When some of my friends talk about the location of countries and cities around the world, I get a strong sense of second hand embarrassment. One of my best friends was telling me about how she was the last to choose in her FYS, but still got a European city for her research project, she picked Johannesburg… I have also heard one of my other friends talk about how close Belize is to China if you study abroad in Hong Kong, and by Belize she meant Bali, Indonesia. There is a clear lack of geographic education in our school systems. Being from the United States, many think that the knowledge of other locations around the world is useless. But, not to fear, there are a variety of geographic websites about mapping and the location of countries around the word that students can use to get a better understanding of other countries around the world.
One of my favorite websites to use for basic facts and information is called Ducksters. Ducksters is very easy to use and handy for kids, adults, and anyone who has an interest in geography. It can be used to learn the locations of states, countries, and places around the world. Although it has a funny and childish name, I have used this website since my 6th grade geography class and it is very helpful to learn about the countries around the world. I used this website to help me pass my blank map of the world test in AP Human Geography my senior year.
This website separates each section of the world into parts, has a variety of maps, and lists every country in each region. For example, the section for Africa provides information regarding the population, area, ranking, major biomes, major cities, bordering bodies of water, major rivers and lakes, major geographic features, and the countries in Africa. You can also click on a specific country’s link to gain a brief history and more geographic information such as total size, climate, major cities, general terrain, national GDP, and more. This website is one of my favorites because it is very easy to read and information is bulleted rather than presented in paragraph form.
The website is a tad immature and juvenile, but it is a great website for someone who wants basic and easy to read facts, figures, and information. The website provides its users with a multitude of information in one convenient location. As someone who is very interested in where places are located around the world and mapping, I hope people can use this website to gain a better knowledge about global geography. If elementary school students are taught this information at an early age, it will hopefully result in a better globally educated future!
-Haley Close
Hey! I am so glad you shared this website because I think there are so many people that need to brush up on their geography skills, as well. My 11th grade math teacher gave weekly quizzes on geographic locations, and I can honestly say that is the most valuable information I learned in that class during that year!! I love learning where things are located in the world, and this is why this website is so great!
I do agree that it is very easy to use and I do like the divisions in the information. It is also nice that all the information is displayed on the same scree. I think this makes it more likely that people will continue to learn more information about the countries as they don’t have to do an additional search for it. I was disappointed that the country quiz was not working when I tried it, but I am hoping that was just my computer glitch because that is a great, fun way to become more knowledgable! Great website overall!
I’m not ashamed to say I had way too much fun using this website. Like you said, it’s really user-friendly. It definitely appeals to kids, but that also works well for technologically confused adults like myself. Because the geography part of the website features a number of maps and a game option, it doesn’t feel like it’s a lecture so much as a fun learning activity. I really appreciate interactive websites and I can see how this would appeal to children.