I watched the Teq webinar titled, "Google Earth in the
classroom." This was my first time really learning about Google
Earth and I was truly impressed by all of the potential ways that Google Earth
can be used in an educational setting in a variety of disciplines.
The webinar began by explaining the icon for Google Earth and the
basic set-up of the interface. Google Earth only contains one main top toolbar
featuring 12 unique tools. All major manipulation can be done using these 12
tools which makes it easy for students to navigate and for teachers to explain
when creating a lesson requiring or demonstrating the use of Google Earth.
Panes on the right hand side-of the screen allow for basic zoom, movement, and
select icons. Additionally, there is a left-hand pane with three main zones:
search, places and layers. “Search” allows the user to find businesses or get
directions. “Places” provides an area for the user to save important locations.
Finally, “Layers” uses real time information to update borders and geographical
features on the Earth images. I offer a detailed explanation of this basic-set
up as the ability to use these standard features was put to work throughout the
rest of the webinar in explaining classroom applications.
Applications for Google Earth are varied and plentiful. I offer a
list below as heard from the webinar as well as read online while perusing
Google’s slew of education content pages:
1. Gain a better spatial sense by determining
location between key place markers or measuring the height of specific
landmarks. (Mathematics).
2. Study global historical temperatures to
determine the potential effects of global warning (Science.)
3. Create annotated place markers of school
and points of interest in the students’ hometown or the area being studied
(Social Studies).
4. Use the “timeslider” to study the
construction process of famous historical landmarks (History).
5. Take Google Literature trips and have
students fly between areas mentioned in books read in class to add context to
readings. (Literature)
Across core subjects teachers can use visuals from Google Earth to
set the scene for the topic at hand. A neat tool that allows this is saving a
specific location as a .KMZ file which can be embedded into a PowerPoint or
other presentation. The end of the webinar leaves you with a page of
resources and directs you to further Teq webinars. From what I’ve found
there are two additional Teq webinars focused on Google Earth so the
applications really do appear to be endless!
Finally, I know that the school I will be working in next year has
a commitment to incorporating technology in the classroom. In fact during one
of my observations I saw all students with laptops working on a Khan Academy lesson,
so I’m hopeful that this webinar will get put to good use!
Link: http://www.teq.com/video/google-earth-in-the-classroom
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