Saturday, July 18, 2009
Google Earth
Discuss how Google Earth can be used in the STEM classroom. Discuss how can you use Google Earth for multidisciplinary projects. Give 2 specific examples. You can view examples on our class's website as well as looking at Google Earth's galleray. To use the actual Google Earth application, you will need to download it. Make sure your computer in up-to-date and that you have enough space on it. Links and toturials are available on our class's website. Enjoy :)
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Brenda
ReplyDeleteGoogle earth can be used to see the differences in climates in certain areas. This can lead to a animal habitat research project. Certain animals have the capacity to with stand very high temperatures while others the opposite. While searching google earth there are tools that can illustrate the temperatues in certain areas and students can use this tool as a follow up by researching the animals that live there.
Another lesson might be on the land marks of the United States. It can sometimes be very challenging to teach about something, student's have never seen or heard of. With google earth you can visit areas such as the Empire State Building, Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Golden Gate Bridge, the White House, etc. When students can see it for their own eyes they are better able to connect with the unit.
Google Earth could be used to show topography of the Earth. One of my colleagues did a unit on "homes" around the world and I remember her saying it was very difficult for the kids to grasp the idea of a country (completely understandable). However, showing the Earth as a globe and then moving from one location to the other would be a good visual for kids to understand the concept of the world.
ReplyDeleteA lot of my kids are from Africa and they talk about Africa all the time. Google Earth could be a good tool to bring in culture and show the students in the class where their families are from, etc.
I completely agree with Brenda about the landmarks lesson. Especially since sketchup and earth have combined to create 3-d images, a study of the landmarks would be a great lesson to integrate google earth.
Lesson 1
ReplyDeleteA lesson that I plan to do next year with the fifth grade is part of the Earth Science Unit. They will be studying the processes that helped shape the land. The bedrock under Manhattan Island is what is known as Manhattan Schist. It was formed about 450 million years ago, making it the second oldest of New York City’s bedrocks. Manhattan schist is found at various depths – from 18 feet below the surface in Times Square to 260 feet below in Greenwich Village. Where bedrock is far below the surface, skyscrapers are not practical because it is too difficult to reach the schist that provides structural stability and support.
Using Google Earth I plan on having the students look at the topography of Manhattan Island. They will then have to explain where they think the Manhattan Schist is closest to the surface and explain the reasoning behind their answer.
Their second task will be to find the tallest skyscraper in the city and measure its height using the ruler feature. They will then give an estimation of its height in feet.
Lesson 2
This lesson can be used as a Social Studies/ELA/Science hybrid. I would recommend it for either grades 1 or 2.
The students will listen to the read aloud " Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain" by Verna Aardema.
The students objective during the reading will be to identify the effects that the weather has on the people and animals in the savannas of Africa.
This book is an old African folktale about a herdsman named Ki-pat. Ki-pat needs rain for the grass to grow, so his cows do not die. Ki-pat makes a bow and arrow and shoots the arrow into the black rain cloud. The arrow helps to change the weather so the grass can grow and the cows can live. This book has a wonderful rhyme and lends itself nicely to choral reading.
After the reading,question the children as to the effects that the weather has on the people and animals in the savannas of Africa.Explain to the students that Africa is warm year round and that the savannas have two seasons, rain and no rain. There are very few trees and the savannas are mostly covered with grass. There is little other vegetation because of the lack of year round rain.
For part two of the lesson, tell the children that they will be going on a virtual tour of the African savanna.
As an objective for the second part of the lesson, students will use Google Earth to focus on how the geographic features of the savanna and the climatic conditions influence how the people there live.
The lesson involves going on a virtual field trip the to the African savanna. The African Savanna is located around 15 North latitude and 40 West longitude. This Savanna covers many different countries in Africa including Chad, Sudan, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. In google Earth, under the Explore, Search and Discover section, click on the Visualize Seasons and Climate Changes layer.
If you explore the above mentioned countries, you will be able to see the season and climate changes associated with the African Savanna. As the seasons and climate change students will make inferences and predictions as to the effects that this will have on the people and animals that live there.
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ReplyDeleteGreat comments, Brenda and Naeri. A big thanks to John for an awesome and innovative post!
ReplyDeleteGoogle Earth can be used for a myraid of different lesson plans. I saw it used in a colleagues class they were studying differnent time zones from around the world. The teacher simulated an airline flight for her students and they took off and landed in the classroom. Each student had a role on the flight. They explored the countries when they arrived and wrote about what they saw.
ReplyDeleteAnother great lesson you could use for math you could measure distances of areas in their own neighborhood. They can estimate how far they live from school, or how far they live from the park etc.
There are so many different lessons that you could plan across subject areas while using google Earth.
I like Brenda's comment. Google Earth has some really good applications. I especially agree with the usage of the site to help students explore the topography of Manhattan Island. It would be great to allow the students to research the look of Manhattan prior to habitation of the Island. The Google Earth site can easily be connect to the Google Sketch up site and students can redesign Manhattan island intergrating new concepts and building layouts. I would collaborate with the social studies teacher and also have the students complete a virtual tour of the museums. The Google Earth site had a template pre-built to introduce students to the Museum of Prada and several other destinations that they would not normally be able to visit. They could learn the history behind the designs and reasons for the exsistance.
ReplyDeleteI would use google earth to teacher global awareness to my 4th grade students. They coul play a questions game whereby the teacher would ask...Where are we today? Teacher would choose a city somewhere in the world and zoom down to the street level allowing them to view a few square miles of the perimeter of the city. Children ask questions like..Is it Rome? Is it Madrid? Is it Seatle? Or.. Does it have any tall buildings? Are any of the buildings famous or historic? When the children get warm the tacher can zoom out a little and switch on to the 3D buildings buildings layers and looking at famous monuments etc.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to use google earth in the classroom would be to have the class choose a famous person to do a biography on showing the house where he/she was born or any places that are associated with that person's fame. Children could switch to 3D buildings to show monuments or explore the inside of a place.
I am in agreement with Nyoon and Brenda,s opinions about google earth and the way it can be used in our classroom. I believe that google earth can be used to show third graders the different types of communities. It will able be beneficial for them as they explore the Oceans, and Continents with emphasis on Africa. Being able to identify the different habitats will be awesome. Incoporating skeetchup with google earth to build different biomes, houses, etc will an exciting educational experience.
ReplyDeleteGreat posts!
ReplyDeleteDorit
Bernie posted an idea close to what I was thinking. One of the features of google earth that I really liked was the way it zooms in from a far-away, birds-eye-view perspective to a street view. I think this would be a great way to explore architecture in the different regions around the world. This type of lesson could incorporate various disciplines including math (latitude and longitude), science (weather and climate), social studies (culture and community) and art/engineering (creating a structure to replicate a region).
ReplyDeleteAnother way to use google earth in the classroom is by using the map to explore the immediate community from a different perspective. Since google earth gives recent images of street views, the children can do a map study and explore their own communities using a different format. They can see how a map looks (birds eye view) and then rotate the angle to see their streets. This is also a great alternative to home visits. Often lessons that include student's homes are memorable and a powerful way to build community while teaching about both community and diversity, but sometimes the visits aren't safe/predictable. This is a great way to include the personalization of address and home life from a little bit of a distance.
Finally, a great way to use google earth in the classroom is to study some of the places children might go on a video conference, as a prelesson perhaps.
I taught third grade last year if I had this available to the students last year our study of Africa and China could have been a more exciting expierence. For social studies students can locate the different African countries and their landforms. The distances of the countries from each other can be measured. During our study of Africa I read a story Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. As an extension students can track the amount of rain that falls in kapitti Plains over a certain amount of time.
ReplyDeleteJohn I saw you read the story also. Great Lesson!