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Google Earth By Lacey Dapra and Kaitlyn Gutierrez

Page history last edited by Lacey Dapra 15 years, 1 month ago

By Lacey Dapra and Kaitlyn Gutierrez

March 4, 2009

What is Google Earth?

Google Earth is a map of the world. It lets you fly anywhere on Earth by using images from satellites and aerial photography. Google Earth is used to view maps, terrain, 3D buildings, and satellite imagery from galaxies in outer space to the ocean canyons using mapping capabilities and Google Search. You can explore the oceans and view global changes with decades of historical imagery. Users can find destinations using addresses, city or country names, building names, coordinates, or by using the mouse to browse.

History of Google Earth

*1995: Larry Page and Sergy Brin meet at Stanford.

*1996: Page and Brin were computer science grad students who began collaborating on a search engine called BackRub.

*1997: Page and Brin decide to rename BackRub to Google. The name represents their goal to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web.

*2001: Image Search launches and offers access to 250 million images.

*October 2004: Google acquires Keyhole, a digital mapping company.

*2005: Google Maps is launched and features satellite views and directions.

*June 2005: Google Earth is launched.

Ways of Using Google Earth in the Classroom

Students can use Google Earth to:

• Create tours of their school or community

• Study climate change and the effects of global warming

• Track earthquakes in real-time

• Explore the animal kingdom and endangered species with National Geographic content

Teachers can use Google Earth to:

• Set the scene for geography, history, literature, astronomy and other lessons

• Adapt traditionally abstract lessons to the “real-world” by having students interact with virtual real-time data such as weather, earthquakes, bird migrations, etc.

Instructional Ideas

Elementary. Explore the neighborhood! Have students create a tour of their neighborhood creating markers indicating the location for their school and other locations of interest to the students such as the local library, the police and fire department, and parks.

Middle School. Have students calculate the volume of the Great Pyramids. Estimate the land area lost to Amazon deforestation.

High School. Have students explore the dining customs of a variety of countries by building an International Cookbook where users virtually visit the various countries using Google Earth.

Resources for Future Learning

www.earth.google.com

www.gelessons.com/lessons/

www.earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html

www.gearthblog.com/reference.html

www.eduscapes.com/sessions/gis/index.htm

www.google.com/corporate/history.html

Applications for Future Teaching

www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html

www.juicygeography.co.uk/googleearth.htm

www.gearthblog.com/reference.html

www.teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/index.php/2006/01/13/using-google-earth-in-the-classroom/