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This study shows a very specific CoP example, using geography teachers in New Zealand as the subject of research. In the introduction, the researcher states "mandating professional development services to several hired geography teachers is impractical...and needs to be voluntary rather than mandatory." This statement is consistent with CoPs having membership of like-individuals connecting because of their learning needs and wants. Furthermore, the study shows a positive result when connecting 'distant' people as a cost effective way to circumvent budgetary restraints for professional development.

Communities of Practice need to be voluntary and non-threatening in order for an individual to join. In this study, I like how they set up their Community of Practice so that the individual could join a topic or subject matter group that was relevant to their situation or needs. As teachers we are often placed in professional development training that has no relevance to the needs of our classroom. I also like how they set up a dialogue for the members of the group. Participants not only posted their own ideas but shared thoughts and ideas through discussion with others in the group. It seemed to be less intimidating because much of the dialogue took place online. One of the factors that impacted the participants was time. Just like educators in the U.S., the educators in this study found it difficult to find the time to fully participate in these Communities of Practice and some did not even finish the modules. As a result, dialogue toward the end of the module fizzled out and was less engaging for some participants. That is one of my concerns with Communities of Practice. Sometimes if one is not being forced to complete a project, it does not get completed. It takes a lot of discipline to be part of a Community of Practice and a willingness to be there for the other group members.

Website on best educational software that has been evaluated by educators and parents alike and discusses software on geography, math, music, spelling, thinking skills and even writing.

This site has links to historical maps of the US and all states, it's a great resource for social studies standards, especially geography, maps, and changes in communities over time. Of the states I've looked at so far, the oldest map I've found is from Virginia, dating back to 1617.

Wolfram|Alpha is more than a search engine. It gives you access to the world's facts and data and calculates answers across a range of topics, including science, nutrition, history, geography, engineering, mathematics, linguistics, sports, finance, music... This is a great review site for students. I tend to use it as a refresher for algebra for my physics students. Care must be taken however that they don't use it as a cheating shortcut for math courses.

Wolfram|Alpha is more than a search engine. It gives you access to the world's facts and data and calculates answers across a range of topics, including science, nutrition, history, geography, engineering, mathematics, linguistics, sports, finance, music...

A website maintained by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This site assists teachers in teaching topics in history, geography and art.

A game based learning app to teach students about world geography.

A great resource that helps students learn the geography of the United States

This Facebook project could be used for a Science, History, Geography, Foreign Language, Math, or English class. The idea is for the students to create a Facebook page but for something they might be learning about. It is a fun and innovative way for the students to look up facts and represent them in a way that they can relate to.

Teachers from many different subjects have joined together for this project, having students create Facebook pages for a topic or character relating to their subject. Students get to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts being explored by incorporating such a popular type of social media.

The global guessing game that gets kids learning about geography, culture, and the similarities and differences of how children live all over the world.

Country Comparison Compares the social and economic status of countries, as well as country size. The United States is the default country, but you can compare other countries as well.

This is a great resource for creating a community map. You can add markers to your map and include descriptions. Perfect for the young and old cartographer alike!

A teacher had members of her PLN tweet out clues to her class, and they used various functions of Google Earth (GE) to track them down. Students used twitter (through the teacher's account) to send the results of their searches. The teacher said that this was a great way to introduce students to the tools involved in using GE effectively.

Students create a twitter account for a specific class (in this case journalism). They are encouraged to follow their classmates school accounts. Assignments are given about what specific tweets should be about. For history or geography class, these could be extremely specific and unit driven.

This is an example from the Flat Classroom Project that unites teams from various schools through out the US and the world to compare/contrast their demographics and what represents their country. Each group does a final project they present to the other schools in the cohort.

This website discusses incorporating technology into a geography lesson. It focuses on involving others who would tweet their locations and hints on specific locations. Students would then search for these places on Google Earth.

A variety of interactive map games for kids of all ages.