On Tuesday 27 February, 16 teams of St Mary’s girls ran around in a frenzy. Just exactly what were they doing? The annual Amazing Race! The Form II Geography classes have been studying a section on world Geography and development with a specific focus on Russia’s demographic trends, economic status, climatic data, geology, space travel and map literacy. The thinking behind this activity was to keep the girls engaged in challenges while drawing from a multiple set of mapwork and graphicacy skills, experiences and sources to aid and accelerate the learning process. A spirit of friendly competition, collaboration and effort were at the forefront as each team decided which route to pursue and which creative strategies they could use to complete the tasks.

The girls also interacted with a world culture as challenges included performing a Swan Lake dance, a Cossack dance, assembling and decorating Matryoshka dolls, completing a chess challenge, weightlifting, making soviet kartoshkas and decorating Fabergé eggs. The challenges entailed the use of iPads and phones as various Google apps and the iTunes U course were needed to complete the race. Google cardboard and Google streetview allowed the girls to appreciate physical landforms. Each team had to upload a video on to the St Mary’s YouTube channel.

Gauging from the favourable feedback received, the girls thoroughly enjoyed the educational value of this experience. Congratulations to the Krasnodar team on winning this race in record time.

Cindy Len

Geography teacher