Happy New Year, Everyone!
I just looked through my group archives, and I can’t believe I have never compiled a Friday 5 devoted to Google Earth. It is such an amazing application, and once you’ve experienced it, I think you’ll agree that it has great implications for enhancing teaching and learning.
A couple of projects have occupied me during the last couple of weeks. I’ve been playing with Google Earth and I have even started collaborative projects using Google Earth files. Inspired by a fellow Apple Distinguished Educator who collected holiday greetings in audio format and podcasted them for the ADE group, Ken Tuley and I came up with the idea of posting New Year’s resolutions from around the world using Google Earth. Several ADEs created a file of a Google Earth place mark indicating where they currently live or work, and put New Year’s resolutions into the description field of the place mark. Files were emailed to me and I compiled them, simply by dragging and dropping .kmz files into a folder. I then emailed the main file back to all participants. It was great fun to “fly” around the world, seeing people’s homes and gathering inspiration from various New Year’s resolutions.
I’ve started another similar project, and this one is geared for all teachers and students. Participants again will create a place mark indicating their home, workplace, or other special location. In the description field, they are supposed to write a paragraph or two about their favorite teacher and/or learning experience. I’ll collect these files via email, and put them into one file that will be posted on my blog and in the Google Earth Community. Follow the link below if you’d like to participate… detailed directions are included.
Have a great weekend,
Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com
THE BASICS
1) Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/
Download the free software here.
2) Google Earth – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Earth
A little background info on GE.
3) Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme
http://tinyurl.com/yfnfux
This is the link to my current project. Join the fun!
4) The Good Earth
http://www.edutopia.org/1661
Read about how teachers are using Google Earth in this Edutopia article.
NEXT STEPS
5) Google Earth Education Community
http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/dherring/ge/googleearth.htm
6) Juicy Geography’s Google Earth for Teachers
http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/googleearth.htm
5) Tom Barrett’s Classroom Google Earth Wiki
http://classroomgoogleearth.wikispaces.com/
Lots of great resources can be found here and if you feel inspired, you can add your school’s location to a collection of files from other schools.
6) Google Earth Users Guide
http://googlearthusersguide.blogspot.com/
7) Google Earth Wikipedia Layer
http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-12-10-n72.html
This is a blog post about a relatively new feature in Google Earth.
8) Virtual Globetrotting
http://virtualglobetrotting.com/
9) Google Earth Blog
http://www.gearthblog.com/
Click on the links labeled GE to download the file and view in Google Earth.
10) Google Sightseeing
http://googlesightseeing.com/
11) Official Google Blog: The Illuminated Continent
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/illuminated-continent.html
National Geographic naturally has content viewable in Google Earth.
DEEP CUTS
12) GeoGreeting
http://www.geogreeting.com/
Send a fun message to a friend using satellite images. Thanks to Charlene Chausis for this link!
13) Geography 2.0: Virtual Globes: Google Earth Education Initiative
http://geography2.blogspot.com/2005/12/google-earth-education-initiative.html
Get a free copy of Google Earth Pro for your school. Follow the instructions posted in this blog.
14) Google SketchUp
http://sketchup.google.com/
Create 3-D models in SketchUp and import them into Google Earth. You thought Google Earth was mind blowing? Wait until you try this!
15) Google 3D Warehouse
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/
Store and share SketchUp files here. Check out Fred Bartel’s collection of designs for 21st Century schools:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=21st+century+school&btnG=Search
and his Designing with SketchUp Infowiki : http://dws.editme.com/.
