European Geography Tutor
European Geography Tutor is a piece of freeware available for download from the internet. At 432KB, it’s a relatively small file for downloading. It downloads quickly and installs quickly. The programme window has a map of Europe on the left and a list of 39 European countries on the right. There are three ways to use the programme. Firstly, the pupil can simply explore the countries of Europe. This is done by simply moving the mouse over a country, which highlights the country in colour. The name of the country is written on the country and it is also highlighted in the country list on the right. When pupils are comfortable with the names of the countries, they can take a take a quiz. The programme asks pupils to find a country in random order by clicking on the country on the map. Alternatively, a second quiz highlights a country on the map and asks pupils to identify the country in the country list.
The programme is simple enough to learn and pupils should have no difficulty understanding how to play the game. However, the three activites mentioned above are the only activities which pupils can play, so there is little variety in the activities. Another drawback is that the programme window is in the centre of the screen and cannot be maximised. This means that the pupil cannot view the map of Europe in its entirety and must scroll up/down or left/right to find a country. Nevertheless, teachers may find the programme useful to help pupils learn the countries of Europe. The programme can be downloaded at:
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/task/freeware/European_Geography.exe
