To Infinity and Beyond

A)  Google Earth's tutorial on Atomic Learning was very educational. Google Earth can take you to infinity and beyond (more literally to the depths of the ocean and to Mars!)  As a science or social studies teacher, the ability to show actual 3D pictures or video of Mars or under water ocean floors would make for an unbelievable teaching lesson.  What a way to get your students motivated about learning! Google has truly outdone themselves!

B) One of the lesson sheets that I looked at was the Elementary Lower Grades (1-5.)  The first lesson was to set Google Earth to show the border layers to recognize the countries and states borders.  I think this would be extremely useful in teaching Geography or United States History in class.  It would definitely give a little variety to a classroom.  Another lesson I liked from this site was the idea of placemarks of the birthplaces of American Presidents.  It would incorporate the importance of their lives and teach geographical locations. 

The other section of lesson sheets I looked at the Middle School section.  The first one that popped up for me was the lesson over the civil war battles.  The students were to place mark the key events of the Civil War.  The students were also asked to measure the distance between battles to help them understand how difficult communication and delivery of supplies would be.  I think this type of lesson would not only teach the standard in an American History class, but also be intriguing to the students.  What a great way to make Social Studies or History touch home for students and also be so interactive.

C) The sightseer blog I choice was April 2011.  The first section that caught my eye was the article on "Explore the Redwoods in 3D."  It was a virtual tour of the redwood forest in California and Oregon.  It was a very informative presentation.  Google Earth helped to collaborate with the "Save the Redwoods League" to make the 3D tour of these forests.  I found this very interesting because until recently I had never seen a giant redwood.  These trees are so spectacular.  I knew they were tall but didn't realize truly how magnificent they are until a recent visit to Oregon for vacation.  The next article I looked at was on Google Earth Builder.  Google Earth Builder was released in April to use geospatial data to make maps.  I didn't fully understand every part of the video on Google Earth Builder, but I was interested in the idea of it nonetheless.  The next part of April's blog that I read was the "Add Local Knowledge to the Map" which is funny because yesterday I mentioned this tool as one that I found to be extremely helpful and interesting.  This tool allows a person to search for a type of place or a specific place and receive specific details about it.  My example yesterday was of a pizza place in Knoxville.  It gave not only the address of Pizza Palace, but also reviews of the restaurant.  This is a very helpful tool! I like that Google Sightseer keeps us up to date on the new and improved things of Google, especially since Google keeps getting more and more talented!