Nine Times Six Equals Fifty-Four---We've Been Cubed.

Another site designated by the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning 2011 is Geocube.  Falling under Curriculum Sharing, Standards for the 21st Century Learner 2.4.4 Develop directions for future investigations, 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess, and 4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.

Geocube is a free tool designed to navigate through the field of geography.  Basing its design on the Rubik Cube of six faces (sections) and nine squares (subsections) on each face, fifty-four topics are covered.  To quote the site:  This is a European initiative developed by HERODOT, the European Network for Geography in Higher Education and is available to anyone who is interested in Geography.

When a user clicks on the downloads word a drop-down menu appears.  It lists:  Make your own Geocube template (This is a flattened version of what appears on the screen.), Geocube-All Content (54 topics), Geocube-Living Together (9 topics), Geocube-Earth from all Angles (9 topics), Geocube-Shrinking Planet (9 topics), Geocube-Fascinating Earth (9 topics), Geocube-Exploring our World (9 topics) and Geocube-Useful Geographies (9 topics).  Each of these links is a pdf file which can be used as such.

Moving the cube is a combination of placing the cursor on a corner, holding down the left mouse button and moving the cursor to view each of the six faces.  A title will appear on a section when the cursor is positioned over the center.  One can go to a specific section by placing the mouse on the center and clicking. 

Nine subsections are shown on the screen.  Go to any of these by clicking on the image.  A definitive content becomes visible on the right being read by scrolling up or down.  Beneath the subsection image is a thumbnail gallery of more images which can be enlarged and videos to be viewed.  The full gallery of images can be seen by moving the mouse to the left or right of the gallery boundaries.  When a video is chosen place the mouse on the video screen for the controls to pop up. 

When one is finished with a particular topic move the mouse to the left clicking on the subsection face icon.  To begin anew click on the Geocube icon.

Geocube is a valuable, comprehensive resource for educational purposes and the armchair geography buff.

Please note:  I needed to download Quick Time to make parts of this site work.