Cross-curricular uses of Google Earth
Hello,
I am working with Google Earth in my middle school math classes this year. I have found that students are very excited to work with it and so we have already had some lessons on how to use the different tools, such as adding placemarks, creating paths, and measuring with the ruler. Google Earth is a good resource because it can be used asynchronously and the files can be downloaded or emailed. The students also learned how to annotate their work and add citations.
What I am interested in is how to use Google Earth beyond the obvious. It's pretty cool to find your house or go to Paris, but how can it be incorporated in a math class? True the measuring tool is very useful; you can measure in miles, kilometers, and more. But what else?
We have used Google Earth to plot some historic typhoons that have struck our island. The students used typhoon data for the plotting, added a path and image, and annotated everything. They liked the assignment but several times students wondered aloud "What's this have to do with math?". That's what I liked about it. They were using math and didn't realize it. They were creating a graphic representation of an historic event - a geographic line graph. They were using data, representing values in a variety of ways, measuring, predicting, adding meaning to numbers, etc. I would agree it wasn't the typical textbook math lesson and that may be why they enjoyed it. This lesson covered just about every NETS standard as well.
It was real. They remembered the typhoon and shared their experiences with one another. They talked to their parents about it. I offered this assignment to my colleagues as a chance for cross-curricular lessons. I was disappointed when the English and History teachers didn't take me up on it as a writing portion, but they had their own things to do, I guess.
I also had a class of 8th graders use Google Earth. This was an open-ended problem solving activity in which they played the role of the Coast Guard and had to conduct a search and rescue operation. I gave them wind, currents, and other parameters and they had to devise a search plan and map it on Google Earth. I created a file of a missing boat and when the students had finished, we were able to conclude whether it was a successful rescue or not. Sound interesting?
Coincidently, as we were doing this assignment Steve Fossett disappeared. The news reported that Google Earth was being used by people on the Internet to search for him!
Do you have any ideas on using Google Earth in math or other subject areas that you would like to share?
PS: The attachment below is a screen image of the typhoon assignment.
I am working with Google Earth in my middle school math classes this year. I have found that students are very excited to work with it and so we have already had some lessons on how to use the different tools, such as adding placemarks, creating paths, and measuring with the ruler. Google Earth is a good resource because it can be used asynchronously and the files can be downloaded or emailed. The students also learned how to annotate their work and add citations.
What I am interested in is how to use Google Earth beyond the obvious. It's pretty cool to find your house or go to Paris, but how can it be incorporated in a math class? True the measuring tool is very useful; you can measure in miles, kilometers, and more. But what else?
We have used Google Earth to plot some historic typhoons that have struck our island. The students used typhoon data for the plotting, added a path and image, and annotated everything. They liked the assignment but several times students wondered aloud "What's this have to do with math?". That's what I liked about it. They were using math and didn't realize it. They were creating a graphic representation of an historic event - a geographic line graph. They were using data, representing values in a variety of ways, measuring, predicting, adding meaning to numbers, etc. I would agree it wasn't the typical textbook math lesson and that may be why they enjoyed it. This lesson covered just about every NETS standard as well.
It was real. They remembered the typhoon and shared their experiences with one another. They talked to their parents about it. I offered this assignment to my colleagues as a chance for cross-curricular lessons. I was disappointed when the English and History teachers didn't take me up on it as a writing portion, but they had their own things to do, I guess.
I also had a class of 8th graders use Google Earth. This was an open-ended problem solving activity in which they played the role of the Coast Guard and had to conduct a search and rescue operation. I gave them wind, currents, and other parameters and they had to devise a search plan and map it on Google Earth. I created a file of a missing boat and when the students had finished, we were able to conclude whether it was a successful rescue or not. Sound interesting?
Coincidently, as we were doing this assignment Steve Fossett disappeared. The news reported that Google Earth was being used by people on the Internet to search for him!
Do you have any ideas on using Google Earth in math or other subject areas that you would like to share?
PS: The attachment below is a screen image of the typhoon assignment.
Tags: cross-curricular, earth, gearth, google, math
- Attachments:
-
-
post.jpg, 209 KB
-
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Bob on
-
One of the projects that I prototyped during my first year in a technology education program was the integration
of google earth with video. In essence, the video drove the google earth tour. Unfortunately, the demo is no
longer available, but if some local (east bay) teacher would like to help create a new demo, I'd be happy to
work on it. Basically, the content of the video has to have a geo-spatial context, where showing the area via
google earth at the same time as the video makes sense.
For my demo, I had an environmental scientist talk about the life cycle of a book, and took the viewer on a google
fly through driven from the video. Definitely ahead of the curve two years ago when I did it....
I could see a collective of earth science teachers (for instance) creating a series of curriculum around this concept. -
-
Permalink Reply by Greg Noack on
-
I think the possibilities are endless. I used google earth weekly the last two years when I taught self-contained. I used it exclusively as a presentation tool, only because we didnt' have a lab at the time able to handle 25 students on Google Earth at once. I am not sure if I used it in math though I like the suggestions posted by others.
Here are a few examples that I can recall.
We visited Venice, Italy after reading The Thief Lord, student recalled specific settings from the story and we went there.
There is a great webste called "Google Lit trips" http://www.googlelittrips.com/ where students take realistic or historical fiction and place landmarks and comprehension questions about the book at the actual place it happened. I have actually connected with the owner of the site who is in Classroom 2.0. It's an incredible way to use Google Earth. This is something you could have the kids create.
We used it almost daily when learning about the revolutionary war. We visited historic battle sites, looked at how far troops moved, mapped Paul Revere's Midnight Ride etc.. .. If you have the Geographic web Option checked you will be able to look at photos people have geosynched and posted on panoramio. This is a great way to take an instant digital field trip. Google has also recently started letting people geosynch thier yourtube videos. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. But again, just the chance to take kids digitally where their textbooks can't is so valuable.
In science we used it anytime we could. We visited volcanoes in Earth Science, Looked at river deltas and other landforms when learning about landforms. Again, the panoramio pics are great for this.
One idea that relates to Math i have had for a while and haven't had time to implement yet is to have students create a 3-d model of our school in Google Sketchup to upload to Google earth. I think there would be some intense learning about scale, measurement, angles, geometirc shapes. -
-
Permalink Reply by Thomas Petra on
-
You have lots of good ideas and experience with Google Earth. I have just started playing around with the SketchUp program this past week. I also have plans in have my students "re-construct" our school campus. That's the kind of thing administrators love too.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Kelly on
-
Thomas,
There is a great site called googlelittrips.com (I think...check http://ilearntechnology.com for the correct site). Google Lit Trips combines literature with Google Earth. It is pretty cool! A great way to use Google Earth! -
-
-
Thanks for the resource idea Kelly.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Terry Smith on
-
Have you seen this use of Google Earth?
http://www.googlelittrips.com/
Quite a nice connection to locations in literature. Download a KMZ file and it runs in Google Earth to show, for example, the geography used or traversed in the specific book - The Grapes of Wrath is one that is featured.
Terry -
-
Permalink Reply by NYBookworm on
-
Hi. Great ideas :) I'm substitute teaching algebra ns Geometry right now while I'm taking Grad school courses. I had a "create a field trip" project for one of my classes and so I used the topic I just taught (concurrent points with lines in triangles) for it. The Google Earth component was a way for them to find the incenter where the museum could be located between 3 nearby train stations. Here's the site for it if it helps.
-
-
Permalink Reply by CIndyLane on
-
How about bringing in estimation? How about having them figure out how long it look the pony express to ride from point to point...
-
-
Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on
-
I wonder if you could somehow use the data sets from these CIESE activities with Google Earth--a extreme 2.0 makeover!
From the website:
An Internet pioneer, CIESE received one of the nation’s first grants in 1993 to explore Internet use in K-12 science and mathematics education. Since then, teachers and students worldwide have benefited from CIESE online projects.
Specializing in quantitative, inquiry-based science and mathematics web-based curricula, CIESE capitalizes on the interactive nature of the Internet. CIESE curriculum projects do not simply mirror traditional lesson plans that are posted online, nor do they fall into the category of web quests or simulations. Years of exploring the Internet in education and working with partners to discover the most effective Internet applications has led us to identify those Internet-based lessons that cannot be taught any other way and justify the challenges teachers face in order to use this technology in the classroom.
CIESE curriculum projects use ‘real-time’ data from government and commercial databases; engage students in telecollaborative projects using ‘pooled’ data from shared, Web-based databases; involve student publishing on the Web; and provide access to unique and primary source information. For more than a decade, we’ve witnessed these ‘unique and compelling’ Internet-based educational applications make learning come alive, for teachers and students alike, with powerful effects on student achievement -
-
Permalink Reply by Rashmi Kathuria on
-
Dear Thomas Petra
Its an amazing idea shared by you. I will experiment on this with my students. Thanks for sharing this great idea.
Rashmi -
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- Next ›
Report
Win at School
Commercial Policy
If you are representing a commercial entity, please see the specific guidelines on your participation.
Badge
Follow
Awards:
© 2024 Created by Steve Hargadon.
Powered by
