National Geographic Society for Students and Teachers In the article The Kids Network: Student-Scientist Pool Resource, Bradsher talks about how the National Geographic Society’s Kids network helps the students to improve their knowledge about science and geography not only through hands on experience but also through collaborative learning with other students and experts from around the world. The students in the article are working on a project called “What’s in Our Water?” and Basher mentions that there are other projects called “Too Much Trash?”, “What Are We Eating?”, Weather in Action” and “Solar Energy” under the National Geographic Society Kids Network. The NGS Kids Network mostly focuses on the real world, socially significant problems. …show more content…
The National Geographic Educational site can be utilized by teachers and students to gather new ideas for lesson planning and classroom activities related to Geography, Earth science, Biology, Cartography, current events and many more. This site also provides students and teacher with a variety of opportunities to win scholarships and grants. National Geographic Society is not just a site full of information, but it is also a site where the students can use to play educational games related to Science and Engineering, History and Culture, Geographic Decision-Making, Animals, Fun for Families, and Vocabulary for Grades three through twelve. National Geographic Kids also has a separate site where there are games focused on educational materials. In the site there is a blog section where they feature Current Events and Geography History in simple questions and answers form along with a video and pictures related to the topic, making it easy and accessible for the students and teachers. In the Blog there is a section where they have included a section for articles regarding educators who uses inspiring activities and lessons to help their students to get involved in learning about the world in new and exciting …show more content…
The site does mention that they have updated few of activites and that they no longer have a time limit to complete the project. This site is available for all teachers for free of charge and they have twelve to fifteen sessions in their curriculum including “detailed teacher’s guidelines and students activity sheets, assessments, and correlations to the U.S. national standards for science, geography, and language arts”. The students still have the opportunity to write letters to other students and exchange data and maps, but I was not able to find on the site. The site does provides teachers instructions in how to introduce the lesson, what books and website and books that are related to water and also it provides links to other sites where the teachers can buy the materials that are necessary for the lesson but could not find the prices on them. The lessons include a small section about latitude and longitude and then there is one through seven sessions related to water research and at the end of every session there is a link to a different site where the students can take a small quiz but in some sessions that quiz link does not
6). Smart phones equipped with GPS and apps such as Google maps, make skills like mapping and coordinates unnecessary and irrelevant to students who have grown up with this technology. Suggestions to combat this issue while still making Geography a mandatory learning area, include “Teachers who keep their knowledge and skills current” “Teachers who embrace and are confident to utilize new technology” and “Students understanding the relevance of what they are learning to themselves and others” (Erebus International, 2008, p. 6). These sorts of ideas portray some of the issues that secondary HASS teachers contend with on a day to day
I believe that geography is a significant subject in the primary national curriculum because it supports children to develop an understanding of the places in the world and the diverse range of people who live in it. For me, this is an important aspect to learning because it enables children to be globally aware. According to the DFES (Great Britain. Department for Education and Skills, 2005a) education plays a vital role in helping children to recognise their contribution and responsibilities as citizens of the global community and equips them with skills to make informed decisions and take responsible actions. In a recent geography seminar, I collaboratively planned a lesson for KS2, involving children taking a visit to Seaton, a local beach in Cornwall to compare and contrast the area through photographs after recent storm damage. The Royal Geographical Society (2014) suggests through the use of enquiry-based fieldwork, children can gain first hand experiences of physical processes. Having planned this activity I now realise that the use of first hand experiences will support children to develop attitudes and opinions. This is important because in my future geography teaching I can challenge children by using t...
In a world where geography only makes the headlines or points of coffee house discussion if a new study is released about how terrible students are at it, however, amazingly there ARE still students and people alike that simply love it and are thriving in their point of interest. Some stare at maps endlessly searching for things that most people would never even care to look at such as what makes this state similar with this state or why is the population more or less here. Some long to find and view the rarest maps available; others embrace the future by participating in an activity known as geocaching. Geocaching is when the participant visits special areas with “treasures” hidden using their GPS devices and smartphones. Some people even draw thousands of their own imaginary maps, highlighting details in worlds and countries they long to visit.
A. Ask students to create original games they might play if they lived in an isolated part of the world. Have students use materials on hand for props or equipment and teach the game to their classmates or to students in another class.
An integrated holistic approach to teaching and learning should allow children to make connections to the natural world. Practitioners should adapt to children’s ability of learning and their understanding of the natural environment and the connections they have between
Have you ever wanted to see how a volcanoes work? If you have the ´´Lava Beds National Monument´´ is the place for you. The monument has caves you can explore and you take guided tours of the whole park. The sixth grade class is learning about Earth Science and hands on learning is a god way to teach about what it is you are teaching.
The Department for Education (2012) states that “a high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key
The Pre-K and Kindergarten class studied habitats of various animals and insects. They were given examples and tough how the animals made their homes. The students built a bird house as their project and as something to take home to remind them of what they learned. Finally they went on a field trip to Legoland where they explored and built “habitats” for their families and the Lego people. The first and second grade class learned about marine life and the ocean. They built shoe box dioramas of coral reefs and created art projects depicting sea life as well as learning new facts about the ocean. The students got to go to the Aquarium for their field trip. Finally the third and fourth graders studied the rain forests and their ecosystems. The students built rainforest models and terrariums along with small group discussions on different ideas human intervention and conservation. They finished their week at the zoo where they studied different rainforest inhabitants in
I believe children should be encouraged to learn, that as a teacher it is my job to help them find the way of learning that works best for them. I feel that students should be able to explore the world around them and learn from hands on activities. This type of learning style goes along with both Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories on learning. My theory leans more closely to Vygotsky’s theory due to the fact that I believe that the “play and exploration” should be structured and directed so that as a teacher I can help to guide the information that the students are learning. Such as in the case of the students exploring the playground outside, I feel that I should tell them what we are focusing on the insects that we can find in the playground. This directing helps to keep the students on topic and task while
It is important for children to be able to develops the necessary skills to make sense of data, memorising information is no longer the most key skill for children to possess (Inquiry-based learning, n.d.). Inquiry-based learning is defined by Lutheran Education Queensland (n.d.) as seeking for truth, information or knowledge and understanding and is used in all aspects and stages of life. Inquiry based learning assists children with learning by developing critical and creative thinking skills. The twenty-first century requires “young people to be creative, innovative, enterprising and adaptable, with the motivation, confidence and skills to use critical and creative thinking purposefully” (ACARA, 2016b). According to Touhill (2012a) Inquiry-based learning is supported when educators are co-learners with children as they develop, supporting and extending on a child’s own attempts at understanding. This knowledge can be broadened by ensuring that children have the time, space and resources to become deeply involved in their investigations and there are opportunities for reflections during and after activities (Touhill, 2012a). Furthermore, it is imperative that the physical environment contains spaces as well as materials that encourage a child’s curiosity and investigation (Touhill, 2012a). By providing interesting and engaging materials educators are able to provide stimulus for children’s investigation and
Informal education has for a long time been considered very controversial in the education world and looked upon as just for entertainment. Informal education is commonly defined as learning that takes outside of formal school settings. Informal education can be things such as field trips to science centers, aquariums, museums, zoos, or planetariums. All of the following places are considered to be "informal settings" because they are all outside the classroom area. An educational curator at a small museum in Jackson Hole, Wyoming is as much an informal educator as a director of educational programs for the Smithsonian Institution. Often informal educators are retired K-12 teachers that have received additional training and have therefore been thrust into a more prominent role to teaching the nation’s students about mathematics and science. Many people look at field trips as pointless and unbeneficial to students at any age. But many will argue that informal education is only helpful when students have prior knowledge of the subject from formal education before going out of the classroom to learn. The role of prior knowledge in learning is considered of utmost importance in designing effective educational programs. Informal education is very common with science subjects. Most students cannot understand scientific principles by reading out of a book because textbooks and paper handouts can be very dry and boring. Going on field trips to informal settings reinforces what students learn from their teachers and help them understand the topics better.
The use of computer based games as learning tools in the classroom has steadily increased over the past several years and is a trend that David Martz, sales VP of education software company Muzzy Lane, believes will continue in the future. Among the games developed by Muzzy Lane is Making History, in which the player leads a European nation in the years preceding World War II (Electronic Education Report 2). Playing a game such as this one allows the learner to immerse himself or herself in the period they are learning about rather than...
Computer classrooms provide learning games for the students where their minds are being stimulated by simulations. This provides a visual and a fun way for students to learn and gain knowledge in a new context. Online learning can provide help with learning foreign languages in school. In the article “12 Good and Bad Parts of Online Education” by Mark Thoma which illustrates “International students often have trouble following lectures due to language problems. But with video lectures, they can watch the lectures repeatedly until they understand” (Thoma, paragraph 12). The students are able to listen and read from a technological device. Technology also enables students to access applications where they can learn a new culture and explore the background and history of the language. Google Cultural institute is a website that offers the collection and exhibit from museums and archives all around the world. This allows people to explore the cultures and languages to the dates that were first recorded. Students can stay informed on current events through the use of the internet. Social media for example Facebook and news websites allow for the users to stay informed of current events happening and how it is impacting the people. When students want to learn, they can research any information on the internet where new articles are constantly uploaded. Google Scholar is a website that allows people to access articles that are published by universities, academic sources, and preprint depositories. This ensures everyone is learning from multiple sources with the same evidence. Online education leads to higher student achievement because students are able to search for educational articles at any time of the
He divided their environments into different levels. Firstly, he described the microsystem as the system that is closest and one that will have the most influence on them. School and home fall within this system. For example, parent’s and teacher’s views on sustainability will influence how a child reacts to it. Also children’s interactions with parents, teachers and peers will affect how they are treated in return (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). Clearly this is why ecologising education is important and by doing so education creates critical thinkers. The potential benefits for young people that are eco-literate are that they can begin to negotiate and act on their own purposes, values and feelings, rather than those that they have uncritically acquired from others (Mezirow, 2000). Through learner driven participation children show that they should be treated as solutionaries, and vital stakeholders in the fight for their sustainable futures. Secondly, there are the exosystem which includes schools and the community, and the macrosystem which includes broader society, such as national customs and political philosophy. The decisions made within these systems effects them, though they have no say in the decision making process (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). This shows unmistakable signs of why ecological approaches to environmental sustainability are being hindered. The decisions about
Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2007). Teaching challenges & dilemmas (3rd .ed). South Melbourne: Thompson.