INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY OLYMPIAD
The International Geography Olympiad (iGeO) is an annual competition for the best 16 to 19 year old geography students from National Geography Olympiads. The competition consists of three parts: a written test, a multimedia test and a substantial field work exercise. iGeO tests the abilities of every participants in spatial patterns and processes. It is about frontiers, centers and peripheries, about tourists, terrorists and refugees, about trade of food, clothes, drugs and digital data, about population growth, El Niño, tsunamis and earthquakes, etc. The International Geography Olympiad is organised by the International Geographical Union (IGU) Olympiad Task Force.
Beginning in 2012, the competition will be held annually, rather than biannually.
What is the International Geography Olympiad?
Thousands of students all over the world participate enthusiastically in National Geography Olympiads or competitions. The best of them compete in the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo). iGeo is a competition for the best 16 to 19 year old geography students from National Geography Olympiads. It is organised every other year. The competition consists of three parts: a written test, a multimedia test and a substantial field work exercise.
The International Geography Olympiad is organised by the International Geographical Union (IGU) Olympiad Task Force. The Task Force members are: Henk Ankoné, co-chair (The Netherlands), Joop van der Schee, co-chair (The Netherlands), Kathryn Berg (Australia), Zouhaier Hlaoui (Tunisia) and Su- Min Shen(China Taipei). Fernando Garcia-Garcia (Mexico) and Sue Lomas (United Kingdom) are counsellors of the Task Force.
During the 1994 congress of the International Geographical Union (IGU) in Prague people from Poland and the Netherlands launched the idea of an International Geography Competition (iGeo) or Olympiad for students between 15 and 19 years of age. The first one was held in 1996 in the Hague, The Netherlands, with five participating countries, the second in 1998 in Lisbon, Portugal, and the third in 2000 in Seoul, South Korea. During the 2002 IGU congress in South Africa the fourth took place in Durban. The fifth in 2004 was in Gdansk, Poland. The sixth was in Brisbane, Australia, in 2006 with 23 participating countries. In 2008 in Carthage, Tunisia, 24 countries participated in the seventh iGeo. The 2010 iGeo was in Taipei with 30 countries.
You can find information about the past and coming iGeo's in the main menu of this website. The information about the past iGeo's is not always presented in the same format. Differences have to do with what the local organisers colud sent us.
Aims
Aims of the International Geography Olympiad
- To promote geography.
- To stimulate understanding between young people.
- To stimulate a higher quality of school geography worldwide.
What is geography?
Geography turns out to be much more significant than many of us realize. It is much more than knowing facts and figures. Geography is about spatial patterns and processes. It is about frontiers, centers and peripheries, about tourists, terrorists and refugees, about trade of food, clothes, drugs and digital data, about population growth, El Nino, tsunamis and earthquakes. It is the fascinating story of an ever-changing world. Without geography you get lost.
Maps are the most important tools for geographers. Modern geographers use digital maps and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). There are a myriad of uses for GIS. GIS is an exciting and practical use of geography, which will become increasingly important in the world and in teaching geography. See also GIS in schools.
An international journal about geography teaching is International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education. The website of the IGU Commission on Geographical Education gives information about other publications as well as projects, and congresses in the field of geography teaching (seewww. igu-cge.org ).
What happened so far and what is coming up?
During the 1994 congress of the International Geographical Union (IGU) in Prague people from Poland and the Netherlands launched the idea of an International Geography Competition (iGeo) or Olympiad for students between 15 and 19 years of age. The first one was held in 1996 in the Hague, The Netherlands, with five participating countries, the second in 1998 in Lisbon, Portugal, and the third in 2000 in Seoul, South Korea. During the 2002 IGU congress in South Africa the fourth took place in Durban. The fifth in 2004 was in Gdansk, Poland. The sixth was in Brisbane, Australia, in 2006 with 23 participating countries. In 2008 in Carthage, Tunisia, 24 countries participated in the seventh iGeo. The 2010 iGeo was in Taipei with 30 countries. The next will be in 2012 in Cologne, Germany, where we hope to have 40 country teams.
The coming iGeo
The next International Geography Olympiad will be in Cologne in Germany. The 2012 Olympiad will start at August 21 and end at August 26. The local organiser can host 30 teams. Apart from a written test, a multimedia test and fieldwork one full day excursion is included in the programme. Invitations for the 2012 Olympiad will be sent to participants of earlier Olympiads and to IGU contacts. The local team in Germany is already preparing the programme. If you want to have more information about the 2012 Olympiad see the first page of this website (news) .
Regional iGeo's
The following regional Olympiads have been held:
Asia Pacific
2009 Pacific Regional Olympiad
The 2nd Asia Pacific Regional Geography Olympiad held in Tsukuba, Japan, was hosted by the Japanese Association of Geographers.
Tsukuba is a university town, 60 km north of Tokyo. Teams from Australia, China-Taipei, Japan and Mexico did take part. For more information visit the website.
2007 Pacific Regional Olympiad
Dr. Su-Min (Department of Geography of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipeh) and her colleagues organised the 2007 Asia-Pacific Regional Olympiad, which was held in Hsinchu, Taiwan from 12 to 17 July 2007.
Four energetic participating teams (Japan, Malaysia, Mexico and Taiwan) and friendly staffs and volunteers of the host school (Experimental High School at Hsinchu Science Park) made this event a great success.
The tests basically followed the iGeo guideline and the exam sheets are now available on the 2007 APRGO website. GPS was introduced into the fieldwork test and students enjoyed this idea very much. A seminar was held during the event, which offered a great chance for 80 local high-school geography teachers to exchange thoughts with Henk Ankoné, co-chair of the International Geography Olympiad, and all team leaders. For more information see:
Host countries
§ 1996 – The Hague, The Netherlands
§ 2000 – Seoul, Korea,Republic of
§ 2002 – Durban, Republic of South Africa
Since 2012, iGeo will be hosted annually[2]
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