Geography
is one curricular area that has really gained from computer technology. Sound,
movement, color and lots of ways to present the facts come alive with computers
and make geography instruction exciting and fulfilling.
One new
product that deserves a mention is the Rand
McNally Classroom, an online service that offers interactive games and
activities for students along with traditional reference information, and
lesson plans and ready-made assessments for teachers. It's available on a
per-building basis for school districts, private schools and home schools.
On top of the company's famous
atlases, globes, wall maps and books, the multimedia curriculum adds
technological wizardry to social studies, geography and history lessons for
grades K-12. Besides the maps, there's information on earth science,
populations, economies, languages, holidays and much more.
Pricing is
$299 per building, which is expensive for a homeschooler but doable for a
homeschooling co-op or organization.
The benefit
of per-building pricing is that all of the students and teachers in one high
school, for example, can access the curriculum. The curriculum is
multidisciplinary. So science teachers could add maps, photos and artists'
renderings to their curriculum, the business teacher could utilize world
economics charts, the German teacher could zero in on place names in Germany,
and on and on.
Each week,
there's a feature that connects a given map with something that's going on in
the world. Games include place-the-state puzzle, build-your-own-map, continent
quizzes, and animated features on various topics, including how maps are put
together, and geography terms. Grade-level activities range from a travelogue
for a teddy bear for the early primary years, to college-level material
suitable for Advanced Placement classrooms.
Teachers
can use it to project maps onto a classroom whiteboard using an LCD projector,
or students can have the same maps on their individual computer screens. Each
map is printable as a PDF file. Students will be able to access the curriculum
from home.
For a two-week free trial, go
to www.randmcnallyclassroom.com
