J.Velasco Literacy Website #4

National Geographic Education was founded in 1888 with a clear mission to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge” to the public.   Since its founding, it has created educational programs and resources for schools, out of school settings, and the home.  With the partnership of a wide variety of non-profit, governmental, and for profit organizations, it aims to accomplish two goals-promote geo-literacy and provide educational outreach. 

National Geographic Education describes geo-literacy as having the ability to make decisions based on an understanding of how the world works and how people and places are connected.   Having this ability is said to be essential for shaping students to become reflective decision makers in their personal, professional, and civic life.   To assist educators in reaching this goal, it has created outreach programs that provide a rich and diverse amount of resources for educators and students which support learning.  These resources are made available online, in print, and in person.   Also, it continues to explore avenues to make these resources available via digital libraries, online activities, and interactive mapping.  To provide educators and learners with up to date resources, National Geographic Education continuously engages in policy, research, and communications efforts.  In addition, it has awarded more than five million dollars in grants to support teacher training, public awareness, and other programs that promote geo-literacy. 

The home page of National Geographic Education is organized for the different audiences viewing the site such as teachers, informal educators, families, students, and kids.  This feature makes it easier to locate educational resources faster.   Some of the benefits of utilizing this website is that teachers are provided an array of resources which include teaching tips and ideas, multi-media activities for social studies and science classrooms, lesson and units plans that are aligned with the national standards, educational programs, professional developments tools, etc.  One neat feature that I was able to find that all grade level teachers could use is the interactive map makers that enable students to download, print, and assemble maps of the world and continents.  This hands-on learning tool promotes geo-literacy in the classroom and makes learning new concepts engaging.  Teachers also have access to many digital tools such as photos, video, audios, cartoons, and games to enhance the instructional objectives of the lesson.

This website also offers fun, exciting, hands-on educational activities that families can together.  Some examples shared were creating a local weather map, taking a tour around the home or city to identify living and non-living things, making a trip to the grocery store and determining what parts of the world goods came from.  Application of learning therefore takes place not only in the school, but in the home front and community as well.    The last feature that I was very impressed with was the interactive site developed especially for kids.   The site includes a homework help section for students who need access to science, geography, and other social studies terms.  All terms include its pronunciation, definition, and part of speech.  In addition, students can retrieve articles from this section for current events or informational text write-ups. 

Other tools inclusive of this feature are interactive games, coloring pages and great easy to read informational text.  To conclude, this site has many amenities that promote literacy in the classroom.  In my opinion, teachers of all grade levels and content areas will appreciate the resources provided.  It is through the integration of hands-on learning and real-life application in and out of the classroom that National Geographic Education supports literacy.

Information and Image Source: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/?ar_a=1