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About GeoGames
The Inspiration Behind GeoGames
In 2003, Reach the World and Dr. Susan Lowes at Teachers College, Columbia University set out to answer the question, "How do young children develop their conceptual understanding of world human and physical geography?" After embarking upon this project, they discovered that there was a dearth of research on geography education. There were also very few technology-based tools available to help students learn world geography skills.
In today's knowledge-driven, global community, familiarity with world geography is a prerequisite to success. Through Reach the World's research on geography education and the subsequent development of "GeoGames", RTW aims to establish pedagogy for teaching world geography to young children and provide teachers and families with a set of tools that make learning world geography fun, accessible and rewarding.
Read about GeoGames on FastCompany.com
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 Click to Play GeoGames> |
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 In Development: GeoGames 3.0.
The first two versions of GeoGames were developed in partnership with the National Geography Society Education Foundation. From 2006-2008, Dr. Lowes at Teachers College, Columbia University tested and evaluated both versions of GeoGames in real classrooms in order to study the games' efficacy as teaching tools. RTW's GeoGames are a proven and unique tool for teaching world geography, backed by academic research from one of the world's leading teaching colleges. The development of GeoGames 3.0 will take the knowledge gleaned from that study and the suggestions for improvements provided by Dr. Lowes and incorporates them into our mission to bring GeoGames to as many classrooms as possible.
In the first year of development for GeoGames 3.0, Reach the World will transform GeoGames from a single-player, Flash-based game into a family of educational games for an online community of educators, parents, and students. In version 3.0, GeoGames will transform from a game into a "social network" designed to support the creation of a variety of games and teaching tools by its own community, based on the educational needs of the individual students. In addition, Reach the World envisions several other expansions for GeoGames, including versions for mobile devices and the addition of video into the gaming experience.
New games will be developed to address issues such as climate change, macro-economics and population statistics. All current countries and capitals will become available on the rotatable/3D globe. Users will be able to log in, track scores and customize the elements they play with. Games will also be created on "Flat Maps", in order to deepen the understanding of map-to-globe relationships that are so critical for younger students.
Reach the World's GeoGames are not just an idea on paper; they are a proven tool that is being used in real classrooms by real teachers. Working to develop GeoGames 3.0 will be an opportunity to make a meaningful investment in one of the most important areas of education: world geography. The products produced from the next GeoGames development cycle will make a measurable impact on geography education for underprivileged children, through Reach the World, as well as on geography teaching and pedagogy nation- and world-wide. |
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In Development: GeoGames 3.0.
The first two versions of GeoGames were developed in partnership with the National Geography Society Education Foundation. From 2006-2008, Dr. Lowes at Teachers College, Columbia University tested and evaluated both versions of GeoGames in real classrooms in order to study the games' efficacy as teaching tools. RTW's GeoGames are a proven and unique tool for teaching world geography, backed by academic research from one of the world's leading teaching colleges. The development of GeoGames 3.0 will take the knowledge gleaned from that study and the suggestions for improvements provided by Dr. Lowes and incorporates them into our mission to bring GeoGames to as many classrooms as possible.
In the first year of development for GeoGames 3.0, Reach the World will transform GeoGames from a single-player, Flash-based game into a family of educational games for an online community of educators, parents, and students. In version 3.0, GeoGames will transform from a game into a "social network" designed to support the creation of a variety of games and teaching tools by its own community, based on the educational needs of the individual students. In addition, Reach the World envisions several other expansions for GeoGames, including versions for mobile devices and the addition of video into the gaming experience.
New games will be developed to address issues such as climate change, macro-economics and population statistics. All current countries and capitals will become available on the rotatable/3D globe. Users will be able to log in, track scores and customize the elements they play with. Games will also be created on "Flat Maps", in order to deepen the understanding of map-to-globe relationships that are so critical for younger students.
Reach the World's GeoGames are not just an idea on paper; they are a proven tool that is being used in real classrooms by real teachers. Working to develop GeoGames 3.0 will be an opportunity to make a meaningful investment in one of the most important areas of education: world geography. The products produced from the next GeoGames development cycle will make a measurable impact on geography education for underprivileged children, through Reach the World, as well as on geography teaching and pedagogy nation- and world-wide. |
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About Reach the World
Reach the World is an education nonprofit based in New York City with a chapter in Chicago, IL. Its mission is to help elementary and secondary school students and teachers to develop the knowledge, attitudes, values and thinking skills needed for responsible citizenship in a complex, culturally diverse and rapidly changing world. Through its interactive website, RTW enriches the school day by connecting classrooms to travelers on actual journeys across the globe. RTW identifies volunteer travelers, manages web-based educational content posted by these travelers, and delivers customized curriculum and teacher training via graduate student interns, drawn from local teaching colleges. In 2006, the National Geographic Education Foundation named RTW a Model Program in Geography Education, one of only six in the nation. For more information about Reach the World, please visit the About Us page.
For More Information:
Phone: 212-288-6987
Email: geogames@reachtheworld.org
Read our 2007 Press Release |
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