how all the students may chose the same topic, but since they all think differently their projects vary through creativity.

Throw a Globe

It is important to have the students all actively participate in a class discussion. Throwing a globe around the room would allow everyone to participate. For this activity, the teacher will need a globe to pass around the classroom. Tony Cassidy said, “Throw the globe to the individual you want to answer a question, this student can then throw the globe to another student.” I will use this activity in my future classroom and set a rule that if one students already got the globe, they cannot receive it again until everyone in the class has gone at least once. By passing the globe around, it will also focus the class to the one student or teacher that is talking.  This would also reinforce turn taking, which may be helpful in lower grades in the elementary school. I would also do throw a globe activity when the students are learning about the different countries. I would split them up into groups of four or five and each group would receive a globe ball. I will play music for a certain amount of time and when the music stopped, whoever had the globe will be asked to find a certain country within a certain amount of time. This will continue and I will repeat countries over to reinforce it  and another student will probably be trying to find it. This engages the students and they make it a race, which has pros and cons. However in the end the goal is for the students to know the locations on the countries. Throwing a globe will give each student the opportunity to ask a question or share a fact they learned about during geography.

Photo credit: Dr. Smirnova

These are just some activities that I would use in my future classroom; just imagine how many more ideas are out there. Through all these ideas for incorporating geography, this showed me that these activities will allow the students to have a better understanding of what geography is and why everything is the way it is today. In my classroom I will incorporate the use of technology because I believe since it is provided to us, I want to educate my students the best I can and if I can “travel” to a place with them through Google Earth or another application I will do that. Teaching is a learning experience and I will face some challenges, however by engaging the students by connecting geography with real-life situations or activity they will want to be involved even more. By teaching the students geography through videos, exploring, activities they are being exposed to various types of learning strategies.   Geography can be incorporated in every discipline in some form or another. Whether we are reading a book for reading or doing math equations with currency, we can always incorporate a little geography into the lesson. Geography helps explain the diverse population the world has and can explain the different cultures each person comes from. As a teacher I look forward to the many ways I can introduce geography in my lessons.

 Thank you for reading,

Works Cited

Haas, Mary E. "Teaching Geography in the Elementary School. ERIC Digest." Teaching Geography in the Elementary School. ERIC Digest. N.p., Aug. 1989. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9212/geography.htm>.