1. They Know The World
Fifth-graders at Chester M. Stephens Elementary School are geography whiz kids
IF
the world suddenly lost superficial social
Google Maps and GPS medium, has
devices, half of us become a
wouldn’t be able to get to the house powerful
next door. (You know who you are.) communications
In the event our technology fails, take tool that lets
solace in knowing that fifth-graders at people from
Chester M. Stephens Elementary around the world
School can help us find our way. work together
Learning about geography can and instantly
seem dull and boring. Students in share knowledge.
John Fritzky’s class at CMS, however, The use of
can’t seem to get enough. Mr. Fritzky Twitter among
regularly incorporates technology into educators around
classroom instruction in ways that the world has
keep kids energized and interested. been growing. It
And geography is no exception. is now an
Mystery Skype is one of the important source
learning games that he uses to help of information Above, CMS fifth-
reinforce geography skills, as well as about innovative teaching graders Isabella
encourage critical thinking and methods, published Foley, Ashleigh
cooperative problem solving. In the educational material and Gallagher, Caitlin
game, Mr. Fritzky’s class connects to scholarly articles, news, Gayles, and Sameen
Shah play Mystery
another class somewhere in the and simple tips that can
Skype
nation or from around the globe help make every day
through video Skype. Using a series of instruction more effective. Right, CMS
“yes” or “no” questions, each class Ryan Nguyen, a fifth- Geography Bee
tries to determine the location of the grader in Kathy Fiebel’s winner Ryan
other. It’s an activity that reinforces class, would be another Nguyen shows off
not only the location of countries and welcomed travel partner if his medal
states, but also geographical elements you needed to go from
such as latitude and longitude, time here to there without
zones, and directional points. gizmos and gadgets. Ryan won CMS’s
Mystery Skype has been carefully geography bee, a preliminary contest
constructed; the various processes in the National Geography Bee. He
and skills needed to play the game are knew the countries that share the
divided among the students. For islands of Tierra del Fuego (Chile and
example, there is a team that Argentina) and identified the volcanic
generates questions to ask, one that islands west of the Alaska Peninsula
researches the information provided (the Aleutian Islands) to seal his
by the other class, another that logs victory against the 10 other fourth
every question asked by both classes and fifth grade class winners.
for later analysis, and one that Ryan also took a written test that
represents the class by appearing on will determine whether he advances
camera. further in the competition, which is
Mr. Fritzky uses Twitter to put out sponsored by the National Geography
a call to fellow teachers around the Association.
world to see who is available to play If we could all have one of these
the game at a certain day and time. students in our cars with us at all
Twitter, once considered a fun yet times, Siri would be out of a job.