Google Earth: Putting the World in your Students’

Hands

Pamela NewmanBucks County Intermediate Unit

October 2008

• Satellite imagery of the Earth that includes layers of information

• Free download http://earth.google.com

• Content partners include Discovery Education, National Geographic, Wikipedia

• Still pictures

• Share files

Google Earth

Ways to Use

• Searchable virtual globe of satellite images

• GIS-like map layers= Transferable skill

• Touring

• Combine with video, audio, image content

• Alternate assessment medium

1. Search panel - Use this to find places and directions and manage search results. Google Earth EC may display additional tabs here.

2. Overview map - Use this for an additional perspective of the Earth.

3. Hide/Show sidebar - Click this to conceal or the display the side bar (Search, Places and Layers panels).

4. Placemark - Click this to add a placemark for a location.

5. Polygon - Click this to add a polygon. 6. Path - Click this to add a path (line or lines). 7. Image Overlay - Click this to add an image

overlay on the Earth. 8. Measure - Click this to measure a distance

or area size. 9. Email - Click this to email a view or image. 10. Print - Click this to print the current view of

the Earth. 11. Show in Google Maps - Click this to show

the current view in Google Maps in your web browser.

12. Sky - Click this to view stars, constellations, galaxies, planets and the Earth's moon.

13. Navigation controls - Use these to tilt, zoom and move around your viewpoint (see below).

14. Layers panel - Use this to display points of interest.

15. Places panel - Use this to locate, save, organize and revisit placemarks.

16. Add Content - Click this to import exciting content from the KML Gallery

17. 3D Viewer - View the globe and its terrain in this window.

18. Status bar - View coordinate, elevation and imagery streaming status

Navigation Tools

Tilt

Zoom In

Zoom Out

Reorient to North

Rotate

Move

SidebarSearch•Enter a location name

•Eiffel Tower•Niagara Falls

•Paste coordinates from Wikipedia or another source

•Blarney Castle, Loch Ness

•Enter City, Country•Petronus Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Places•Save your work here•Each student can create and save folders

Layers•Great pre-made resources

Layers

Discovery Networks Layer•Tours•Road Trips•Interactive media

Take 5 minutes to explore Google Earth

Think of ways you can use it in your classroom

Integration Ideas

Personalizing Media

• To create a folder:– Right click on My Places

– Name the folder

Placemarks• Make placemarks be your starting point to

link to Discovery articles, videos, pictures and other Internet resources.

• Add a placemark

• Customize icon

Add a Description

1. Add an article, Limit your Discoverystreaming search to “Articles”

2. Copy and paste text

3. <br> creates a line break

Add Images

1. Add an Overlay

2. Limit DiscoveryStreaming search to images

3. Download image

4. Load file

Add Video

1. Find Discovery Streaming video

2. Right click the green play button next to the segment

3. Copy shortcut

4. Paste into description in Google Earth

Create path using Path or Polygon Tool

1. Click each location in order2. Navigate3. Close path or polygon box

Make a Path or Polygon

Measurement

• Show Spatial relationships:– Ruler tool– Pointer elevation display– View menu> Scale Legend

Differentiation: HTML Code

• Code for line break <br>• Code to make link attractive

<a href=“Paste copied Shortcut here">Click here for video</a>

• Code to insert image into a description box

1. Right click the picture in Streaming> Properties

2. Select entire URL and copy<img src=“Paste the URL here”>

Organize, Save and Share

• Drag content into a logical sequence in your folder

• Right click on the folder

• Save as a KMZ file on a shared server, flash drive, or burn to a CD

• Google Earth file extensions: .kmz and .kml

Touring

• Click on folder• Use play button• Control tours under tools

Play repeatedly for Parent Night

Don’t forget Google Sky…

Alternate Assessment

Are you starting to see the ways our students can produce work?

Differentiation

• Gathering information about locations to be marked

• Using GIS (Geographic Information System)-like layers to find information on map

• Customizing a map with placemarks• Composing and editing text in a

word processor before copying it to the map

• Sequencing a tour’s placemarks and image overlays to play in a logical order

Differentiation by Content

– Finding specified facts, e.g. when was this landmark erected vs. finding student’s own facts, e.g. why is this place important and interesting

– Open-endedness: find 2 landmarks vs. find as many landmarks as you can in this class period

– Difficulty of subject matter: Western European, North American, and East Asian countries have larger high resolution areas and more entries in the layers, compared to Central African and Central American nations. It is easier to locate landmarks in London, England than in Abuja, Nigeria.

Differentiation by Process

– Research using library resources organized by the library media specialist.

– Use Discovery Streaming videos and Google Earth layers as well as written text.

– For a country of origin project, interview relatives.

– Http://simple.wikipedia.org is written in simple English and is useful for researching very common topics. It features only 25,000 articles vs. 2.209 million articles in English at www.wikipedia.org.

– Nettrekker DI www.nettrekker.com offers articles organized by reading level.

– Put students in groups and try different roles: Internet researcher, Google Earth navigator, video evaluator, image locator.

Differentiation by Product

– Tour can feature or omit links, photos, video, text, HTML.

– Vary length of tour and/or specificity of placemark location (on landmark vs. on city where landmark is located).

– Present tour as an oral report, accompanied by a written summary, or simply as the Google Earth file.

Additional Resources

http://www.gelessons.com A treasure trove of tips, KMZ files and lesson plans!

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ Google Earth Community message board. Includes a

board for educators and one for students.

http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/dherring/ge/googleearth.htm

An educator’s site with more KMZ files and ideas.

http://creativephysics.wikispaces.com/Google+EarthUsing Google Earth in Science esp Earth Science

http://googleearthgoods.pbwiki.com/ Cindy Lane’s wiki with many online GE resources.

http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com Videos, images, encyclopedia articles by subscription.

Contact Information

Pamela NewmanBucks County Intermediate Unit

(215)348-2940 x1607pnewman@bucksiu.org

PowerPoint will be posted at www3.bucksiu.org/instructionaltechnology.