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Smartphone

Page history last edited by Iris Fernandez 11 years, 4 months ago

Geography AND Smartphones

Mobile internet, social media, GPS, network capability these things have been so deeply engraved into our life that we can almost not recall a moment when Smartphone’s were not part of our lifestyle. Does the use of Smartphone’s go beyond personal leisure? YES! Smartphone’s are in fact smart pieces of equipment in order to make our life as Americans a bit easier. Smartphones and Geography, now that is a double threat. These portable life savers help us recognize, become knowledgeable, and understand the idea of land and human nature.

The common misconception is geography is strictly the science and knowledge of land. Geography is also the study of human nature and everything that makes up the blue and green sphere we refer to as earth. Your Iphone, Android, blackberry, and HTC hold the capacity to teach geography in methods that stem farther than a 300 page text book. As a researcher from the University of Chester put it “Smartphones are increasing in popularity and have become almost ubiquitous among the population. There is a potential opportunity for both staff and students to make effective use of student-owned devices to enhance fieldwork learning.”-Katharine Welsh

Using a smart-phone might cause intimidation and even hesitation but keep in mind that many of these products are made with YOU in mind. They are user friendly because we are the main consumers of these products. Many smartphones are different and even though the phone itself is completely different from another phone many of their features are universal. Features that are may appear similar is the home screen of your phone, the settings, and the power on and screen lock buttons. The best way to understand a smart-phone is to simply start experimenting and recognizing the features of your phone.

The connection between Geography and smart-phones

-APPS

The ability of an App is like having your personal Google on call for whenever you need it. Apps serve as applications to your phone that strictly focus on a specific idea. For example, there are numerous weather apps, there are game apps, and social media apps that allow you to keep in touch with family and friends with just a push of a button. In a classroom the instructor could designate an activity where each table has a smartphone and each group is looking up a person, event or idea from a specific region. This allows you to still focus on geography but also implement technology like cell phones which many students would be excited about.

-Social Media

Accounts like FaceBook, Twitter and Instagram are prime examples of Geography and smartphones. Geography also is the science of human movement, these sites are constantly mobile and are becoming more versatile. Through twitter students are able to constantly update their activity wherever they may be. In a geography class you could assign each student a social media site and have them create an account for a region, country or state in which they would constantly have to update statuses regarding the activity of the country or state.

-GPS

Most smartphones are equipped with their own personal global positioning system which is complementary to the standard map. This feature will give you step by step directions and allow you to constantly view your location. This is implementing all components of geography because it is primarily supported by satellites and uses a very accurate tracking system. A geography teacher could have students complete a scavenger hunt using solely a GPS, while students are on the scavenger hunt they could start to think about the location of countries in the world and connect it to the locations in their school.