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If you're looking for a bit of summer learning fun, Google Earth's Carmen Sandiego game takes students around the world, using clues to solve a crime while seeing some of the world's most iconic landforms and structures in 3D:
earth.google.com/web/data=CiQSIhIgYmU3N2ZmYzU0MTc1MTFlOGFlOGZkMzdkYTU5MmE0MmE
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How good is your vocabulary (or your child's)? This quick two-part checklist helps you assess your vocabulary and perhaps learn a few new words in the process: preply.com/en/learn/english/test-your-vocab
Thinking ahead to your summer reading list? You can test your knowledge of classic literature by matching characters to novels with this 35-question quiz: play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/can-you-name-which-literary-classic-these-characters-are-from
There's a new free online geography game called Worldle (clearly riffing on the popular word game, Wordle). Worldle shows one image per day of a country (shape only). Users have six tries to guess the country; each guess generates feedback on distance (in km) and approximate direction to the correct answer. Playing with a world map on hand instead of just working from memory or guessing, though, creates a lot more learning: by consulting a map between guesses, students of geography develop a more refined sense of distance as well as country positions and shapes. worldle.teuteuf.fr/
Wordle is the game of the moment. The game combines the word play of hangman with the deductive logic game Mastermind. Players have six chances to figure out the day's five-letter word. www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/
Start the new semester with a geography quiz: identify a country based on three cities and an image. (This starts easy and gets harder.) play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/if-you-can-name-2525-of-these-countries-from-just-three-cities-youre-a-geography-genius
Want to practice your map-labeling skills? ThatQuiz has short map-labeling exercises for Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. ThatQuiz also has options to practice math, science, and foreign language vocabulary skills. www.thatquiz.org/
Think you know Africa? Take this quiz from Britannica to find out: www.britannica.com/quiz/geography-of-africa-quiz Be sure to click on "results" afterwards for more information about each answer. (There is one major typo, and one question seems to not match up with the answers.)
Prime numbers are divisible only by themselves and 1. This free online game designed by a British mathematician helps sharpen your mental math skills by seeing how many prime numbers you can correctly identify in 60 seconds -- but that means clicking "no" on all those tricky non-primes like 87 (which might look prime but is 3x29) that also pop up. isthisprime.com/game/
Want to test your knowledge of islands? This 40-question quiz provides a peek at some of the world's islands. (The maps are a bit quirky, but the content is good.) play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/can-you-name-these-island-destinations-from-a-map
Test your geography knowledge with this quiz, which I found a bit harder than usual without resorting to the obscure :-) Be sure to read the information that accompanies each answer. play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/world-geography-quiz
How much of this week's news did you notice? Every Friday Slate posts a short quiz about the week's news. slate.com/news-and-politics/the-slate-quiz
High school students can learn about cybersecurity by playing the CyberStart game online for free. Those who complete 20% of the challenges by March 8 will be eligible to compete for college scholarships. www.cyberstartamerica.org (Not a high school student but interested in seeing what it's like? Try the 60-minute CyberStart Go instead: go.cyberstart.com/)
Based on results from Standard & Poor's Global Literacy Survey, only 57% of American adults are considered financially literate. Likewise, the U.S. financial industry's National Financial Capabilities Survey finds that, on average, Americans get only 3 of 6 basic questions about finance correct. Want to try yourself? Here's the quiz along with explanations for each answer: www.usfinancialcapability.org/quiz.php
Having re-watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" recently, I was again struck by the wonderful Dr. Seuss line about the Grinch "puzzling and puzzling ... till his puzzler was sore." If you enjoy puzzling until your puzzler is sore, you may enjoy these logic puzzles and paradoxes from the University of Rochester's philosophy department: www.sas.rochester.edu/phl/puzzles.html
At first glance, this xkcd comic looks like a normal map of the contiguous United States. On closer inspection, though, seven states are missing. Can you identify the seven missing states? imgs.xkcd.com/comics/contiguous_41_states_2x.png
Test your geographic knowledge with this short quiz that requires only one thing: name any country with a four-letter name... then a five-letter name ... then a six-letter name ... up to a 13- letter name: www.buzzfeed.com/andyneuenschwander/country-naming-geography-quiz
Looking for a game to play with family or friends over Thanksgiving? Or maybe a holiday gift? Check out Trial by Trolley, a board game based on the classic runaway-trolley thought experiment associated with utilitarianism. The game requires at least three players: a "conductor" and two individuals or teams competing to convince the conductor to run over whatever is on their opponent's track and spare whatever is on their own track. It's sort of like the Apples to Apples of moral philosophy. The game is about $25 at Target, Amazon, and other retailers. www.target.com/p/trial-by-trolley-game/-/A-78138830
This 25-question quiz focuses on language geography: given a map, can you name the language spoken in the highlighted region? (Alumni of my "Your Future World: Human Geography 2050" class should be able to get perhaps not all but most of these.) www.sporcle.com/games/the_underground/maps_too_small_for_klingon
What do you know about ocean geography? Take this 24-question quiz to find out: www.usefultrivia.com/geography_trivia/ocean_trivia.html (For any students interested in the National Geographic Society geography bee, please note that although I, personally, consider the answer to #2 correct, NGS considers the world to have four oceans.)
Practice your geography (and probably learn a few new things) with this 35-question British pub quiz. (Please note: unless it has been fixed, the year in Question #11 is incorrect; it should be 1872, not 1862.) www.radiotimes.com/news/2020-05-02/pub-quiz-geography/
This 35-question quiz asks users to identify a sampling of the world's biggest cities based on a photo and a single clue. I think many of my geography students can ace it :-). Be sure to read the info after the answer to learn a bit more about the city (and watch for a few typos). play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/can-you-name-the-most-populated-cities-in-the-world-from-a-hint
The University of Arizona has created an imaginative (free) web quest to encourage students to learn about the world. Students can take any of five digital journeys to learn about places, languages, cultures, and histories, with a special emphasis on the Middle East and Latin America. las.arizona.edu/road-maps-around-world-adventure
Practice your U.S. geography: with or without using a U.S. map, try this quiz that pairs two U.S. cities and asks you to identify which one is further north. Be sure to read the interesting factoids that accompany each answer. play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/can-you-guess-which-of-these-two-american-cities-is-furthest-north
The National Geographic Society just canceled this year's state and national geography bees for the first time in the bee's 32-year-history 😕. If you want to get a head start on learning about geography for next year, check out some of these free apps: Geo Bee Now for Android and iOS, Geography Quiz (by Peaksel) for Android and iOS, and the Ultimate Geography Quiz for Android.
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Blog sharing news about geography, philosophy, world affairs, and outside-the-box learning
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