Agriculture Websites

The students in our Geography class made websites that highlight important information about agriculture in Quebec.

The site the students used to construct their websites is www.weebly.com.  I like using Weebly because it is easy to use and at the same time, it has enough features to produce nice results.  Also, it is free.

Another good site which we used is www.scribblemaps.com.  Scribble Maps allows students to draw and color on Google Maps.  The resultant production can then be embedded in a website.  The students used Scribble Maps to identify the agricultural areas of Quebec and  the different physiographic regions of the province.

The students used www.chartgo.com to create embeddable charts.  I like Chartgo because it is simple to use and the results are aesthetically pleasing.

Here are a couple of examples of the websites produced by students:

Agriculture Quebec

Sabrina Agriculture

Traveler IQ

Traveler IQ is a fun educational game. Players must locate specified cities and landmarks on a map. There are many categories from which to choose, such as, Europe, North America, World Capitals, and Photos of the World.



The questions become increasingly difficult. After you have missed a given number of miles, your game is over. Then, you are presented with a traveler IQ score and a badge which can be embedded on a blog or website. Unfortunately, the embed code does not function with Blogger.

Lifeyo

Lifeyo is a website that allows users to create their own website. It features an easy to use interface. In Geography, the students used Lifeyo to create a web page advertising one of Canada's national parks. Here are a few examples:

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Moonfruit

The students used a website called Moonfruit to author their own web pages.

Moonfruit has a nice interface, simple yet with many options. The downside is that Moonfruit only allows users to create a single website. For me, this is not problematic, because I prefer to have the students utilize as many different web authoring tools as possible, as opposed to specializing on a single platform.

Our topic was "Protected Territories." There are six categories of protected territories. On their websites, the students created a title page, and then a separate page for each of the six territory types.

Each page includes a description of the territory, plus a video representing the territory.

I did not want the students to embed the YouTube videos directly because anything longer than a dozen seconds is redundant. Therefore, they used a website called TubeChop to shorten the videos. TubeChop allows users to chop a smaller section from anywhere in a YouTube video and then embed the resultant clip. Rather handy, indeed.

Here a few student productions:

Website 1

Website 2

Website 3

Yola Natural Hazards

The students used a website called Yola to create their own websites.

Yola features an easy to use drag-and-drop interface. Yola allows users to embed content. The students embedded a map from Google Maps and embedded charts from Chartle.

The subject of the student websites was, "Natural Hazards."

I instructed the students to use Microsoft Paint to add a citation to each photograph they used from the internet.

Here are a few productions:

Website 1

Website 2

Website 3

Quebec’s Agriculture

Unit 2 of our Geography class focuses on agriculture in Quebec. I asked the students to create a website summarizing the main ideas.

The students used Weebly to create their sites. Weebly utilizes a drag-and-drop interface that makes web-authoring relatively easy.

We used Google Maps to embed a customized map showing the agricultural areas of Quebec. We used Chartle to create embedded charts.

Here is one student’s website:

Quebec's Agriculture - Agricultural Territory

Terraclues

I really like websites that allow teachers to create class accounts, so that we can monitor the students’ progress.  One such site is Terraclues.  This site has user-created quizzes.  Students are given a clue to a location on earth, then they must locate that spot on a map.  This is a good cross-curricular activity because it combines Geography with Research skills.

Chartle Map

Chartle is more than just charts.

Today, I asked my students to utilize Chartle to create a population map, which they then embedded on their blogs.

Here are the instructions that I printed for them on Engrade:

Go to www.chartle.net

Create > Map II > Lat/Long GeoMap

Title = Population

Width = 500 ; Height = 400

Data tab > Region = Canada

Remove all the locations.

You will add your own locations.  You need to add 10 Canadian cities.  Choose any cities you want to from this list:

http://www.bcca.org/misc/qiblih/latlong_ca.html

Enter the information for each city.  Label = the name of the city.  Latitude and longitude = only write the first two digits; and the longitude must be negative; ie, Calgary is Lat: 15, Long: -114

Value = the population of the city.  Some populations are at this website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_100_largest_urban_areas_in_Canada_by_population

Embed your map on your blog.

Here is one student’s product.

UMapper

UMapper allows you to play user-created map games; wherein, you must identify the location of different cities and countries.

What’s more, you (or your students) can create your own games.  My students found the process for creating games to be a bit tricky, but there is a video on the website that explains the procedure.

Monopoly

There is a fun online game called, “Monopoly City Streets.”

Utilizing Google Maps, the game allows players to buy streets in the real world and develop them.

I showed the game to my Geography students and they really liked it.  They quickly bought up all the streets in town.

Home

Today, in our Geography class, we watched the movie, “Home.”

It is quite a beautiful, educational film about the impact of humans on planet Earth.  The subject matter is suitable also for History and Science.

The movie is available in High Definition on YouTube.

Accident Sketch

In Geography, one of the requisite skills is the ability to transfer reality onto a map. I had the students complete the following activity in order to practise this skill.

I asked them to view a video of a car accident, then use a website called Accident Sketch to draw a sketch of the accident in the video.

Here is one student’s interpretation of this video.

Quikmaps

Today, the students used Quikmaps to plot the routes of some famous explorers.

Quikmaps allows users to draw on Google Maps.  The embedding features are nice.  You can easily resize the embedded map and select its starting focus.

Furthermore, it is not necessary to create an account.

Chartgo

Today, in Geography, the students created charts to display on their blogs.  They graphed statistics such as population and literacy rate for four cities.

Chartgo is a simple website that produces aesthetic charts.

Did you know that every month, 30,000 new people move to Mexico City?

Did you know there are about 90,000 homeless people on the island of Manhattan?

Place Spotting

We did a fun little activity we did in Geography today. Here are the instructions I wrote on Engrade:

Go to www.placespotting.com.

Click on "Create.”

Select a Canadian or a World landmark. (Use Google to research one.)

Enter the name of your landmark in the entry field of the Place Spotting website and click "Jump To Place Or Address.”

Input at least 3 hints.

Input the Captcha code and click on "Store.”

Embed the image link (#3) on your blog.

Repeat this process until you have created 5 puzzles.

Here is a student exemplar.

Games

I really like the philosophy of using fun and games to motivate the students; however, I always feel guilty whenever I use games in the classroom. I know I shouldn’t.

There is a website called JamLegend, which is a nice emulation of Guitar Hero. In my Music class, I asked the students to sign up at this site and take their character to Level 2. The students really enjoyed the activity.

Still, I felt uneasy about the task. Would my principal approve? Would the other teachers approve? Would the parents approve?

Were the students really learning anything, any skills? I had to convince myself that the game was improving their dexterity (for guitar) and developing their sense of rhythm and music.

Essentially, any time that my students are having fun or enjoying themselves in the classroom, I feel a tinge of guilt. School is not supposed to by fun. It’s irrational, I know; maybe it’s a product of my Catholic upbringing.

An event later in the week did nothing to ease my conscience. I decided to have my Geography class play SimCity, because I think it teaches a lot about the way a city functions. Unfortunately, I had to abandon my plan when I discovered that the SimCity website is blocked at our school.

There are many game sites that are not blocked. The filtering program seems to be quite haphazard. For example, an online game, Evony, is not blocked, and many of the students play it during their free time and during lunch. Evony is a medieval type game where the player must build up their town and army, and manage resources. Hmm, maybe I can incorporate it into my History class…

Photo by All Glass Photo.

Project Dragonfly

Today in Geography, I asked the students to design their own dream bedroom. The purpose of the activity was to give the students the opportunity to enhance their mapping skills and spatial cognition.

The students used a home design website called “Autodesk Project Dragonfly” to create their designs.

The students really enjoyed the activity, especially this student.

Autodesk Project Dragonfly - Home Remodeling and Interior Design Software via kwout

Map Activity

This year, I am teaching Geography, History and English; plus, some other subjects.

I was not having much difficulty creating English activities for the students that incorporate the internet; however, I was having difficulty developing online activities for my two social sciences classes.

Today in Geography, I asked the students to do an activity using internet resources, which I will describe presently.  The class was enjoyable for me, and I think the students enjoyed their one hour with me more than they would have if they had been forced to do worksheets.  As a corollary, there were no classroom management issues.  It dawned on me that I need to continue to develop online activities.  By now, I should have a sufficiently adequate pool of resources from which to choose.  What is required of me is a bit of creative thinking to imagine ways that the prescribed curriculum can be adapted to the internet.

At this point, there is no compelling reason for me to use worksheets.  It was be foolish of me to do so.

For the map activity, I had students download a blank jpeg of Montreal.  Then, using the website, Fotoflexer, the students added text to their map, labelling the rivers and major areas of the city.  Tomorrow, the students will use Wikispaces to create a webpage that describes Montreal (the population, the major developments, and so on).  They will include their map on the their webpage.