Five Ideas for Using Google Earth & Maps for More Than Social Studies Lessons

One of my goals for the workshop is to help individuals develop concepts for using Google Earth and Google Maps for more than just location and history lessons. To that end Ive put together a short list of concepts and resources for utilizing Google Earth and Google Maps in several subject locations.
In Google Earth and on Googles My Maps services your trainees can develop their own trips highlighting essential locations in a book or important locations in the life of an author.
ArtBy utilizing Googles My Maps tools or the desktop version of Google Earth, students can map the locations of where a piece of regional art is housed, where it was created, and the locations that motivated the artist.

Later this week Im conducting an online professional advancement workshop about Google Earth and Maps. One of my goals for the workshop is to assist individuals establish ideas for utilizing Google Earth and Google Maps for more than simply location and history lessons. To that end Ive put together a list of ideas and resources for using Google Earth and Google Maps in multiple subject locations.
Language ArtsGoogle Lit Trips is probably the most popular example of using Google Earth in the context of language arts. Google Lit Trips are Google Earth trips based on books and authors. In Google Earth and on Googles My Maps services your students can create their own trips highlighting important locations in a book or important locations in the life of an author.
ScienceGoogle Earth offers a terrific way for trainees to explore fascinating geological landmarks in 3D. Using the timeslider in the desktop variation of Google Earth can reveal students the changes in a landscape due to disintegration and other natural and man-made forces.
There is no lack of lesson plans including Google Earth available online. A couple that I recommend taking a look at are Rich Treves flooding and volcano lessons and Whats a Watershed produced at the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College.
MathFor K-5 classrooms there is probably no much better location to begin than on Tom Barretts Maths Maps website. There you will find brief, Google Maps-based activities that require students to perform measurements and use arithmetic to answer questions. The activities represent a fantastic combination of mathematics and geography.
You will want to explore Real World Math if you have middle school or high school students. On Real World Math you will discover lesson plans that utilize Google Earth for teaching the ideas used in determining volume of solids, timezones, and rocketry..
Physical EducationPerhaps my favorite usage of Googles My Maps is for planning safe walking, hiking, and biking paths. You can also utilize Google Earth to assist trainees understand how elevation change modifies the speed at which paths are completed.
ArtBy using Googles My Maps tools or the desktop version of Google Earth, trainees can map the locations of where a piece of local art is housed, where it was produced, and the locations that motivated the artist. Each placemark on a trainees map might consist of a picture of the artwork, an image of the artist, and or a video about the art and artist. To supply a total photo a trainee can include text and links to more information about the art and artist.

For some motivation on this topic take a look at Monet Was Here on Google Arts & & Culture.

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