How to Build Geographic Literacy

An adequate understanding of world geography, including having some geographic literacy, is very important in this era of ever-increasing globalization, internationalization, and global interconnectedness via the global economy. As cultural, political, and economic globalization increase, people need to be aware of geography and how it plays a critical role in these processes. This article will show you several methods that you can use to build your geographic literacy or further increase and strengthen your knowledge of geography.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Internet
• World Atlas
• World Map
• Globe
• World Geography textbook
• Introduction to Geography textbook

1. 
    

   When you read or hear about current world events, take time to look up the locations of those events in an encyclopedia and a world atlas. Become familiar with how those places fit into the bigger picture of their surrounding regions and the world as a whole.

2. Spend time looking at a different part of a world atlas, map, or globe every so often (or even once a day!).

3. Read up about the field of geography and what geography is (its a very broad and wide-ranging field). One good resource for doing this is a world regional geography textbook or an introduction to geography textbook.

4. Play free online geography trivia and map games. These are a fun and quick way to build and strengthen your geographic literacy. Websites that contain listings and links to a variety of free online geography games include (and these are listed in the additional resources section of this article) sites such as GeoManiaWorld (http://geogeomania.googlepages.com/geographygames), Geography World (http://members.aol.com/bowermanb/games.html), and Geography.About.com (http://geography.about.com/cs/games/). These contain listings with links to a variety of sites with free online geography trivia games and map quiz games.

5. 
    
   Earth

   As you begin to increase your geographic literacy and knowledge of world geography you can feel good knowing that you are doing one of the things necessary to be a better citizen of the world!

Resources

• GeoManiaWorld - Geography Trivia and Map Games
• Geography World - Games
• Geography.About.com - Games