Exploros | World Factbook Tutorial

The World Factbook Tutorial

Overview

Throughout the World Geography course, students will work extensively with the CIA’s The World Factbook. This experience serves as a tutorial so that they will be familiar with the reference publication when required to use it within the framework of an experience.

You may choose to assign this experience for one extended class period, or have students work through it over several class periods, ensuring that they are confident in how to use the World Factbook before moving on to content experiences.

Objective:

Show proficiency in using the World Factbook reference publication to gather information about a country or region

Throughout the World Geography course, you will be using the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) The World Factbook site. Let’s get some practice using it.

Objective:

Show the ability to to use the World Factbook reference publication to gather information about a country or region

Go to The World Factbook.

From the homepage, you can scroll down to explore information about a region, a country, oceans, flags, maps, and more. Let’s look at the different ways you can learn about a country.

Click the Countries header at the top right of the home page.
Click B in the directory at the left.
From the list of countries, click Brazil.
From this Brazil main page, you can view quick links to the flag, a map of Brazil, a map of South America with Brazil marked on, and quick reference pages. Click any of these elements to see details.

Take a screen shot of the map of South America with Brazil marked, and upload it to the canvas below.

If your students do not know how to take a screen shot on their devices, you will need to guide them. Here are instructions for two common classroom devices:

iPad: simultaneously press the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons
Chromebook: simultaneously press CTRL + Window Switcher keys

Further down, you will see a Table of Contents with ten section titles. Click on any title to read information about Brazil.
Now click the Geography section. If you are unsure what data a subsection is displaying, click its header to read a definition. For example, click Land Boundaries.
Now return to the Brazil Table of Contents. Find the People and Society section, and then the Population subsection. Use the information to answer the following question.

Which of the following countries have a larger population than Brazil?

A) United States
B) Canada
C) Mexico
D) India
E) China
F) Argentina
G) Indonesia

Find another interesting fact about Brazil’s geography and post it to the discussion wall.

Post your answer

When everyone is ready to continue, unlock the next scene.