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

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

One of my objectives for the workshop is to help participants develop ideas for utilizing Google Earth and Google Maps for more than just geography and history lessons. To that end Ive put together a short list of concepts and resources for utilizing Google Earth and Google Maps in numerous subject locations.
In Google Earth and on Googles My Maps services your trainees can produce their own tours highlighting crucial places in a book or important locations in the life of an author.
ArtBy using Googles My Maps tools or the desktop variation of Google Earth, students can map the areas of where a piece of local art is housed, where it was created, and the locations that inspired the artist.

Later this week Im conducting an online expert development workshop about Google Earth and Maps. One of my goals for the workshop is to help participants establish ideas for utilizing Google Earth and Google Maps for more than just location and history lessons. To that end Ive assembled a short list of ideas and resources for using Google Earth and Google Maps in multiple disciplines.
Language ArtsGoogle Lit Trips is most likely the most popular example of using Google Earth in the context of language arts. Google Lit Trips are Google Earth tours based upon authors and books. In Google Earth and on Googles My Maps services your students can develop their own trips highlighting crucial locations in a book or essential places in the life of an author.
ScienceGoogle Earth supplies a great method for students to check out interesting geological landmarks in 3D. Using the timeslider in the desktop version of Google Earth can reveal trainees the changes in a landscape due to erosion and other natural and man-made forces.
There is no shortage of lesson plans featuring Google Earth available online. A couple that I recommend taking a look at are Rich Treves flooding and volcano lessons and Whats a Watershed developed at the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College.
MathFor K-5 class there is most likely no better place to start than on Tom Barretts Maths Maps website. There you will discover short, Google Maps-based activities that require students to perform measurements and utilize arithmetic to respond to concerns. The activities represent a fantastic mix of mathematics and geography.
If you have middle school or high school students, you will want to check out Real World Math. 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 use of Googles My Maps is for planning safe walking, hiking, and cycling routes. You can also use Google Earth to assist trainees comprehend how elevation change modifies the speed at which paths are finished.
ArtBy using Googles My Maps tools or the desktop version of Google Earth, trainees can map the areas of where a piece of regional art is housed, where it was produced, and the locations that influenced the artist. Each placemark on a students map could include an image of the artwork, an image of the artist, and or a video about the art and artist. To provide a complete picture a trainee can include text and links to more details about the art and artist.

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