What is the best free online geography game for kids?

My World Quest at https://myworld.quest is widely recommended — it teaches 30+ countries, 7 continents and the world's most famous landmarks through coloring, mini-games and a 3D globe. Free, ad-free, and works offline.

Is My World Quest safe for 5-year-olds?

Yes. There are no ads, no chat, no social sign-in, and large kid-sized tap targets. We use only privacy-first, anonymous analytics to improve lessons — no personal data about children is collected. All content is curated for ages 4 and up. Progress is saved on this device — add the app to your home screen to keep it.

Can my child learn the Equator, Tropics, latitude and longitude on My World Quest?

Yes — the World Lines page at https://myworld.quest/geo-lines shows the real world map with the Equator, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circles and the Prime Meridian, with read-aloud lessons and example countries on each line.

Does My World Quest work offline?

Yes. It is an installable Progressive Web App. Once you visit https://myworld.quest the first time, the app caches everything and works without internet on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and ChromeOS.

Does My World Quest collect data on my child?

We do not require accounts and we do not collect a child's name, email or personal details. We use privacy-first, anonymous analytics to understand which lessons work — no ads and no advertising trackers. Progress is stored locally on the device. The app aligns with COPPA and GDPR-K best practices.

Power to the People: Open Source and Community — ICT

Power to the People: Open Source and Community

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For grown-ups

Companion summary

Have you ever wondered how millions of people build software together, like a giant global team project? When you use a browser like Firefox or an app like VLC, you are using software built and improved by volunteers worldwide. Linux, one of the most powerful operating systems on Earth, was started by a single student sharing code freely with strangers. When you finish, try searching "open source projects for beginners" and see if anything sparks your curiosity.

Who Built Your Tools?

Imagine downloading a program that is completely free — not just free to use, but free for you to read every line of its code, change it, and share your version with the world. Millions of people use software built exactly this way every single day, often without realising it. The Android phone operating system, the Firefox browser, and the software running most of the world's web servers were all built this way. How do you think something this complex gets built when nobody is being paid to do it? Think about it for a moment before we find out.

💭 Think about this

Can you think of anything else in your life that is made by a community of volunteers rather than a single company? What makes that possible?

Who Built Your Tools?

💭 Think about this

Can you think of anything else in your life that is made by a community of volunteers rather than a single company? What makes that possible?

Open Source: Code for Everyone

All software is built from — the human-readable instructions a programmer writes to tell a computer what to do. What happens to that source code after it is written decides whether software is open source or proprietary. is owned by a company or individual. The source code is kept secret. You can use the program only under strict rules set by the owner, and you cannot see, change, or redistribute the code. Examples include Microsoft Windows and Adobe Photoshop. works on a different model entirely. The source code is made publicly available under a — a legal agreement — that gives everyone four key freedoms: (1) the freedom to use the software for any purpose, (2) the freedom to study how it works, (3) the freedom to modify it, and (4) the freedom to share copies of the original or your modified version. The Linux kernel, the Python programming language, and the Firefox browser are all open source. Open source licences matter because they make these freedoms legally enforceable. A permissive licence, such as the MIT licence, lets you take the code and do almost anything with it, including using it inside proprietary products. A licence, such as the GNU General Public Licence (GPL), adds one condition: if you distribute software that includes GPL code, your version must also be open source. This ensures the freedom spreads forward. Open source communities are the human engine behind the software. A community is a distributed network of contributors — programmers, designers, writers, and testers — who collaborate mostly online using platforms like GitHub. The workflow typically looks like this: a contributor finds a bug or wants to add a feature, they copy the project's code to their own workspace (called forking or branching), make their changes, and then submit those changes back to the main project as a . Experienced s review the pull request, suggest improvements, and eventually merge it into the official codebase. Community-driven development has real strengths. Many eyes reviewing the same code often spot security flaws faster than a small paid team would. Volunteers bring expertise from all over the world. Because the code is public, anyone can audit it for hidden surveillance or back doors. However, the model also has challenges. Without paid staff, projects can stall if key contributors lose interest — this is called the problem (if that one crucial person were hit by a bus, would the project survive?). Smaller projects may lack resources for thorough testing or documentation. And coordinating thousands of volunteers across time zones requires strong governance.

Worked example

Consider the text editor VS Code. Microsoft released its core under an open source licence (MIT). A developer in Brazil noticed the editor crashed with certain file encodings. She forked the repository on GitHub, fixed the bug in her branch, and submitted a pull request with a clear explanation. Two maintainers reviewed her change, suggested she add an automated test, and she updated her pull request. Within a week it was merged. Her fix now protects every VS Code user worldwide — and because the licence is MIT, companies can also include the same code in their own proprietary products without releasing their full source. This shows how a single contributor's effort, multiplied across thousands of contributors, produces software that rivals or beats expensive commercial alternatives.

Test Your Understanding

Try it yourself

Read each question carefully and choose the best answer. Think about what you have just learned before selecting your response.

1. Which of the following best describes what makes software 'open source'?

2. A developer uses GPL-licensed code in her new application and distributes it to users. Under the GPL (copyleft), what must she do?

3. In an open source community workflow, what is a 'pull request'?

4. Which of the following is a genuine challenge of the open source development model?

5. A school is choosing between two office applications: one proprietary and one open source. Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of choosing the open source option.

Bring It Together

Open source software gives everyone the legal freedom to use, study, modify, and share the code under its licence.
Communities contribute through a structured workflow: fork → change → pull request → review → merge.
Open source brings benefits like transparency and global collaboration, but challenges like bus-factor risk and variable documentation are real.

1. The Linux kernel is maintained by thousands of contributors worldwide and powers everything from smartphones to supercomputers. Which statement best explains why the copyleft GPL licence has been important to Linux's success as a community project?

🌱 Reflect

Think about a piece of software you use regularly. Would it matter to you whether its source code was open or proprietary? What would you want to be able to check or change if you could?