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TinyTap App Lets Kids Create Customized iPad Books & Games

TinyTap is a new iPad application designed for kids which introduces a different angle on the “record-your-own-voice” storybooks craze, by offering a playable book or game you and your kids can customize with your own photos, camera shots, music, narration, and more. The resulting creations can then be shared with family and friends. And, for a little inspiration, the built-in TinyTap store offers a collection of pre-made games which kids can customize with their own voice and actions.

ChalkStar – downloadable worksheets for primary school teachers

ChalkStar is a brand new online initiative to help primary school teachers save time and improve lesson quality. GetWings, an online education incubator, is proud to announce the launch of ChalkStar.com, an innovative new online platform for teachers teaching grades R – 12. ChalkStar is a supportive online community that develops new bundles of professional, [...]

National Geographic Editorial about Geo-literacy

Whilst looking at resources on the web, I found this interesting and informative article on the National Geographic Education site entitled “Geo-Literacy -Preparation for Far-Reaching Decisions”. Whilst they use the term ‘geo-literacy‘, we can assume that they are talking about similar concepts as those I have defined for ‘spatial literacy’. On page 2 of the [...]

Jigsaws – Quick Ideas for Developing Spatial Literacy

Teach your learners to do jigsaw puzzles of varying complexities from an early age especially if learners come from homes, backgrounds or cultures that do not have access to pastimes like this. WHY? This month’s theme was connections. Jigsaws are all about connections, from placing the pieces correctly to make the picture, to connecting hand-eye [...]

Practical Spatial Literacy – May Theme – Connections, connections, connections

Peter Anthamatten highlights the dilemna between spatial thinking, geography and teaching: “in spite of the fact that ‘spatial thinking’ has been a part of the lexicon of geography educators for many years, there remains little consensus with regard to what this means for teaching.” ( 2010). This article series is about finding practical ways to [...]

Quick Ideas for Developing Spatial Literacy – Latitude and Longitude Battleships Game

Here’s a great idea for using the classic Battleships game in a different way. Ideal for early adolescents. Ships are placed on intersecting points which are identified by latitude and longitude coordinates, and not in the squares. This game is good for teaching them the correct way to say coordinates, and with a bit of [...]

Practical Spatial Literacy April Theme: Location (Pt 2)

Part one of this article looked at the subtle differences between spatial literacy and geography education. This second part focuses again on location in spatial literacy. Getting back to the specifics of location in spatial literacy, Malclom McInerney suggests that we need to develop an awareness of the location of features as well as identifying [...]