Puzzles, Hearts, and Sounds - The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is going to a relatively warm (35f) and sunny day. In fact, it's going to be almost spring-like today before the cold returns tomorrow. We're looking forward to a fun weekend of skiing and playing outside. I hope that you also have some fun things that you're looking forward to this weekend. 

This week I co-hosted another edition of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions. If you missed it, you can watch the recording here. Next week I'm hosting a webinar all about search strategies for history students and teachers. You can register for that one right here. 

These were the week's most popular posts:
1. Map Puzzle - Test Your Knowledge of World Geography
2. Math, Science, and Philosophy Lessons for Valentine's Day
3. Use TinyTap to Create Interactive Lessons and Games With Soundboards
4. New Lesson Plans from DocsTeach
5. How to Create VR Tours of Local Landmarks
6. Ten Overlooked Google Docs Features for Students and Teachers
7. Try Tract to Find Inspiration for Fun Lessons

Thank you for your support!
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• A Crash Course in Google Earth & Maps for Social Studies

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This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin and WayBetterSite. Featured image captured by Richard Byrne.

A Neat Site for Comparisons of Economic Information Between Countries

Seven years ago I wrote about a neat site called If It Were My Home. I came across it again while looking for something else in my archives earlier this week. It still works and still does the same interesting thing that it did when I first tried it.  

If It Were My Home will show you a comparison of economics and demographic data of your country with that of another of your choosing. The purpose is to show give visitors a sense of the health and economics differences of living in different countries. The data shown on the site is drawn from the CIA World Factbook and the World Health Organization. In this short video I demonstrate how the site works. 

Applications for Education

The data that is provided on If It Were My Home could be found by visiting the sources that it lists. Using If It Were My Home just makes those comparisons a little quicker. After students use the site I'd ask them to choose what they think would be good indicators of differences between where they live and another country. I'd then have them research that information and prepare it in an infographic using one of the templates that Canva offers.