When I first became interested in using technology in my classroom, I turned to Google. Anyone who uses the internet at all is familiar with Google and how they have revolutionized the way we use the internet. Any search engine whose name has become a verb certainly has my attention! I started off using Google street maps and Google maps, but when I started to crave something more exciting I followed the advice of a colleague and turned to Google Earth. The program seems to be getting quite a bit of attention in the news lately, mostly concerning issues surrounding privacy.
The technology: Google Earth
My impression:
Google Earth is a very rich program which my students have loudly proclaimed as “wicked awesome”. It is essentially a virtual map that uses images from satellites and aerial photography. There are many features including:
- A flight simulator: Allows you to fly around and explore. A favorite of my students (especially when they discovered they could fly underwater).
- Sky mode: Allows you to view the stars and other celestial bodies with remarkable images.
- Historical images of select cities (a very cool feature for history classes)
- The ability to view Mars, the Moon, and under the Ocean.
- Street view: a popular feature on Google’s website that allows you to see panoramic ground-level images.
- The ability to create tours of different locations around the globe (fantastic for all kinds of subject areas).
The main hurdle that I have encountered with Google Earth is teaching students how to use it. It is relatively intuitive, but there are so many aspects to it that it does take some time to learn. As a teacher I don’t want to use too much of my time teaching students how to use a computer program (I have enough to cover in the curriculum as it is). This program is worth taking a little bit of time out of your day to show your students though, since once it’s been taught there are so many different ways you can apply it to lessons across the curriculum.
Possible uses in the classroom/ Lesson ideas: There are so many possibilities for Google Earth it’s impossible to name them all. Personally I have had history students create tours of important places in specific events in history, gone on scavenger hunts to find specific places of significance to world religions, and had math students calculate distances from one place in the world to another. There are also obvious uses in geography. Richard Byrne has developed a great resource for Google Earth across the curriculum which can be downloaded here (his blog, www.freetech4teachers.com also has a whole bunch of information on Google Earth and a range of other resources, definitely worth a look).
Pictures:
Where can I learn more?
A series of tutorials by Google
And of course, there are a variety of other resources for Google Earth on the web. Google it and see what appeals to you (see, I used google as a verb!)
Rating: 5 stars
Awesome Education Technology 