Google Earth

I had always heard of Google Earth, but was never real familiar with it. This assignment required me to download a version of Google Earth. I was able to play around with several neat features this site has to offer. It was cool to be able to zoom in and out so easily and also tilt the view of the landmark. I typed in a variety of different addresses and viewed many different houses; including my own. It was kind of weird and scary to see my house visible from the Internet. It makes you wonder what other forms of technology is out there that we don't even know about. When I typed in my parents address, I was able to see two of their vehicles sitting in the driveway. If I had to guess, I would say the map I was viewing was in low resolution. The more you zoomed in the fuzzier the pixels became.

After playing around with Google Earth for a while, I located the map I made last week in Google Maps. The map was of various landmarks and locations for my fifth grade class to visit in Washington, D.C. After I located the map, I was able to select the KML option, located above the itinerary. Clicking on the KML option turns your map into an interactive map on Google Earth. Below is a picture of my Google Earth map I created.

Importing files from Google Maps to Google Earth was a very simple task that was bacially done with just the click of a button. This would be a useful tool when you are planning a school or classroom trip, especially if you are going a lenthy distance from home. The interactive maps would allow the parents to have a better idea of where their child will be and hopefully they will feel more comfortable.

This lesson also required me to visit the Google Earth For Educators website and find a lesson that I would be able to use. I chose a history lesson. The lesson requires the students to read a historcal novel and determine and analyze the meaning of the book. Various Google tools were to be used as research methods. I could easily use this lesson in my elementary school class some day. I could put the students into three or four different groups and assign each of them a different novel. I would have the groups read the novels and then discuss them within their group. As a group, they would use various Google tools to make outlines, research information about the specific period in time, type papers and research ideas based on the theme and plot of the novel. I had never heard of this site before, so it was neat to explore and look at all of the cool features. There are so many resources for teachers out there, and it's important to take advantage of all of them!

ISTE NETS T #2 - Design & Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences & Assessments. (A) Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.