FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Heather Halstead, (212) 288-6987 or heather@reachtheworld.org

REACH THE WORLD Releases “GeoGames”
An Interactive, Free, Online Geography Game created by Teachers College, National Geographic and Dangerous Media

New York, December 17, 2007

Reach the World, a New York City-based nonprofit education organization, today released “GeoGames”, a free online game that teaches geography concepts in a fun, interactive way. RTW, the sponsoring nonprofit, delivers resources based on global journeys by real travelers to its web site, www.reachtheworld.org. Students and teachers in underprivileged public schools and across the nation use these resources to augment Social Studies, Science, Literacy and other curricula. RTW supports the students and teachers in its programs by providing tech support and teacher training, which enable them follow the journeys online.

In 2003, Reach the World and Dr. Susan Lowes of Teachers College, Columbia University set out to study the question, “How do children gain their understanding of world geography?” Three years later, with the sponsorship of the National Geographic Education Foundation, Reach the World began to build GeoGames.

GeoGames is based on the findings of Dr. Lowes’ research. GeoGames teaches geography in an entirely new way, focusing on cognitive concepts such as spatial relationships (where the continents are in relation to each other and to the oceans), nesting (how a city is a unit within a country, a country is a unit within a continent, &etc.), and how countries, continents and oceans have vastly different sizes (scale). GeoGames offers all teachers the chance to teach geography in an entirely new, more deeply cognitive and fun way.

GeoGames was conceptualized and produced by the interactive design studio Dangerous Media in partnership with National Geographic, Dr. Lowes at Teachers College and Reach the World. Built using Flash, the downloadable game features the ability to attach the Earth's major geologic and political features to a blank, rotatable 3D globe. GeoGames features also include a timer for classroom competitions, and printable maps that the student can personalize.

Reach the World’s primary mission is to ensure that every student develops an in-depth understanding of political, economic, environmental and cultural geography. GeoGames can be played on Reach the World’s website, www.reachtheworld.org.