Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future.
Michael Palin, English actor and comedian
If you’re a high school student or teacher looking to improve geography skills, the best place to start is with activities that connect the subject to the real world. Geography isn’t just about labeling countries on a map or memorizing capitals. It’s about understanding how people live, how places change over time and how different parts of the world are connected! Even though we have satellite images and digital maps, geography is still important because it helps us make sense of the world around us. This article will walk you through simple, creative ways to build geography skills using real activities designed for high school geography students!
What Is Geography?
Geography is the study of humans and things through space, through time and how that space and time structured history. It is the study of people and places and their relationship with the environment. It is all about how humans and things connect with their environment. It explains the physical properties of our planet earth. For example, mountain ranges can impact how we think, act and move. It studies how physical landscapes shape human history. Here's an explanative video on YouTube!
While the term "geography" refers to graphing the Earth, geography also includes studying people, how human existence occupies the space they live in and how they alter different landscapes while creating a relationship between nature and society. Some of the greatest explorers in history carried out great expeditions to the farthest places on Earth towards new poles, top of the mountains and deep down at the bottom of the ocean.
Likewise, modern technologies today such as remote sensing, satellite imagery and radar have augmented our ability to unfold how the system of this Earth functions. Moreover, maps have provided several ways to gain geographic knowledge since ancient times. They have helped humans share knowledge with others understandably and easily. However, certain advancements in technology have entirely changed humans' creation and use of maps. As a result, people use maps more differently than ever, solve geographic problems and tell geographic stories.
Activities to Help You Improve in Geography
Are you a geography teacher who has been struggling to help kids improve in geography even after trying multiple ways to make your lessons fun? Well, geography is a subject that your students will never enjoy learning unless you add a little bit of creativity to how you conduct your classes. With proper geography lessons, you can help your students travel worldwide within the convenience of your classrooms... this is just one of the many pros of studying geography! In this article we will list our top hands-on geography activities high school to help you accompany your students.
Any subject and grade teacher can include fun high school geography activities in their curriculum to help students gain a new perspective of the world and understand all the environmental movements around them.
Below are a few tips on geography project ideas for high school that you can use to make your geography lessons more fun and inspire curiosity inside your student's minds.
Put Up Wall Clocks
One of our favorite geography projects for high school are wall clocks! To help your students understand the geography behind time zones, you can set up clocks on the wall that depict different time zones from countries worldwide. You can point out the clocks at different times throughout the school hours. For example, when your students start school just in the morning, you can talk about what other students in the various time zones may be doing.
Use Google Earth
You can show your students the distance between their home and the school through Google Earth. This can give them a new perspective of things. You can also use Google Earth to analyze and show your students how different places worldwide have changed over time.
You can actually explore the Moon and Mars using Google Earth. In the desktop version, there's an option to switch from Earth to the Moon or Mars! It’s not just for fun. You can see real satellite images, check out rover paths and even visit the Apollo landing sites! It’s a great way to see how geography goes beyond just our own planet.
Help Your Students Travel Through Technology
You can make your students design travel brochures by selecting different states they would like to visit. Students can research the conditions they choose and then use graphic design, technology and geography to illustrate a unique brochure.
Play Games
You can make your geography lessons even more fun by creating your students to try out different geography-related games online. For example, you can try games that help students understand altitude and longitude while gaining knowledge about continents, countries, states and cities all over the world. Your students can start by gathering data about the world, analyzing cues and comparing their results with other students.
Explore Foods All Around the World
Another fun way to aid your geography lessons for high school is to eat! As hungry as your students might be during school hours, you can make your lessons even more fun by giving them knowledge about the production of food all over the world. You can also assign them different dishes from all over the world and then accumulate them in the middle while making them answer which dish belongs to what country, reward students who give correct answers.
Create Character Maps
When teaching a geography class, you can create character maps where the main character travels throughout the story, including a key, compass, scale and title. Your character stories can incorporate culture and tradition from countries worldwide. This way, you can challenge your students to recognize which book belongs to what part of the world. For example, if you teach geography to high school students, ask your students to purchase a geography book for high school that includes fun activities in the appendix that your students can do after they are done with their lesson.
Interactive Map Quizzes
Instead of just looking at maps in a textbook, students can test their geographic knowledge through map quizzes that cover countries, capitals, landforms and flags. These are available for free online and are much more engaging than traditional memorization. For example, students can use websites like Seterra, where they click on the correct country when prompted. Over time, they’ll naturally start remembering where countries are located and how they connect to each other.
You can also divide the class into teams and turn it into a friendly competition, keeping a scoreboard for added motivation. If you want to increase the challenge, include time limits or blind maps that don’t show outlines. Quizzes can be organized by continent, specific features like rivers or mountains, or cultural elements such as languages or population density. This way, students get repeated exposure to global regions while reinforcing location-based memory and learning in a pressure-free environment.
Start a Geography News Wall
Another effective geography project for high school is to help students see the real-world value of geography is by having them create a news wall in the classroom. Each week, assign students to find and bring in an article related to a geographic event or issue from anywhere in the world. This could include topics like floods, droughts, border disputes, migration, or even new discoveries. Students will summarize the article in their own words and pin it to a large wall map with a string connecting it to the country where it happened.
Over time, this map becomes a colorful and interactive display of current events from around the world. Students start to see how geography influences news and daily life, from politics and economics to culture and natural disasters. This also encourages them to pay attention to international headlines and gives them a reason to learn more about places they might not have heard of before.
Present a “Country of the Week”
Designating a “Country of the Week” is a simple but valuable way to deepen students’ understanding of global diversity. Each week, a student picks or is assigned a country to research and present to the class. They’ll look up information like the country’s physical features, climate, economy, population, cultural traditions and landmarks. Encourage them to include something personal, maybe a song in the country’s native language, photos of street food, or a fact about how people live day to day.
They can also show how that country connects to others through trade, geography, or shared history. Presentations can be short and informal, allowing for creativity without pressure. Over time, students begin building a mental map of the world, developing a broader perspective and appreciation for cultures beyond their own. This activity also helps with public speaking and research skills, giving students the confidence to explore unfamiliar topics and present them clearly.
Complete a Field Mapping Exercise
To help students understand how maps are made and what they represent, take them outside for a hands-on mapping activity. You can start small by choosing an area they’re familiar with, like the school grounds, a nearby park, or even the layout of a classroom. Provide each student or group with a blank sheet and ask them to draw a map of the area from observation. They should include key elements like buildings, paths, trees, fences, or benches and label them.
Encourage them to think about distance, direction and scale. They can add a compass rose, a legend and a title to make the map more accurate. This helps students recognize how real-world spaces are translated into visual representations. It also shows that maps are tools created from observation and purpose. This kind of activity connects geography to their daily surroundings and gives practical meaning to what they learn in the classroom.
What did you think of our list on geography projects for high school? Which one will you choose? You can also encourage students to hire a geography tutor!
Study Geography with Superprof
Are you a high school student facing difficulty grasping some complex geographical terminologies? There are several ways you can learn geography online and in person. Every student has different learning capabilities and studying in a high school classroom can make you miss out on specific topics that can be hard to learn on your own. Online studying platforms like Superprof have millions of tutors that teach grouped and private lessons to students who are willing to polish their skills.
Whether you want to learn basic geographical terminologies or wish to become an expert in the field, Superprof has millions of tutors who provide personalized lessons tailored to your learning capabilities. So choose the geography tutor you want to learn from and start your studies right away. The best thing about Superprof is that the first lessons are always free, so it is up to you whether you want to continue with the same tutor or switch to another one.
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