LET THE KIDS EXPLORE THE GLOBE DURING LOCK-DOWN









Schools are closed since second week of March 2020 indefinitely across the country due to COVID-19 pandemic. Children are restricted to stay at home.

Initially it was announced by government to shut down the schools only, later the complete lock down was imposed in the interest of curbing the virus spread. This realized the parents that they are also in the same boat. Parents become limited to their homes and accepted the fact that schools are not going to be opened for quite some time. The social distancing policy is not only being implied on adults but children are also not allowed to meet their school fellows even their neighborhood friends. Due to their free-spirited nature, they dislike staying indoors too long. Parents do their best to keep children engaged in different activities during lock down. These activities include household chores, schoolwork, reading assignments, music practices, indoor board games and screen time.

During this lockdown, being a parent I realized that it is a bigger challenge to home-school the children and work from home simultaneously. Apart from teaching them, I have to manage the time to work. This made inevitable for me to increase the screen time for my children. Obviously, the hours they will be busy in playing video games will be the unwavering and steady time to do the office work. I am quite sure; most of the parents who work from home have adopted the same strategy. 

Children are spending more time on their screen than ever before. Definitely, this surge in screen time will result as children develop new habits. Before COVID-19, it worked well to put time limits on children’s screen exposure but now we parents have temporarily lost the battle of screen time. No doubt, it is essential to limit children’s screen activity but if becoming flexible and allowing changing the rules for this temporary period of lockdown, it can be a great way not only to engage but to educate them too.

Despite of availability of several educational websites and outstanding applications which engage children’s brains and allow them to have fun while they are learning, let me share an amazing and productive experience to engage the children during this staycation.

I simply directed them to open the Internet Browser and type https://www.google.com/earth/  and  Click on Launch Earth button.

It just took 20 to 30 seconds to launch the Earth application. The Globe appeared.


I assigned them a task to locate the places, they have read about in their Social Sciences school book (ISBN: 9789696375241).

After couple of hours, I found them highly excited and engaged in searching the places they read in the school book. This activity engaged them for at least two hours.  Their curiosity and interest increased as they were exploring the globe in detail. Further, I assigned them another task 

  • To write the historic and geographic information they found
  • To record a video of that place from different angles and aspects using Windows key + G (Windows 10's Xbox Game Bar feature) 
  • Later, in order to write this blog and share over the internet about this activity, they converted these video files into animated GIF files using Animated GIF Editor & GIF Maker free website .


Here are some places they located, gathered additional information,  recorded videos and made animated GIF files. 

   Qutub Minar

The Qutb Minar, also spelled as Qutub Minar, is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mehrauli area of Delhi, India.
Qutb Minar was 73-metres (239.5 feet) tall before the final, fifth section was added after 1369. The tower tapers, and has a 14.3 meters (47 feet) base diameter, reducing to 2.7 meters (9 feet) at the top of the peak. It contains a spiral staircase of 379 steps.






   Mount Everest

Mount Everest is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The international border between Nepal (Province No. 1) and China (Tibet Autonomous Region) runs across its summit point.




   Mount Fuji


Mount Fuji is located on Honshū, is the highest volcano in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft), 2nd-highest volcano of an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci in Sumatra), and 7th-highest peak of an island in the world. It is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–1708. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometers (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.



   Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower in the Shiba-koen district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan. At 332.9 meters (1,092 ft.), it is the second-tallest structure in Japan.




   Chicken itza

Chichen Itza was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period. The archaeological site is located in Tinúm Municipality, Yucatán State, Mexico. Chichen Itza was a major focal point in the Northern Maya Lowlands from the Late Classic (c. AD 600–900) through the Terminal Classic (c. AD 800–900) and into the early portion of the Post classic period (c. AD 900–1200).

   Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is centered on a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota, United States. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture's design and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son Lincoln Borglum. The sculpture features the 60-foot (18 m) heads of Presidents George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), as recommended by Borglum.




   Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer is an Art Deco statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, created by French sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot. Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida fashioned the face. Constructed between 1922 and 1931, the statue is 30 metres (98 ft.) high, excluding its 8-metre (26 ft.) pedestal. The arms stretch 28 metres (92 ft.) wide.

   Pyramids

The Giza pyramid complex, also called the Giza Necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure, along with their associated pyramid complexes and the Great Sphinx of Giza. All were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt.

   London Tower Bridge

London Tower Bridge is a suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894. The bridge crosses the River Thames close to the Tower of London and has become an iconic symbol of London. As a result, it is sometimes confused with London Bridge, about half a mile (0.8 km) upstream. 





Further, this activity lead them to locate their home, their school, nearest hospital, nearest restaurant and other places of interest. They measured the actual distance they travel to go to school. 


Later, sort of the following questions were raised and discussed:
  • How many different possible routes are there from Home to School ?
  • What is the length of longest and shortest route ?
  • Which route is optimum?
  • What is the alternative route if a particular road is closed due to PSL Cricket match?
Concluding this article, I will suggest the parents and teachers to exercise this activity with children. This screen time will not only engage them positively but will improve their spatial sense & critical thinking in a cognitive way.   

It will be unjust not to mention the names of Young Geographers, who have a major contribution in sharing this activity with readers. 


Arslan Anees Furqan Anees
Class 5 Class 7
Bahria College Lahore

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