Google Tools in the Classroom
Directions: Post an entry describing one Google Earth application that you would recommend, and an idea for using it in YOUR classroom.
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Title: Hiking in Maine Tour
1. Download project file
There is a lot of potential in creating your own Google Earth Tour with special consideration needed since your presentation relies heavily on visual imagery. I found myself spending a good deal of time (maybe too much time) on the zoom and orientation for each of my place markers. I also thought that this could be influenced based on what types of locations you are visiting (natural formations versus man-made or are there 3-D effects available at the sites?). In any case, I think this is a valuable tool for a teacher’s toolbox as another format for students to demonstrate knowledge and understanding through technology integration.
3. Ideas for the classroom:
- As I wrapped up my tour, I wondered if our 7th grade science classes could use Google Earth Tours for their Life Signs projects. Students travel out to local streams, rivers, and tidal pools collecting samples of the biological organisms present for analysis. Students could document these field trips and include images from their visits, links to podcasts or movies documenting their cataloging of the biological samples, and comparisons to previous years results.
- Math classes could use Google Earth Tours and the 3-D Buildings layer with their geometry studies. Students can search the globe for buildings that show certain geometric shapes and discuss why they were incorporated into building designs.
- Science classes could create Tours not just on Earth but in the Google Sky, Moon, and Mars. Students could plot out the landing locations of probes and any distances they traveled while there. Students could create a fictional vacation tour for the Moon or Mars, highlighting the planetary features that any tourist will want to see during their visit.
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