WHS Project: Technology

Today I went over how to use Google Earth for travel as well as a classroom tool. Google Earth is a small application you have to download from earth.google.com. It does require you to have Internet access for most of the features so load it on a computer with network access.

This morning we went to the Nile River, we viewed Westlake from the satelite view, and we went to Area 51. I provided a handout that showed some ways teachers use Google Earth. These inlude measuring distances between places; viewing and zooming to particular places and/or their 3-D buildings on the terrain; Google Tours - which is a picture report created by the Google Global Community of the area. Another interesting thing is the fact that Google allows users to post their own comments about particular areas on the map and to comment on other areas using their free accounts. You could visit Paris, France and post comments to others who visit it online about tips for travel or other things.

With this in mind, some educators in the UK are creating online Google Tours where they are able to store data about their research on their own Google Earth type page you can visit and use in your classes.

I would use Google’s search engine to look for “Google Earth Lessons” to find out how other people are using it. Has anyone out there used it in their class or see a way to use it? Post your ideas here.

Google Earth Document - Click here to download the handout