6 Ideas for Fun Geography Class Activities with BenQ Boards

EZWrite, the whiteboarding software from BenQ we’ve mentioned, presents you with a plethora of tools for teaching. 

Say you are demonstrating how to read isometric lines. You can upload an image of an isometric map to EZWrite, and have your students come up to the board, pick up a BenQ pen, and draw along a line with the altitude you tell them to highlight.

You may also show how tectonic plates affect each other. Upload an image you find on the internet to EZWrite, and draw arrows to show how the forces of nature are shaping the surface of the planet. 

Teaching how meanders are made? You don’t even need to upload an image. Simply draw the initial shape of the river in blue, and then by changing colors and shades show students how river banks move deeper and further into land over time. 

The pandemic that started in 2020 is still affecting our ability to travel. And even before, school trips may have been difficult to organize due to money and time concerns. Some of them are simply unrealistic, as how many locations abroad can you go to with your students even in the best of times? 

While not the same, virtual tours can help you showcase some of the world’s most attractive locations right on the board.

Once again, Google Maps and Google Earth are useful. In addition, National Geographic shares free thematic tours using Google Earth that will keep your students entertained and showcase more than a simple map. The tours feature videos, stories, photos, and other multimedia that can enrich your instruction quickly, simply, and with no effort, as it’s ready to use!

Global awareness and collaboration are two characteristics that may just prove key to career success for your students. The second aspect can be developed through group activities.

Divide your class into small groups, and have them work on putting together a one-week travel plan, e.g. a “Eurotour”, by researching locations they are interested in, finding attractions and highlights, and making a travel brochure on their own devices.

Each group can then easily share their results on the board by wirelessly mirroring their device screen to the BenQ board via InstaShare software. To ensure success with InstaShare wireless mirroring, make sure their devices are connected to the same network as your BenQ display.

This activity will help your students acquire new knowledge about various countries and locations, and practice collaboration as well as digital skills like simple graphic design or PowerPoint presentation creation while preparing the brochure. 

Checking students’ knowledge doesn’t necessarily have to make your class resent you. You can do it in a fun way.

Many teachers choose to conduct their quizzes or geography bees via Kahoot!, a gamified quiz software and an official BenQ partner. You can download the Kahoot! app to your BenQ board directly from BenQ App Store. 

Kahoot! allows you to create your own quizzes to perfectly fit your curriculum. You can upload images to help students get the right answer, or simply ask questions like “where is this located?”. Your students join the game with their digital devices by typing in the code that will appear on the screen before you start the game. See our guide to Kahoot! on BenQ interactive displays here.

* On certain devices, BenQ App Store can be found under name "BenQ Suggests"

You may have heard of an activity called pen pals. It’s where your students regularly communicate via email or physical post with their counterparts in another region or country, possibly students of a partner school you cooperate with. 

Students can share their ideas, worldviews, and unique perspectives on modern life with each other, enriching their horizons. In addition, they’ll see a lot of important details and get context that they would never learn from books and the internet. 

Organize a regular exchange like one message a week so they can get a more in-depth conversation going. Every month or so, arrange a video conference with the other school to connect your students even better. 

To do so, simply run the video conference on your computer, point the camera to your class (perhaps by placing it right underneath or above the BenQ board), cast the computer screen to the board via InstaShare, and voila!