Google Earth

I had not had any previous experience with Google Earth before now, though I had often heard others sing its praise.  Having now downloaded Google Earth and explored it myself, I agree that Google Earth is an amazing application of modern day technology that I could not have imagined existing when I was a kid.  I can easily understand how Google Earth can be employed as a powerful tool in the classroom.

A.  I learned about many interesting Google Earth features through the Atomic Learning tutorials.  For instance, I learned that users can measure distances in Google Earth by selecting the Ruler from the tool bar.  Many different measurements styles are available including miles, kilometers, and yards.  I measured the distance from Taiwan's northern tip to southern tip to be approximately 232 miles.  Another feature I learned about through an Atomic Learning tutorial is the History tool.  For instance,  I zoomed in on the Johnson University campus.  The most recent view of Johnson's campus is from April 23, 2012.  It was really surreal to see my van parked outside my townhouse (and my husband is right, I do park crooked!).  Using the History tool, I was able to view Johnson's campus all the way back to 1992.  It was very interesting to see the different phases of construction that the campus as undergone.  When I looked at the image of Johnson's campus from March 30, 2009, I was able to find my car parked outside of the trailer on campus that we lived in at that time.

B.  I love, love, love Google Lit Trips!  I discovered the Google Lit Trips website under the high school ideas section.  Google Lit Trips use Google Earth to map locations, journeys and events in novels.  For instance, I explored a Google Lit Trip for Night by Elie Wiesel that shows the various locations discussed in the book and has historical photos and descriptions from WWII embedded in the placemarks.   I also looked at a Google Lit Trip created by students that shows the place of birth of 15 famous poets and has placemarks that you can select to view a brief biography of the poet and listen to embedded podcasts of a selected poem being read aloud.  I have already saved several Google Lit Trip KMZ files, and I look forward to using some of these lit trips and creating my own.

C.  The Google Earth Education Community website is a very valuable web resource for teachers.  Some of the information on the website includes instructions for making Google Earth presentations, organizing locations into folders, and creating and personalizing placemarks.  The Google Earth Education Community website also has various lesson ideas and examples of Google Earth applications organized by academic discipline.  For instance, under the Literature category, there are seven different Google Earth related ideas and downloads.  I particularly like the William Shakespeare Locations in Plays that uses Google Earth to show 89 different locations found in Shakespeare's plays.

I am enamored with Google Earth right now and am already imagining using it in multiple ways in my classroom for both teacher and student generated presentations and projects.  I look forward to experimenting with Google Earth further in the future so that I am better prepared to utilize it in the classroom and teach my students to do the same.