Tuesday, August 01, 2023

Learning Countries While Having Fun

Map Practice: A Game to Learn Countries is a fun new way to learn the locations of countries around the world. The idea behind the game is very straightforward. You are simply asked to identify countries by pointing to their location on a map. Identify the country correctly and it will be colored green on the map. 

At the heart of the 'learning' element of this interactive map game is the theory of Spaced Repetition. Spaced repetition is a learning technique in which more difficult questions / concepts are shown more frequently, while less questions / concepts are shown less frequently. In Map Practice this is used to help identify the countries you struggle to identify and to reinforce their correct location on a world map.

When you guess a country wrong in Map Practice the correct country is highlighted in red on the map. You will then soon be asked to identify that same country again. After you name the correct country (and after a few more questions) you will be asked to identify once more. In other words the repetition of questions in Map Practice is intentional and is used to reinforce learning.

One of the things I like most about Map Practice is the thorough breakdown of your results. Under the map the results of your guesses are analyzed in detail. This includes information on your percentage of correct answers, your longest winning streak, and your average thinking time. The results also show your current 'nemesis' (the country you get wrong the most). This is another great aid to learning - as the 'latest nemesis' identifies the countries which you have the most difficulty in locating on a map.

Top-Tip: You can improve your scores significantly  by scrolling to the bottom of the page and turning off the option to 'include tiny countries'.

2 comments:

Kolja Sam said...

Hey, thank you for sharing this. I am the author of the game; happy to answer questions or take feedback :)

Anonymous said...

love you for making this