Interactive Maps as an Educational Resource in Learning Geography at School
Abstract
The traditional style of teaching geography focuses on the features of the modern spatial picture of the world. This picture is presented to students in textbooks in the form of static, final and for the most part – no longer relevant information. The ineffectiveness of such training is obvious. It is time to move to an activity approach to learning, including using geospatial technologies. The article raises the issue of integration into the process of teaching geography in the school of interactive maps, which play an important role in shaping the spatial thinking of students. Web maps have a variety of functions, which opens up a wide field of opportunities for organizing interactive geography learning and achieving various didactic goals. The article attempts to identify certain groups of interactive maps, similar in a set of functions. The expediency of using interactive maps in teaching geography is substantiated, their advantages in comparison with traditional geographical maps are determined. Interactive maps integrate well with modern pedagogical technologies and can be a convenient tool for achieving the goals outlined in the school curriculum. Examples of training tasks with National Geographic's MapMaker Interactive service are given. The need to test the introduction of interactive maps in the educational process in the context of achieving various didactic goals is emphasized.
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