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Updated October 2009
Geography Center
Click on a link below to jump to original Education World lessons and articles.
A World of Learning: Geography Activities for Geography Week
Geography lessons can make a "world" of difference in students' knowledge of the world and in their test scores. That's because geography is multidisciplinary by nature. This week's lessons teach geography -- and math, language, and cultural literacy.
Five Times Five: Five Activities for Teaching Geography's Five Themes
Looking for activities to teach the five themes of geography? We've got them for you -- 25 of them. Activities for students at every level.
Strategies That Work: Playground Maps
A large-scale map painted on playground asphalt "provides a 'clean slate' on which students can do all kinds of activities," says Ed Bonne, known throughout the United States as "The Playground Map Guy." Included: Activities for using playground maps.
Fifty States, Five Lessons
Stuck for fun or new ways to teach about the 50 states (or Canadian provinces and Australian states)? Education World offers five lessons to liven up your 50 States unit.
Mystery State Game Tests Students' Knowledge of 50 States
The Mystery State quiz will help students learn about the 50 states as it improves their research skills. Give them one set of clues a week, or one clue a day. Included: This complete teaching resource includes clues for all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Map Lessons: The Route to Improved Geography Skills
Celebrate National Geography Awareness Week with five lessons that employ maps to teach geography and a wide variety of other subjects and skills. Included: Lessons to teach K-12 students about landforms, the global economy, maps from space, more.
Go Global With Geography Activities
Education World offers ten lessons to inspire students to explore the world! Included: Activities that have students participate in a class geography bee, plot the locations of classic children's stories, learn about cities with unusual names, plot road trips for sports teams, and much more.
Great Geography: Ten Lessons on the Internet
Education World highlights ten great geography lessons we found on the Internet. These lessons span the grades and the world with activities that involve maps, art, and culture. If you like what you see, explore additional activities among the collections from which these lessons come. Go "global" with the geography resources of the Web.
"Yarning" About Latitude and Longitude
Sharon Childress, who teaches at Asbury Junior High School in Albertville, Alabama, submitted this week's lesson. The hands-on activity helps students understand the concepts of longitude and latitude. (Grades 3-8)
The Mighty Mississippi
Help your students discover the history, geography, and significance of this incredible natural resource.
Crisscrossing the Country: Scavenger Hunts for Kids of All Ages
Education World challenges students to sharpen their Internet searching skills as they learn about the history and landscape of the United States. These activities -- suitable for a classroom, computer lab, or a rainy day at home -- include scavenger hunts and a plan-a-trip activity.
North, South, East, or West
Gay Harrod, who teaches at Washington Intermediate School in Piqua, Ohio, submitted this lesson, which is a fun any-time game she created to reinforce geographic directionality. (Grades K-5)
A River of Lessons
In these lessons, students create maps showing famous rivers, study legends about rivers, write their own river legends, and much more.
Holidays Around the World: A Festival of Lessons
Ten lessons include a Hanukkah game, a Kwanzaa recipe, an activity on diagramming similarities and differences in holiday celebrations, and more.
An Ocean of Activities
Surf's up in these ten lessons offering students the opportunity to explore oceans -- the largest bodies of water on Earth.
Volcanoes: Nature's Explosive Spectacles
Bring alive the drama of volcanoes with ten lessons designed to capture students' interest and extend their learning.
There's a Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On: Earthquake Lessons on the Net
Help students learn about the science of earthquakes. Included: Links to lesson plans, WebQuests, and more
Passport to the World
Students in Chaska, Minnesota, explore countries and cultures within their school walls. Each student wears a "passport" that identifies the different countries s/he will "visit." To maintain interest, all sessions include at least one hands-on activity.
Learning Geography Through E-Mail
A month ago, some students in Bellingham, Washington, weren't even sure where to find Arizona on a map of the United States. Now they can find Australia, Korea, and even Azerbaijan on a map of the world, thanks to an e-mail activity initiated by their school's library media specialist.
Read -- and Pedal -- Across America
Georgia fourth-grade teacher Faye Smith puts a new spin on Read Across America projects. Her PAUSE program, Pedal Across the United States Every day, pairs reading and cycling in an interdisciplinary reading motivator. Included: Ideas for integrating this project across the curriculum.
GeoGame = Geography + Fun
GeoGame is a popular email-based geography project enjoyed by teachers and students alike. Now it is unveiling an online Web version with easier access and continuous play. Are you up to the challenge? Included: Interactive geography projects across the grades.
A "Boring" Lesson in Geography
This lesson will motivate and excite your students while teaching U.S. geography.
Truckers, Kids Make Good Buddies
Truck drivers who travel the country often have no one with whom to share anecdotes and insights. A program called Trucker Buddy International offers such drivers an eager audience. The program pairs truckers and classes, giving students a driver's-eye view of the world and prolific pen pals. Included: Trucker Buddy activities for classes.
Hitting the Math Trail
The National Math Trail program shows teachers how their students can create mathematics problems based on what they see in their community. Students also use computer technology to submit their math problems to the National Math Trail Web site.
Degree Confluence Project: At the Intersection of Geography and Technology
Alex Jarrett set out on a trek to locate the point (called a confluence) where a line of latitude and longitude meet. He published his pictures on the Internet. That was the beginning of the Degree Confluence Project. With more than 11,000 confluences to be found, a confluence is within 49 miles of your classroom. Discover how to get your class involved.
The USA Quilt Project: High Tech and Hands-On
Fifty-one lucky classrooms are receiving extra special mail this year -- quilt squares designed by students in each of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Find out how students from all over the country are learning together about geography, history, technology, language arts, and the time-honored craft of quilt making by learning more about the USA Quilt Project. Included: Information about other great e-projects.
SchoolWorld Projects Bring Together Schools Around the World
Learn about the Endangered Species Project and Books Without Boundaries, two of SchoolWorld's 50+ online projects.
It's Not Too Late to Create a State: Online Project Teaches Cooperation
In the Create A State project, "students use the Internet as a tool to build cooperation and collaboration." Learn how to get involved.
Kids Snap Communities in Internet Project
Kindergarten and first grade students from four states took pictures in their hometowns, created PowerPoint presentations about their communities, and used e-mail to share those presentations with one another. Learn how the project worked.
Cities: An Interactive Learning Experience for Inquiring Minds
When three teachers pooled their efforts, experience, and class time, the result was "Cities," an online inquiry-based project that allows students freedom of choice as they practice their skills in science, English, mathematics, and more. Included: Student and teacher comments, a sample activity, and a link to the project.
GeoPals: Global Friends Help Kids Learn About Writing
When Barbara Soto discovered a listserv whose members are active, community-minded senior citizens, an idea occurred to her. Why not combine their knowledge and commitment with her students' need for the influence of mature adults? What started as an e-mail correspondence project has blossomed into a win-win outreach program called GeoPals.
MacDougall MacDougall in Time: Internet Project Teaches History, Geography, and Technology
Teacher Euan Bradley created MacDougall MacDougall, an imaginary Scottish time traveler and "misadventurer" who is at the heart of this multidisciplinary Web-and e-mail-based project. But Bradley never imagined how much his students would come to love MacDougall as they follow him across the world and through time.
Sands of the World: Swapping Sand and Sharing Knowledge
Have you seen black, pink, or red sand? Have you listened to singing or booming sand? Teacher Jane Carlson-Pickering was looking for a way to incorporate technology into one of her favorite units, rocks and minerals. When a grant provided a video microscope, the stage was set for the fabulous online project. Included: Tips for creating a successful online project, plus ideas for incorporating multiple intelligences into your curriculum.
Building a Working Community in the Classroom: One Teacher's Experience
Elementary teacher Toni Wing captured her students' interest by making them citizen-leaders of a city called Tinseltown. As business people, bankers, and employees, the students kept checkbooks and inventory and found out about the real world. Included: Ideas for creating a community in your classroom.
Students Create a Virtual Tour of Their Community
Two elementary educators in Newington, Connecticut found a way to allow their high-achieving students to go beyond the curriculum and create a terrific resource to share with other classes. The project became "Newington: Highlights of History," a PowerPoint presentation and oral tour of the heritage of their town.
Great Sites for Teaching About... Maps
Every School Should Have a Playground Map
Many kids are learning geography right on their own school playground -- thanks to Ed Bonne, "The Playground Map Guy".
U.S. Geological Survey Is Gold Mine for Educators
A geographer who works in educational outreach for the U.S. Geological Survey, Joseph Kerski, is eager to share the organization's publications with teachers -- and there are more than just maps. With more than 100,000 resources to choose from, every teacher will find something useful in the USGS warehouse.
"X" Marks the Spot: Map Resources on World Wide Web
Because the Web can respond immediately to political changes that forge new boundaries, your students can create and examine online maps that are more up-to-date than any of those in textbooks. No more searching through ancient atlases and dusty encyclopedias -- you'll find everything you need in the virtual world of the Web.
Making Social Studies Work for At-Risk Kids
Joann Winkler, the 2004 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) elementary school teacher of the year, has her at-risk kids running businesses, collecting for the needy, and giving national park "tours."
Advancing the Need for International, Global Studies
Caryn Stedman is so eager to broaden her students' views of the world that she has invited visitors from other countries to her school. Stedman, an award-winning social studies curriculum specialist, talks about her zeal for international literacy.
Australia: Lessons About the 'Land Down Under'
G'day mate. Learn about the "land down under" as Education World offers nine lessons about the continent of Australia. Included: Activities to involve students in using maps, creating an ABC picture book of Australian animals, preparing Australian foods, and much more.
Great Sites for Teaching About... Australia
Internet educator Walter McKenzie selects ten sites that are among the best on the Web for teaching about Australia.
China: An Ancient Country in a Modern World
Introduce your students to the history and culture of China and its people.
Happy Anniversary, Hawaii -- 40 Ways to Teach the 50th State
Take a tour of this exotic state, examine its wildlife, creep to the volcano's edge, and discover the wealth of culture and diversity that isolation can bring.
Great Sites for Teaching about...Hawaii
Some of the best sites on the Web for teaching about Hawaii.
Great Sites for Teaching about...Hawaii, Part 2
Some of the best sites on the Web for teaching about the history of Hawaii.
Happy Birthday, Alaska
Explore a wealth of excellent Alaska resources on this virtual tour.
Great Sites for Teaching about...Our National Parks
Some of the best sites on the Web for teaching about our national parks.
Take A Virtual Trip to Antarctica
Take a cool Internet tour of Antarctica in the warmth of the classroom. Included: Fifteen Antarctica teaching activities for across the grades and across the curriculum.
Mexico: Meet the Neighbors
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo by introducing your students to their neighbors to the south.
Teachers Explore Antarctica and the Arctic
Do you have the spirit of adventure? Would you like to work on a groundbreaking research project with top scientists? Have you ever dreamed of going to the North Pole or the South Pole? Learn about a unique program that gives K-12 teachers the opportunity to travel to the ends of Earth to participate in polar research expeditions.
Great Sites for Teaching About... The Mississippi and Other Great Rivers
Internet educator Walter McKenzie selected ten sites that are among the best on the Web for teaching about the Mississippi and other great rivers.
Get Outta Class With Virtual Field Trips
Are your students getting restless? Are they tired of being cooped up in the classroom all day? Take them outside virtually with online field trips to all sorts of places -- from museums to a farm. Then learn how to create your own virtual field trips.
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