I recently heard about an awesome online game called GeoGuessr. It’s a game that drops you in random places around the world using Google Street View, then you have to guess where you are by thinking critically, finding clues, reading signs, looking at foliage, etc. It’s so addictive! The teacher in me immediately started thinking of ways to use this cool Ed Tech tool in the classroom. I’d probably try this with grade 3 and up.
SKILL DEVELOPMENT & CURRICULAR LINKS:
-Critical thinking
-Problem solving
-Social Studies
-Geography
-Mapping skills
-21st Century Skills
-Mathematics
-Media Literacy
To play the game simply visit www.geoguessr.com
You can choose to play “single player” or “challenge mode” against other people by sending a link to your opponent(s). You don’t need to have an account to play, but you can open up more features like saving your scores, creating your own maps, getting game stats, etc. if you create an account and log in. There are also preset games of famous places, cities, countries or continents if you’re not into landing anywhere in the world. Here are a few examples:
Here are some other screenshots of the game:
Here are a few GIFs of me playing the game:
The one above is in southern Mexico, it was hard because there isn’t much to go on.
This one was rare because you usually end up on a street or a dirt road, but this time I landed inside a building! I looked around and it was pretty simple to find clues (a lot easier than above!). By zooming in on the poster on the wall behind the bar I found that we were at a winery called “Pillsbury”, then a Google Search helped me figure out it was in Arizona.
You make your guess by dropping a pin in the map on the bottom right of the screen. The closer you are the more points you get and then it tells you exactly how far away you are from the correct location. The game is played with 5 rounds, and gives you a total score at the end of your rounds.
It’s a neat game to add to a classroom learning/literature/social studies centre or to explore parts of the world you’re currently studying. You could take it one step further and have students create maps and games for their classmates then have them explore each other’s creations. There are so many possibilities, and my bet is you’ll have fun playing too!
Please leave a comment below if you think of any other ways to use GeoGuessr in the classroom.
Happy exploring!
