Enriching Geography Curriculum

Longfellow Middle School teachers Jennifer Engel and Cody Hedrick used an $850 Education Foundation of Wauwatosa (EFW) grant to help students in their social studies classes become better at identifying locations on a map through the use of geography games.

Part of the sixth grade curriculum is to cover the geography and culture of Latin America, Canada, Asia, Africa, and Europe, the goal in using geography games is to help students become familiar with places and capitals around the world more than they would without the extra enrichment activities. The Geography benchmarks that this grant reaches are to use a variety of geographic representations, such as political, physical, and topographic maps, a globe, aerial photographs, and satellite images to gather and compare information about a place. The specific learning target from these games is for students to identify countries and capitals around the world and then students will gain a strong understanding on where countries are and how they could interact with each other.

According to Engel, most of the students really enjoy playing the games. One student said, “can’t we play the geography bingo games today? I actually know where Nigeria is now!”

For more information on the EFW and the other 15 grants awarded for the 2012-2013 school year, visit our website at www.tosaefw.org.