Heike Stiegele

From digital scavenger hunts to traveling the virtual globe - this material will inspire your elementary school children to explore their surroundings!

Do you want to engage your elementary school children with digital treasure hunts and virtual world exploration while simultaneously promoting media literacy?

Digital tools allow children today to discover far-off places around the world and explore them. Thanks to satellite images, street views, 360-degree perspectives, and 3D views, famous buildings and landscapes worldwide can be viewed, or simply the houses on the street next door can be explored. In terms of spatial orientation, digital helpers have largely replaced analog components: maps and road atlases are hardly present in people's everyday lives, and mobile phones and similar devices are naturally used for navigation.

This book presents various ways to use online maps together with your students or explore the globe with 3D maps. The worksheets included in this book guide the children step by step and are ready to use. Even if the learners have little to no prior experience with tablets, PCs, or smartphones, they can quickly embark on a digital discovery journey. The worksheets assist the children with images and explanations for using the apps and tools.

Digital apps and tools also make it particularly playful to implement curriculum content – for example, through digital scavenger hunts and rallies. It motivates children to implement and try out their own ideas. Group work and mutual experimentation also strengthen class cohesion.