Top Apps for Learning about the World
Children are naturally inquisitive about the world around them and apps are really well placed to help support students to find out about the world – the people, places and geography. Here are our top tips for teaching world exploration – as ever with a digital twist!
1) Compass Skills: Even though using a compass is no longer a necessity to the modern traveller, learning compass skills is an important part of the curriculum. It’s a topic which goes hand-in-hand with geographical studies and can be made even more fun with Smudge Compass and Direction, suitable for students aged 5-7 and which teaches compass points and directions in a fun and informative way.
2) Map Reading: In the age of Google Maps and Satellite Navigation, students don’t have to read a map in the same way as many of us had to in order to find out way around a new place, or get from A to B! However, map reading and coordinates is a key part of the curriculum and is certainly fun using Grid Finder. This app introduce students to the basic concepts around the coordinates system.
3) Countries of The World: With digital games such as Stack the Countries – game-play could aid your students in memorising locations of countries around the world! With over 1,000 unique questions, flash cards for each country, and interactive maps of the continents, it’s a must-have for home and classroom devices!
4) Atlas Skills: Being able to navigate around the globe is a skill that is easy with touch-screen technology – literally bringing the world to students’ fingertips. Knowing the major landmasses, rivers and oceans has never been more accessible than it is to today’s young people. Atlas apps such as DimDon World Map allow children to explore the globe in 3D, zooming in and rotating the globe to explore places and wildlife.
5) Famous Cities of the World: It’s important for children to be able to identify famous landmarks, buildings and key facts about some of the major capital cities of the world. With the super app Art Stories CITIES, users can spin a smoothly rendered globe to find and select the next city to look at. Through interactive drag and drop, children can complete a skyline and hear interesting facts about seven major cities of the world – right here in your home or classroom!
Good luck with world-exploration with your kids or students!