Common Sense Media Review
By Christy Matte
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
OK map drills drive memorization but not depth.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Geo Touch: Learn Geography
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's It About?
GEO TOUCH: LEARN GEOGRAPHY is a way for kids to quiz themselves on a number of different map-related topics, including US states and capitals, countries by continent, flags, and state nicknames and landmarks. There are 21 maps to work through, and each one follows the same formula. Kids are given a few state/country outlines with either the name, capital, flag, or landmark attached. Kids drag the outline onto the correct position on the map. There's a learning round, where the correct location is highlighted, and a quiz round where kids no longer have the outline and highlighting to guide them. If they get them all right, they move on to the next group. If kids have a wrong answer, the app settings allow for them to either have no penalty, a small penalty (a few items are removed from the map) or a more severe penalty (they have to start from scratch). As kids progress, the quiz round gets longer and longer as it includes all of the items they have already learned.
Is It Any Good?
If drilling on facts until your kids memorizes them works for them, this is one way to get that done, but this app doesn't offer much more. Geo Touch: Learn Geography does a solid job of drilling kids on geography facts. It builds up their knowledge slowly and the repetition ensures kids are absorbing the info over time. This repetition in the way the information is presented, however, starts to feel tedious after the first few rounds, and kids would be more likely to keep playing if there was some diversity in the activities. Geo Touch: Learn Geography uses a computerized voice for audio cues, and that also may be off-putting for kids who are used to more polished apps and games. This does what it sets out to do, but just not in a way that is particularly fun or engaging. Luckily, there are several maps available for free, so parents can try it out and see how kids respond.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about geography. What parts of the world have you visited? Have you been to other states? Countries? Where are places that you'd like to visit? Why?
Families can talk about learning with apps. Do you think this is a good app for learning? Why or why not? What can you learn?
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects : Social Studies : geography
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : memorization , spatial reasoning
- Pricing structure : Free to try (access to some content free; $1.99-$6.99 for more maps)
- Release date : September 3, 2019
- Genre : Education
- Publisher : Always Icecream & Clever Dragons
- Version : 1.9.6
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 8.0 or later
- Last updated : March 11, 2020
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