Google Earth
A Journey Across the Curriculum
Overview
Google Earth allows you to travel the world through a virtual globe and view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, and much more. With Google Earth's rich, geographical content, you are able to experience a more realistic view of the world. You can fly to your favorite place, search for businesses and even navigate through directions. This course will focus on how K-12 educators can integrate Google Earth with all content areas. Although the options within Google Earth are endless, here are a few things you and your students can do:
- Discover the Earth: Fly to any location in the world, learn about a city and it's geographic features, find local businesses, and create tours.
- Explore the Sky: Enjoy the wonders of the heavens and learn about our solar system.
- Dive in the Ocean: Go beneath the surface and visit the depths of the ocean and explore the planet's deepest underwater canyons. Learn about ocean observations, climate change, and endangered species. You can even discover new places to surf, dive and fish.
- Walk on the Moon: Take tours of landing sites narrated by Apollo astronauts and view 3D models of landed spacecraft.
- Visit Mars: Travel the Red Planet and explore NASA's latest imagery of our galactic neighbor.
Google Earth Tutorials and Resources
Google Earth Advanced Tutorials
Atomic Learning Tutorials- Use your full email address as your username and your NEISD employee number as your password.
Google Earth Workbook (Printable version)
Creating a Placemark for the Alamo (Practice Activity)
The Best Virtual Environments and Simulations
Google Earth Activity Planning Sheet
HTML Cheat-sheet from Digital Goonies
Virtual Field Trips
Virtual field trips challenge and expose students to new types of technology. It is a great way to spark their interest and motivate their learning in a specific content area. Virtual field trips can offer students more opportunities because you can take them to places they wouldn't normally be able to go to otherwise - like inside a volcano or ocean floor! In addition, virtual field trips may even boost students' reading comprehension skills and will expose them to different cultures and environments.
Google Literature Trips
Real World Math
Earth and Life Science
Additional Science KMZ files:
- plate tectonics
- volcanoes
- glacial geology
- physical features of the planet
- erosion and deposition and recording sheet
- meteorite impact on the surface of the Earth
- Google Earth Science Walks
Historical Imagery
Additional History KMZ Files:
Digital Storytelling
Digital storytelling is the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component. Place-Based Digital Storytelling demonstrates the relationship between place, story and community. As we revisit these places in our memory, we realize how stories naturally attached themselves to places from our past and how they shape us in the present. Google Maps and Earth are the perfect vehicle to showcase place-based digital storytelling.
Additional Digital Storytelling KMZ files:
Earth Mashing: Google Earth Meets Web 2.0
Additional Mash-Up Examples:
Share Out
Laura Moore
Email: lmoore4@neis.net
Website: www.mooreti.edublogs.org
Location: 8961 Tesoro Drive, San Antonio, TX
Phone: 210-407-0574
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura.t.moore.127
Twitter: @learnmoorestuff