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App review by Amanda Bindel, Common Sense Education | Updated July 2012

Georific

Name: Georific
Item: Georific
Rating: 3
Author: Amanda Bindel

Challenging geo trivia game is all over the map

Learning rating

Editorial review by Common Sense Education

Community rating

Based on 1 review

Privacy rating

Not yet rated Expert evaluation by Common Sense

Grades

8–12 This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.

Subjects & Skills

Social Studies, Critical Thinking

Take a look inside

4 images

Answer historical trivia questions by finding the location on the map.

Place the marker for the answer and then see how close it is.

Chose from 7 categories and 3 difficulty levels.

Get honest feedback for good ("remarkable!"), close ("almost!"), and not-even-close ("c'mon!") answers.

Pros: High-interest topics like sports and music engage teens.

Cons: Difficulty level doesn't change the difficulty of the questions, just how many wrong answers are allowed.

Bottom Line: Challenging game teaches geography with fun interaction, but questions are more trivial than historical.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Use Georific for an in-class competition, like a geography bee. U.S. History teachers would likely find the most classroom use for the app, since there's a category for U.S. Capitals. Other categories, though interest-based, aren't specific enough to reflect a typical content area, but questions repeat frequently enough that kids can learn and retain some of the geographic information, even if it's obscure.

What Is It?

In Georific, students answer geography-related trivia by finding and pinnng a location on a world map. Scores are based on how close to the location they get. The length of each round is determined by how many miles or kilometers away each answer is from the actual location, with the beginning level allowing more range than the hard level. Students can play in single-player mode, sharing results on Facebook if they choose, or play a multiplayer game with up to five opponents. They can choose a quiz topic from Capitals of the World, General, History, Entertainment, Sports, Music, and U.S. Federal Capitals, and they can customize the challenge -- which determines how many miles off each round's answers can be before the round ends, not the actual difficulty of the questions -- from easy, intermediate, and hard. After students pin and submit the answer, the map adjusts to show the actual location, and scores are based on how close students got, offering a word (positive, like "Georific!" or negative, like "Ouch!") of feedback. Players get four Jokers to use for hints.

Is It Good for Learning?

Even with crazy-challenging questions like "What is the capital of Andalusia?", Georific is incredibly fun. The snarky feedback for wrong answers helps kids not take the blow of being continents off too seriously, but after a bit of play, they'll actually start remembering and making sense of the geography. The questions do repeat pretty quickly, but rather than being a negative, that helps reinforce the information. Questions have lots of typos, which is distracting, and it'd be nice if players could exit a game and change the category without having to complete the whole round. It'd also be great if teachers could customize quizzes, as the information is pretty broad and beyond the scope of most high school curricula. The choices of entertainment, music, and sports add some high-interest play while still being really educational, and the history section doubles in teaching geography and history. Georific may not be perfect, but it is pretty terrific.

Learning Rating

Overall Rating

Engagement Would it motivate students and hold their interest? Is it visually appealing? Would it inspire teachers to try something new or change their instruction?

Georific puts a fun spin on a trivia game. Zooming around the world with clear graphics from the NASA Earth Observatory makes geography exciting, and the multiplayer option provides an element of friendly competition.

Pedagogy Does the tool help teachers promote a more student-centered experience? Will students gain conceptual understanding or think critically? Does it deepen teachers’ pedagogical thinking?

Incredibly challenging geography questions not only empower kids to demonstrate their knowledge, but also teach them geography. The interactive-nature of the game may help information transfer, especially when questions repeat.

Support Can students and teachers get assistance when they need it? Is it created with people of different abilities and backgrounds in mind? Is learning reinforced and extended beyond the digital experience?

A tutorial explains how to play, and hints are available a few times in each game. There's a local multiplayer option. Screenshots of good answers can be shared on Facebook and high scores can be posted to the Game Center.

Common Sense reviewer

Amanda Bindel Classroom teacher

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Community Rating

Featured review by
Lisa B. , Classroom teacher

Classroom teacher

Hershey Middle School
Hershey, United States

Challenging game to locate specific events or global locations

Georific provides a tutorial that walks the user through play features. Many of the features were common sense for students to figure out. There are two modes of playing - either single player or multiplayer. Other game options include the topic of the trivia: World Capitals, USA Capitals, general, history, entertainment, sports, and music. Everything except the capitals was challenging to me as an adult on the intermediate level, so it would be even more so for students. There is a caution for classr ...

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