Geotagging: A Social App for Geography Fun for Photographers, Parents, Teachers and Kids

North Little Rock, AR (PRWEB) May 6, 2009

Little Rock, AR May 5, 2009- As reported recently by the Washington Post*, US lawmakers are considering a bill called, Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act, designed to combat the consistently low performance of U.S. students in geography. "We are now in a world where we have to compete globally," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the bill's sponsor. "It's important for American students to understand the geography of the world they are living in."

Already on the front lines of encouraging student interest in geography, children's book author Darcy Pattison is celebrating the paperback release of The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman with an interactive mapping project designed to encourage excitement about geography in elementary students.

"The project is launching just in time for summer family vacations and travel," Pattison said.

The Oliver K. Woodman Map Project (http://www.oliverkwoodman.com/map-project) encourages parents, teachers, photographers and kids to take a paper cutout of the main character, Oliver K. Woodman, on their summer travels and take his photo at landmarks or favorite places. The key is to geotag the photos and upload them to a Flickr group site: (http://www.flickr.com/groups/oliverkwoodman).

Geotagging is simply marking a photo as belonging to a specific spot on a map. While smart phones can geotag photos automatically, you don't need that technology to participate. In fact, Flickr's method of geotagging - you simply drag-and-drop a photo onto a map - is more educational for kids. To correctly geotag, a student must accurately locate a place on a map.

Interactive: Photos + Maps = Better Learning

With over 35 million photos already on Flickr and even more on Google Earth, the other major online photo-geotagging site, isn't it enough just to send students to view those photos? No.

"Geotagging photos is a great interactive tool for learning geography. When a student geotags a photo he or she made, it means more than looking at 100 tagged by someone else," Pattison said.

Linking the activity to a favorite children's book character like Oliver K. Woodman just adds to the fun. Teachers can use the FREE Lesson Plans (http://www.darcypattison.com/PattisonLessonPlans.zip) available with the project to teach an integrated unit of language arts, math, social studies, art and more. The Oliver K. Woodman Map Project is a small step towards improved geographic knowledge through social apps and is perfect for the elementary school student.

Published in eight languages, author Darcy Pattison (http://www.darcypattison.com) has traveled to 32 states and seven countries. Besides two starred reviews, The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman was named a 2003 Best Book of the Year by Child magazine and Nick Jr. Magazine; the paperback version is available in May, 2009.

*Glod, Maria. World Class Knowledge: Annual Geography Bee Tests Student's Grasp of the Globe. Washington Post, May 4, 2009.
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