Explore geography’s many dimensions with Geocube
January 6, 2011
BY How can 21st century tools improve geography education? When a European geography association took on this challenge, the result was Geocube. Created by an international panel of educators with funding from the European Union, Geocube is an exceptionally well-designed resource for exploring “what geography is and what geographers do.”
Modeled on a Rubik’s Cube, the Geocube’s six sides each represent a geographical theme, which are then divided into subtopics on the individual squares. Clicking first on a side, then on a square, you’ll zoom to a description of the topic with accompanying pictures and videos. The rotating cube concept does a great job symbolizing the various “sides” of geography. As for Geocube’s fun factor, your students will love spinning the cube every which way and they’ll surely be engaged by the high-quality photos and videos.
For teachers, the site includes a downloadable PDF file of all 54 topics in the cube. There’s also an intriguing template for printing and folding a paper version of the cube. With this you could develop a dice game or even modify it to have students create their own cubes. After all, geography is about teaching them to take ownership of the world.
Related stuff
MapCrunch gives you a tour of the world
National Geographic engages geography students at My Wonderful World
