Blog - EdWare Learning

NAEP Geography 2010

2011-07-26T11:30:00.004-04:00

The findings of a new report from the National Assessment of Education Progress for Geography in the United States has just been published. They evaluated students in fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade based on their knowledge of geographic concepts and their ability to analyze geographic problems.

Nationally representative samples of about 7,000 fourth-graders, 9,500 eighth-graders, and 10,000 twelfth-graders participated in the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in geography. At each grade, students responded to questions designed to measure their knowledge of geography in the context of space and place, environment and society, and spatial dynamics and connections. Comparing the results from the 2010 assessment to the results from previous assessments in 1994 and 2001 shows how students’ knowledge and skills in geography have changed over time.

The results are interesting, the scores of 4th graders improved, 8th graders remained the same, and 12th graders declined. Overall male students scored higher than female students at all three grades.

Click here to learn more and download the report.

We have also prepared a quick sample question for 4th graders on map skills of the United States. Download now, 94k file.

NCGE 2011 Conference

2011-06-14T08:58:00.002-04:00

EdWare will be exhibiting at the NCGE Conference 2011 on August 4th to 7th. The conference will be held in Portland, Oregon at the Marriott Hotel.

Visit our booth in the exhibit hall, it's downstairs on Lower Level 1 of the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront. EdWare Learning is booth #106, do drop by and say hello, and try our software for teaching European and United States geography yourself, demo CDs also available.

We look forward to meeting the delegates, and do drop by our stand to learn about Know Your USA and Know Your Europe, great for learning all about the United States and Europe.

Learn more about the NCGE and the 2011 Conference.

UPDATE August 6th, 2011
Many thanks to all the delegates who visited our booth and took the time to try our software. It was great to meet you all, and if you have any questions, please do let me know. Luke

Europe Day

2011-05-09T06:45:00.000-04:00

The European Parliament building in Strasbourg.

May 9th celebrates Europe Day, this is an annual celebration of peace and unity across Europe. Europe Day marks the call on May 9th, 1950, by the then French foreign minister Robert Schuman, for a new beginning in Europe.

This is a great opportunity to learn all about the countries of Europe and the European Union with Know Your Europe.

There is some great information available at the following websites:
Europa.eu Website
Europe History Chart PDF
Wikipedia Europe Day
Wikipedia European Union

Know Your Europe, great for learning all about the European Union and the countries of Europe, learn more.

NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour

2011-05-03T07:32:00.000-04:00

UPDATE - May 16, 2011
The Space Shuttle Endeavour is due for lift off today at around 13:56, watch in the classroom. A great way to spark the imagination of kids and get them interested in science, engineering and space.

Watch the launch at any time at NASA Video Gallery:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=88591351

Watch live at NASA TV:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Track the Shuttle on Google Earth

Previous Post
The launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour has been delayed until May 16 at the earliest. We have sourced an excellent glider kit that you can print and assemble in class, so you can have your own space shuttle launch.

Download the printable PDF Glider

More interesting links about NASA and the Space Shuttle:
Space Shuttle STS-134 Information
Space Shuttle Endeavour Wikipedia
NASA Kids Club
NASA Classroom Activity
Touch down, June 01 2011

Japan - Earthquake 2011

2011-03-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

Map of Japan

Japan suffered a major earthquake today at 2:46 pm local time, it occurred about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake had a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter Scale.

We have put together a 7 page printable map of Japan as a PDF download great for classroom use or for displaying the maps on your interactive whiteboard.

Map of Japan
Tectonic Plates Under Japan
Blank Map of Japan
Outline Map of Japan
Tectonic Plates Outline
Tectonic Plates Blank Map
Blank Flag of Japan

Download the PDF Factfile on Japan

Classwork Ideas
Learn about Japan both its culture and geography. Discuss earthquakes and why they happen, why do they occur often in Japan, see tectonic plates. Research how the Richter Scale was invented and how it measures seismic activity. Study the maps, notice the location of the volcano Mount Fuji in Japan, compare its location with the tectonic plates, is there a reason a volcano might develop here? Colour the blank map and flag of Japan.

Resources:
Wikipedia article on the Earthquake
USGS Tsunami Forecast
USGS Tsunami Travel Times
NYT - Animation of Tectonic Plates
New York Times News
Irish Times News
NASA Map
NASA Photos

More Wikipedia Articles:
Japan
Pacific Ring of Fire
Tectonic Plates
Richter Scale
Mount Fuji
Tsunami

Nile River Delta at Night

2010-11-10T07:35:00.000-05:00

The Nile Delta at Night

A fantastic photo of the Nile Delta at Night from NASA. This is great to illustrate the population that grows around a river and an excellent geography resource. The photo was take on October 28, 2010 by an astronaut on the ISS (International Space Station).

The Nile River and its delta look like a brilliant, long-stemmed flower in this astronaut photograph of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea, as seen from the International Space Station. The Cairo metropolitan area forms a particularly bright base of the flower. The smaller cities and towns within the Nile Delta tend to be hard to see amidst the dense agricultural vegetation during the day. However, these settled areas and the connecting roads between them become clearly visible at night. Likewise, urbanized regions and infrastructure along the Nile River becomes apparent (see also The Great Bend of Nile, Day & Night.)

More information can be found at the NASA website.

If you like our tips and resource links to help teach geography, become fan of us on Facebook or follow our Twitter feed. We regularly post resources for use in the classroom.

More great photos of Earth from the International Space Station are available, including an excellent photo of Italy.

NASA High Res Photos of Italy
Wired.com Photo Summary, plus more links.

EdWare featured on the News

2010-10-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

Luke Curley was featured on the RTÉ News on October 18th, 2010. Luke gives a lesson to 6th class students using his Know Your Ireland geography software, at the JFK Primary School in Limerick City.

RTÉ is the national broadcaster in Ireland and is the most widely watched television news in Ireland. It was fantastic to get the feature piece on air for both the 6pm and 9pm news, many thanks to Cathy Halloran of RTÉ for doing the piece and to the JFK School in Limerick City for allowing me to visit their school.

Toxic Sludge in Hungary

2010-10-15T11:00:00.000-04:00

Photo of spill in the towns of Kolontar and Devecser in Hungary.

Great photo from NASA taken on October 9, 2010 of the recent toxic sludge in Hungary.

On October 4, 2010, an accident occurred at the Ajkai Timföldgyár alumina (aluminum oxide) plant in western Hungary. A corner wall of a waste-retaining pond broke, releasing a torrent of toxic red sludge down a local stream. Several nearby towns were inundated, including Kolontar and Devecser, where the sludge was 2 meters (6.5 feet) deep in places. Four people were killed immediately, likely from drowning, and several more were missing. Dozens of residents were hospitalized for chemical burns.

To read more, or to view high resolution photos from NASA plus a Google Earth link visit the NASA website.

Where in Hungary did the spill occur, we have marked it on the map of Hungary below by the orange triangle, just north of Lake Balaton.

Map of Hungary (higher resolution maps in Know Your Europe)

To learn more about Hungary, Europe and the European Union please try our Know Your Europe software, great for classroom or home use and available to purchase from our website.

Software Updates

2010-08-18T11:51:00.000-04:00

Over the past couple of weeks we have been busy updating Know Your USA and Know Your Europe. Today both updates are available from our website: http://www.knowyourusa.net/download/

Both version now support Windows 7 & Vista Aero graphics, plus we have added a great flag game, better support on NetBooks, added more Major Cities to Know Your USA and improved the printing. These are just a quick summary of the improvements.

Download both today, free fully functional 30 day trial. If you are already a customer, your software key will work with this edition, or you can request an MSI network install.

ISTE 2010, Denver

2010-07-05T10:23:00.000-04:00

We exhibited at the ISTE Conference 2010, held at the beautiful city of Denver, Colorado (the mile high city). It was a fantastic few days and great to meet the many teachers and educational professionals who visited our booth to check out our software, Know Your USA and Know Your Europe.

Over the coming weeks we will be contacting you and send you a 30 day trial of our software, we look forward to getting in touch with each of you.

ISTE 2010 - See you there!

2010-06-16T13:00:00.000-04:00

EdWare is exhibiting at ISTE 2010 (International Society for Technology in Education) in Denver this month. We are at stand 2116, next to NASA, and on your way to the Google booth. So do drop by and check out our award winning geography software for elementary and middle school, Know Your USA and Know Your Europe.

ISTE 2010: June 27-30 @ Colorado Convention Centre, Denver.

Blog Update

2010-05-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

We have updated our blog location, our new website address for the EdWare Learning blog is http://blog.knowyourusa.net this move was needed so we could continue to provide you with an interesting blog.

Expect updates soon, including our visit to the ISTE Conference in Denver and the launch of Know Your USA 1.7 and Know Your Europe 2.2

Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland

2010-04-16T07:11:00.000-04:00

Over the past two days ash clouds from the errupting volcano on Iceland under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, has been disrupting European flights. Below you will find some excellent links and useful information, very interesting cloud maps, photos, and video regarding this.

These are great to show the class using an interactive whiteboard or data projector, really bring the news into perspective and incorporates geography too.

Quick Facts:
-Eyjafjallajokull is a small glacier located in south-west Iceland.
-The glacier covers an area of about 100 sq km (39 sq miles).
-The volcano is 1,666 meters or 5,466 ft in height, under the icecap.
-The crater of the volcano has a diameter of 3-4 km (1.9-2.5 miles) .
-The last time the volcano erupted was between 1821 and 1823.

Cloud Map
http://metoffice.com/aviation/vaac/data/VAG_1271309704.png
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/iceland-volcano-plume.html
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=43252

Articles:
National Geographic:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100415-volcanic-ash-cancels-flights-airports-airline-europe-iceland-volcano/

BBC News Article & Video:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8621407.stm

New Scientist:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/04/paul-marks-technology-correspo.html

Amazing Video from the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8578576.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8586442.stm

I hope you find these links as interesting as I do. Also if you wish to learn more about Iceland and Europe please try our Know Your Europe software.

Ireland Worksheet - St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T11:30:00.000-04:00

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on the 17 March and we have prepared a PDF worksheet with some great maps of Ireland and a flag you can color. The worksheet is great for learning about Ireland's major cities and counties and perfect for printing to use in the classroom. Download the Ireland PDF Document (1.13MB).

Try our online game too to test your knowledge of the counties of Ireland, Play Now.

Like our resources, learn more about our award winning geography software; Know Your USA for learning all about the United States, and Know Your Europe for learning all about Europe. Both are great for the classroom and work perfectly with all interactive whiteboards.

Interactive Whiteboards

2010-02-26T12:10:00.000-05:00

Know Your USA and Know Your Europe work perfectly with all interactive whiteboards. Using our software with an interactive whiteboard is a great way to teach US and European geography.

Know Your USA and Know Your Europe now come with a selection of high quality maps of each state and country. Each map is layered so the teacher or student can remove the physical features and name labels. We have also included a selection of new drawing tools, so you can draw directly onto the map, and even drag the state capitals and position cities correctly.

Everything is full screen, our software is designed for native interactive whiteboard resolution at 1024x768. The maps, text and images are crisp, want to see your state flag full screen, just click on it, great for teaching.

EdWare YouTube Channel

2009-12-06T17:20:00.001-05:00

We have been busy over the past few weeks getting videos uploaded to YouTube of Know Your USA in action. This weekend we uploaded High Definition videos to our channel. This is a great way to see our software in action, over the coming weeks we will be uploading more videos, including videos of the all new Know Your Europe.

Visit our YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/EdWareLearning

Other News:
We are currently re-developing our website which will go live in early 2010.

Jacksonville Visit

2009-11-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

EdWare visited the great city of Jacksonville, Florida in November 2009 as part of a trade delegation organized by the Atlantic Way and Cornerstone. We had the opportunity to meet some of the great minds in education while there and we really enjoyed the week.

In the photo Luke Curley of EdWare is explaining his educational software Know Your USA and Know Your Europe to the Mayor of Jacksonville; John Peyton.

Know Your Europe 2.1

2009-11-14T17:18:00.000-05:00

Know Your Europe 2.1 is now available to download from our website. We are currently updating our website and will be moving over to www.edwarelearning.com by the end of the year, but before the launch of the new site you can download the Know Your Europe (30 Day Trial) below.

Try Know Your Europe 2.1 today and learn all about Europe and the EU.

Download Know Your Europe - Home Edition or the School Edition (30 day trial), both files are 52.1 MB in size and are compressed zip files.

Know Your Europe helps people of all ages to develop and expand their knowledge of European geography through quizzes, puzzles and games.

Know Your Europe is excellent for classroom teaching and works great with an interactive whiteboard, but is also excellent for group work, or one-on-one.

Know Your USA - YouTube

2009-11-13T11:46:00.001-05:00

We are currently recording a series of videos of our software in use on an Interactive Whiteboard. Once these video are posted on YouTube we will update here, our software works great with all interactive whiteboards, version 1.6 now includes advance features designed with this in mind.

Know Your USA 1.6

2009-10-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

Update of Know Your USA, version 1.6 is now available. This is a free to all current users. There are a few minor and major improvements and features:

Printable state fact files, you can now print state information including a high quality map of each state, great for class projects.
View state maps from the Capitals study area, so you can see where the capital is in the state.
Further web links, you can easily disable web links to Wikipedia, but you can now use Encarta, Lonely Planet links too, offering greater access to online content.
Updated content and more information on each feature.
State maps are now larger and can be expanded to full screen and include further state information.
School Editions also have a new Interactive White Board state map feature, allowing you to flick through layers of detail on each state map, and provides drawing tools too.
Each state flag can now be enlarged to full screen.
New map of New York City, and updated Washington DC map.
Even more photos added, we have close to a hundred photos now included with Know Your USA.
Minor bug fixes including support for dual screen displays.
Improved Windows Vista and Windows 7 support, works great with Windows 7.

Next month Know Your Europe 2.1 will be available in the United States, follow us on twitter at @edwarelearning for the latest updates and educational news.

Hurricane Bill from International Space Station

2009-08-20T15:46:00.001-04:00

Geography Awareness Week 2009

2009-07-27T12:52:00.000-04:00

Geography Awareness Week 2009 will be titled "EUROPE BEYOND BORDERS" and will run November 15-21.

To find out more visit the National Geographic, Geography Action website.

Know Your Europe will be available from August 2009 and will be the perfect partner for schools and home to learn all about Europe and the EU. Keep posted here for the latest information and follow us on twitter @edwarelearning

EdWare News - Coming this Fall

2009-07-21T12:26:00.001-04:00

We have some interesting announcements over the next 8 weeks, just in time for the back to school rush.

New pricing, from late August we are pricing our school site licenses based on school size (number of pupils). We are also introducing an optional maintenance license for schools a great way to reduce upgrade costs.
Update to Know Your USA, version 1.6 will bring lots of new features and improvements, including new printable state maps.
Know Your Europe launch, very pleased to announce that Know Your Europe will be available from September in the United States. Sarah Lane is providing the audio once again for all the features of Europe.
Home edition of Know Your USA has been reduced to $24.95 on Amazon.com, other suppliers will follow shortly.
New editions are designed to work great with Interactive Whiteboards.

We will also be merging our websites into one central location for all things EdWare over the coming months, we'll keep you posted. Regarding conferences and trade-shows over the next 12 months, we plan on attending BETT (London, UK - Jan 2010), CESI (Dublin, Ireland - Feb 2010), ISTE (Denver, USA - June 2010).

NECC 2009 - Prizes Here

2009-06-30T07:49:00.000-04:00

Here at EdWare Learning, I want you to help us stay up to date with the largest technology in education conference in the United States. We are giving away three teacher editions of Know Your USA (www.knowyourusa.net), for classroom teaching. To be in with a chance of winning just post a photo from NECC 2009 to our Flickr or Twitter account and we will randomly select three winners this Friday, July 03.

Flickr Group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/necc_edware/

Get posting photos and don't forget to follow us on twitter @edwarelearning

What is Know Your USA?
Know Your USA is award winning software for discovering all about the United States of America. All geographic features of the United States are covered in great detail: regions, states, state capitals, major cities, rivers, mountains, lakes, oceanography and national parks. Know Your USA is perfect software for learning all about the United States and is ideal for home and school use, and works perfectly with an Interactive Whiteboard.

To find out more about Know Your USA visit our website www.knowyourusa.net

We are unable to attend the great NECC 2009 at Washington DC, this year. Thanks to the Internet we are keeping up to date through the excellent live feeds from http://www.isteconnects.org/ and http://twitter.com/isteconnects both of which are just super, but we hope your photos will help too.

Our software Know Your USA can be downloaded on a full trial from www.knowyourusa.net. Winners will be contacted by email, with license key.

National Geographic Bee 2009

2009-05-25T09:39:00.001-04:00

Texan seventh grader Eric Yang wins the 2009 National Geographic Bee on Sunday in Washington D.C., congratulations Eric, watch the winning question.

The winning tie breaker question was "Timis County shares its name with a tributary of the Danube and is located in the western part of which European country?" The correct answer is Romania. Arjun answered Hungary, and Eric answered correctly.

Find out more about the National Geographic Bee at their website http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/

Also try our geography software, a great way to improve your geography skills, Know Your Europe, USA and World.