Students can tour the world in the classroom with the correct geography course. Teachers of any grade and topic can incorporate geography into the curriculum to provide learners with a global perspective and a better understanding of their surroundings. We asked teachers to submit their favorite strategies and entertaining geography lessons to pique kids’ interest in the world, from teaching students to locate various towns, states, and nations on a map to helping them comprehend time zones and where their clothes are made. What they said was as follows:
- Hold a Phony Geography Competition.
Before dismissal, the fourth graders in Ashley Peterson’s class frequently play Kahoot! To educate geography ideas and assist youngsters in getting ready for the National Geographic GeoBee, she recently hosted a mock geography bee using Kahoot! There are numerous geography-themed Kahoot! Games offered by National Geographic, including subjects like State Stats, Source to Sea, and The First Americans. Learn how to run a spoof geography bee in your classroom with Kahoot!
- Use Pen Pals to Explore the World.
Set up a pen pal exchange with a teacher in a different city or nation to provide students with writing practice while broadening their horizons. By concluding the year with a Skype conversation where children may finally “meet” their pen pals, you can bring the experience to life.
- Install a Clock Wall.
Install a clock wall in your classroom to assist pupils in the beginning to comprehending time zone geography. One clock should be set to universal time and bear Greenwich, England. Label the other clocks with a range of prominent cities from the U.S. and worldwide and adjust them as necessary. At various intervals during the school day, point out the clocks. Talk about what learners in other time zones might be doing, for instance, in the morning while your class is just beginning the day. The clocks can also illustrate how longitude and time zones are connected.
- Explore with Technology.
Melinda Klecker, a technology teacher, uses her students’ creation of trip brochures to teach engaging geography courses. She requests the students to choose various states. They individually research the two locations and the state they have decided to include in the brochure. It’s a fantastic approach to combining geography, graphic design, technology, and writing into one project.
- Use Google Earth to Put the World into Perspective.
When fourth-grade teacher Julia McIntyre discusses her travels, she always utilizes Google Earth to show the pupils how far away her destination is from her school. It truly helps kids put things into perspective, she claims. You can now follow National Geographic Explorers on Google Earth, including those engaged in the magazine’s Pristine Seas campaign, which aims to preserve the oceans. Students of Josh Williams investigate the Pristine Seas program and utilize Google Earth to examine how various locations have evolved.
- Construct Autobiographical Island Atlases.
Sixth graders in Amy Getty’s class begin the year by drawing maps of islands that depict their daily lives. They create maps using their imaginations, knowledge of symbols and landforms, and responses to an autobiographical survey.
- Hold a Global Hide-and-Seek Contest.
The engaging geography lessons in Mystery Class, which Christina Michelle intends to undertake with her pupils the following year, teach kids about continents, nations, and cities worldwide while also assisting them in understanding longitude and latitude. Kids begin by compiling information about the planet based on latitude, longitude, and seasonal variations in the sunshine. They then examine hints, analyze their data, and focus their search on ten hidden locations worldwide.
- Show Character Travel Routes.
Jessica Brookes advises having students make a map depicting the main character’s journeys throughout the novel while studying literary locations. The map should have a title, scale, key, and compass rose. Melody Arnett, a reading specialist, says one easy way she includes geography is by assisting her class in determining where each novel they read is set in the world. “Occasionally, it’s evident… She continues, “Sometimes we conclude based on indications from the story, ‘This is a folktale from Thailand.'”
- Research Ocean Current Geography.
Students utilize maps to study case studies of ocean spills, learn about ocean currents, and talk about the job of oceanographers in this activity.
- Involve Quick Finishers.
Here’s a suggestion for how to keep your quick learners engaged in studying after they finish their coursework. Runa Zaman proposes making a stack of photocopies of blank world maps and having children label them. Students may even receive extra credit or a little reward depending on how many countries they correctly identify.
- Locate Your Classroom on a Map.
Without ever leaving the classroom, introduce spatial ideas. Use this National Geographic activity to help your children grasp the world around them, starting in their classroom, by practicing with familiar locations.
- The Entire Planet is in Your Hands.
Play the game “Throw the Globe” by flinging an inflatable globe the size of a beach ball around the classroom. A student who successfully catches it must next identify which continent or ocean their right thumb is resting on. They are welcome to share their knowledge of the location with the class if they know.
- Learn About Different Cuisines.
Do your pupils thirst for information about how food is produced worldwide? Leading crop production by nation is displayed on an interactive map using National Geographic’s Mapmaker Interactive layering. Encourage your students to consider what the map does not include, such as potential future agricultural growing areas or crop routes when exported.
