gapminder.

gapminder calls itself a modern museum. it's a web site that presents global statistical information in a unique & engaging manner. its goal is to increase accessibility & use of global statistics to fight global inequality in health, wealth, technology, infrastructure, & development. through statistics, your students could gain a better idea of how the world truly looks. gapminder recognizes that as the world changes, we must change our outlook on the world.

what is gapminder?

gapminder was founded in stockholm in 2005. it was designed to promote the united nations millennium development goals. this website allows the user to compare a multitude of statistics between countries, over time, or between countries over time. students can manipulate graphs to discover information pertinent to classroom instruction. the possibilities are essentially endless.

final verdict.

gapminder provides an immense amount of raw data, facts, & statistics for the classroom. social studies & math teachers can make frequent use of this tool. it can be used to expand learning outside the walls of a classroom & show real world implication for class content. gapminder does not have any built-in classroom functionality. there are no pre-made lessons & no critical thinking questions. gapminder simply produces facts & data. to use in a classroom, teachers would need to develop most of the lesson independently, & use gapminder solely as a research tool. because the site's information is backed by the united nations, instructor's can trust its accuracy. gapminder does a specific task very well. it provides information.

(gapminder uses an application called motion chart to create its graphs. motion chart is now owned by google & is free to use. i will discuss motion chart in greater detail in a later post.)