Google Earth is an online virtual map with multiple functions. It enables you to find places all over the world. A function found on the left hand side of the page allows you to add layers that display a variety of geographical content including roads, trees, weather, street views, and 3D buildings. Interest layers enable the viewer to click on any place and find content including photos, you tubes, Wikipedia and National Geographic magazines relevant to that place. A simple navigation tool allows movement up and down and a hand can also be used to zoom in and move the page around.
I have previously had some very amateur experience using Google Earth, including finding my previous and current housing addresses. I think that it is amazing that I can find my childhood home –with bins in place and pool tools showing through the fence to the numerous homes that I have lived in across the globe including France, and London. Right now I am at the Noosa university campus. Approximately twelve seconds later I have been transported to my old workplace in London. Amazing!!
Uni London
After exploring this tool however, I have realised how many other amazing functions it has that would make it so useful within my future classroom. I think that it is simple and easy to use and therefore would be appropriate for all year levels. The varieties of functions that it possesses vary in level of difficulty so that is something to keep in mind when selecting a task for your class. I think that this would be highly appropriate to use across a range of KLAs particularly geography, as it enables you to take the students beyond a static map that was once the staple in this subject.
Here are some of the other things I have discovered that I believe this tool could be used for within my own classroom:
-Find your house and look into your own backyard (I think that this would be an easy way to introduce this technology to the class. If they have already done this they could find another place of interest to them).
-Create annotated place markers (students could locate their school and other places of interest within the communities and place a marker on them).
-Measure (students could measure mountains, skyscrapers or anything in particular that they have been studying).
-Create a tour (students could create a tour of their local area by setting down markers and annotating them).
-Set the scene for a lesson (the interest layers could be great if introducing a topic surrounding a particular area).
-Watch the changes that occur from sunset to sunrise using the timeline strip located on the top left of screen.
-Fly to the moon, mars or check out the sky (fantastic for earth and space/astronomy lessons).
-View the places through the historical timeline.
-Explore topic like growth of cities, impact of civilisation on the natural environment, effects of natural disasters.
Wow I can’t believe how amazing this tool is, I actually thought that its only useful function was to spy on my backyard, and am therefore blown away by the possibilities that this would provide in an educational context. I think that this digital technology will provide many opportunities for the students to connect with the real world and I am looking forward to incorporating it into my lessons. One final benefit is that it actually provides a website to help educators learn more about how to use it within the classroom. Follow this link to Google Earth for Educators
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