The Earth at Your Finger Tips! Google Earth I

Google Earth more than a Viewing Tool

http://www.google.com/earth/index.html 

"Fly to any place in the world" claims the ad encouraging users to download Google Earth which was originally called Earth Viewer (Britt & LaFontaine, 2009). This premise of allowing users to see the world using satellite imagery of places they may have never been able to see with their own two eyes. This ability to expand our little lives from our tiny sphere of influence and take in the information about far reaching destinations around the globe is at the foundation of web 2.0 tools.

Google Earth relies on the premise of showing the world to individuals from the comfort of their own homes. However, the usability of Google Earth has been ever expanding. Now Google Earth 6 can allow users to explore the world in 3D, view maps of the areas they visit with their computers, provide historical images of locations, and even allows users to explore the sky, stars, and moon (Richardson, 2011).

The Google Earth site encourages visitors to "Explore, Learn, Download, and Connect" with the globe through the use of 3 different desktop applications depending on the users preference.

Google Earth (Free): Allows you to view locations, structures, and imagery from around the globe zooming from outer space to the street view. Buildings and structures can be viewed in 3D and the length and width of structures can be measured. Users can then save the places they have explored, get driving directions to specific locations, and share their findings with others.  Another really great add on to Google Earth is the ability to locate where an image was taken depending on its coordinates (Richardson, 2011).  This skill can also be greatly used in the grade five social curriculum when help students learn how to use longitude and latitude on a globe. 

Google Earth Pro ($399): All of the features of the regular Google Earth with the addition of some nifty features including the ability to measure structures (area, radius and circumference), capture demographic and traffic data, print high resolution screenshots, and create shareable movies using Movie Maker.  The application also allows users to map many locations at the same time using a spreadsheet importer.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FMbvC5oae-Y/Tcl-9BJLjZI/AAAAAAAAAEk/ImYfkV1LU24/s1600/Google_Earth_Pro+v5.png

Google Earth Enterprise (Price determined through Sales): This application is designed for organizations that use large amounts of geospatial data. Users can create their own GLOBE with their own imagery, aerial photography and data. The application is also able to synthesize terrain, imagery and vector data making this a good tool for academic research and modeling. The program is also secure to be able to protect the unique user entered data.

http://www.baliz-geospatial.com/images/mediatheque/2008-12/Google_Earth_f3.gif

Google Earth Communities - For Educators

Building on collaboration and sharing like any good web 2.0 tool, Google Earth has created communities of like minded users. These communities include businesses, educators, not for profits, Media, and data providers. Each community can share their experiences with Google Earth and access specific tools for their purposes.

Google Earth for Educators allows teachers to access specific resources for using Google Earth in the classroom environment. As part of the educator community users can access classroom resources including lesson plans developed for specific grades. The site also allows teachers to discuss with each other their experiences with Google Earth and demonstrate students projects. For those teachers new to Google Earth the site provides tutorials and tips for introducing Google Earth into the classroom and how to teach students to use the resource. Teachers who see the benefits of using Google Earth Pro in their classroom can submit a grant application to get access to the resource.

Google Earth for Educators is a great site for teachers and should be bookmarked in every teachers favourites as an excellent site for resources and tips.

http://sitescontent.google.com/google-earth-for-educators/

Google Earth and My Classroom

I have used Google Earth in my class for many years now. It is a great tool especially when it is accompanied with an interactive SMART Board. Previously I had students look up different places all over the world to see what they looked like in order to create discussion about world events and different cultures. I used Google Earth in an effective manner, my students were engaged, and they were intrinsically motivated to learn more about different cultures. This interest carried over into the recording process for their Language Arts research and writing assignment about a particular wonder of the world. I found it really interesting to see Judy Britt & Gus LaFontaine's research that seemed to follow a very similar progression as my lessons did. In their five day exploration of Google Earth with students they focused on: location tools, landmarks, landforms around the world and assessment (Britt & LaFontaine, 2009).

While exploring Google Earth and the products offered I have seen that there are many other interesting applications of Google Earth and the classroom and I have been inspired to incorporate these uses in my classroom. In particular, I have designed a lesson for my class based on the tips given by Richardson & Berger in their books.

Check back in the next few weeks to read about the success of that project!

 References

 

Britt, J., & LaFontaine, G. (2009). Google Earth: A Virtual Globe for Elementary Geography. Social Studies And The Young Learner, 21(4), 20-23.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful Web tools for classrooms / Will Richardson. Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Corwin Press, c2010.