Google+Earth

Google Earth is a virtual globe that allows the user to view true-color images that were taken by satellites and aircrafts. The resolution varies from one location to another. It enhances spatial thinking skills.

Google Earth has opened up potential for students in classrooms around the globe with its bird’s-eye view of the world. Whether you are a veteran teacher looking for new ways to teach old topics or you are a still an education [|student] getting ready to make your debut in the classroom, these exciting ways to use Google Earth are sure to infuse your lessons with plenty of punch. Find ideas for any age student and a handful of virtual tours that will not only help you instruct your students, but might even teach you something along the way.

Younger students can have fun with these Google Earth lessons and ideas.
 * Elementary **
 * 1) [|Meteors]. Have students locate the places around the world where meteors have hit, then use that data to create charts or graphs.
 * 2) [|My Summer Vacation]. Elementary students can explore geography while sharing something about themselves in this lesson.
 * 3) [|The American Revolution]. This activity is appropriate for elementary aged students and traces the paths of America’s founding fathers.
 * 4) [|Using the Ruler Tool to Measure in Google Earth]. This lesson walks teachers through using the ruler tool in Google Earth as a learning resource.
 * 5) [|Flat Stanley]. Scroll down to the May 4th entry here to learn how you can use a Flat Stanley icon to use in Google Earth.

These lessons cover a wide range of subjects and are just right for middle school students.
 * Middle School **
 * 1) [|San Francisco: visualizing a safer city]. Middle school students can do this group project that involves planning to make San Francisco safer during a major earthquake.
 * 2) [|His Dark Materials: Northern Lights in Google Earth]. Read Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights and complete this lesson that uses Google Earth to bring the Norwegian island of Svalbard to life.
 * 3) [|The Red Badge of Courage]. After reading this book, lead students through this lesson plan on the American Civil War.
 * 4) [|Great Explorers]. Study Lewis and Clark in this geography lesson using Google Earth.
 * 5) [|The World in My Back Yard]. This lesson focuses on cultural awareness for 6-8th grade students.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|God Grew Tired of Us: Migration and Cultural Interaction]. Students will watch a documentary film, then study migration and Africa with this lesson. Just substitute Google Earth in place of the 2D maps suggested here.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Travels of Odysseus in Google Earth]. Map out Odysseus’ travels with this fun lesson.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">These lessons are great for high school and college students and include literature, geography, history, and more.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">High School and Beyond **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Around the World in 80 Days]. After reading Around the World in 80 Days, have students locate 19 placemarks mentioned in the book. Have them select 19 places they would stop and explain why.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Energy Consumption Rates across the USA and the World]. Use this lesson plan to have students examine and compare energy consumption rates using Google Earth and several other resources.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Environmental Reconnaissance of a Salt Marsh]. Students will use Google Earth, field work, photography, and other resources to learn about salt marshes in this lesson.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|The Boxing Day Tsunami]. Explore the causes and effects of the tsunami that occurred on December 26, 2004.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|A new management plan for Stonehenge]. Have students create a management plan to improve the visitor facilities at Stonehenge.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Modelling sea level change on the Gold Coast]. Take a look at surfing and shrinking coastlines along the Gold Coast in this lesson.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|The Diamond Trade]. Explore the social and ecological impact of the diamond trade using this powerful lesson.
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|All Quiet on the Western Front]. Read this book, then study Europe and WWI battlefields.
 * 9) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Great Monuments of the World]. Teach students about monuments around the world as well as the significance of them.
 * 10) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Places Quoted in Shakespeare in Google Earth]. Visit 85 places mentioned in Shakespeare’s works.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">From literature trips to volcano exploration, these ideas are great for any age student.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">All Ages **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Lit Trips]. This site provides lesson plans coupling books with Google "trips" students can take. Lessons range from Kindergarten to college.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Asia: Continent of Contrasts]. Take a seven-day tour across the Asian continent with this lesson.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Explore the Arctic with Google Earth]. Have students explore the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with this resource from the Sierra Club.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth Outreach Showcase]. See how non-profit organizations are making a difference in areas experiencing disaster and war.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Monster Milktruck!]. Drive a milk truck around Google Earth here.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Spring Sojourn]. Teach civil rights history and geography with this lesson created by a real journey taken by a group of high school students and staff.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Global Vulcanism Program]. Study volcanoes around the world with this site and Google Earth.
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Real World Math]. This site is full of lesson ideas for teaching math with Google Earth.
 * 9) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Weather and Storm Tracking Tools in Google Earth]. Use these tools to study weather and even track storms.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Take these awesome and awe-inspiring virtual tours with your classroom and Google Earth.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Virtual Tours **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Art Museums 3D Tour]. Students can visit famous art museums around the world with this tour. Couple this tour with inside exploration when you visit the museums’ websites.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth Ocean]. Ocean allows students to explore the oceans and all that is within and around them.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|United States Capitol Buildings]. Move your state capital lesson beyond boring memorization with this tour.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Cathedrals 3D Tour]. Take students on a tour of famous cathedrals across the world with this tour.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Geosights of Utah]. The geological formations in Utah are like nothing else, so be sure to include this tour in your lesson plan.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Castles and Palaces 3D Tour]. Students can see castles and palaces in 3D when you take this tour.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Libraries]. Visit historic libraries with this tour, then visit their websites for even more learning possibilities.
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Major League Baseball Stadiums]. If you are looking for a way to capture the attention of the sports fans in your class, take them on a tour of these baseball stadiums.
 * 9) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth Sky]. Take students on a field trip that’s out of this world with this tour that explores space.
 * 10) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Great Green Buildings]. The buildings in this tour have received the highest level of certification from the Energy Department and offer a good tool for studying environmentalism.
 * 11) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Rome Colosseum]. Take students on a trip to the Colosseum with Google Earth.
 * 12) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Beijing Tour]. If your class is studying China, why not include a tour of Beijing?
 * 13) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Universities]. College-bound high school students will especially enjoy exploring the campuses of some of the most popular universities in the US.
 * 14) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|National Registry]. The American Institute of Architects celebrated their 150th anniversary with this tour of their 150 favorite structures in America.
 * 15) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Arc de Triomphe]. When studying France, be sure to include this tour of the famous Arc de Triomphe.
 * 16) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Skyscrapers Tour]. Visit the tallest buildings around when you take this Google Earth tour.
 * 17) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Rail Stations Tour]. Take a look at the past and present with this tour of rail stations.
 * 18) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Sydney Opera House]. Students can explore the Sydney Opera House from several angles.
 * 19) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Bridge 3D Tour]. Students can explore some of the most amazing bridges with this tour.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Explore, Search and Discover] - This web site provides short demo videos that explain some of the features of Google Earth. The demos show how to fly to any place in the world, find a local business, obtain driving directions, locate mapping and media content, and more. It also contains the link to download Google Earth (Free). <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth User Guide]- Provides a very comprehensive list of topics. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|The Sightseer] - Monthly Newsletter for Google Earth - Provides new information as well as many placemarks that can be downloaded. There is a placemark that turns the Earth into Jupiter and shows the clouds in motion. Another placemark shows how the continents evolved over millions of years. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth for Educators] - Provides an overview of the uses of the application as well as ideas on how to use google earth in the classroom. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth Lessons]- Numerous lessons on various topics. The lessons range from My tour of Spain, to X-Treme Geometry, to Drake's Circumnavigation and many many more. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth - Classroom Activities] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth and Discovery Education]unitedstreaming includes lesson plans. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth Community] - Provides an example of a project with directions to create a placemark. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth Blog] - This site provides information on how to use the application. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|AGSSS](Advancing Geospatial Skills in Science and Social Science) Provides information on spatial thinking, curriculum materials, activities (example Exploring Africa), and guides for student's laptop version of Google Earth. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth and Geoscience Education] - This site contains an introduction to Google Earth, some examples on how to use it, some Google Earth Datasets, and a lot more. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Decision making with Google Earth] - San Francisco:visualizing a safer city <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Hurricane Katrina Imagery] - Several images that show the impact of the hurricane. Contains before and after images and damage assessment.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">General Information and lesson plans: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|EduTechie.com]- Using Google Earth in the Foreign Language Classroom <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Paris most interesting Monuments and Places] - View with google earth <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Geography: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Earth Resources for Geography Teachers] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Literary Geography]: Using Google Earth to investigate Svalbard, the setting for Northern Lights. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Geospatial Technology in the Classroom] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">History: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Explore PA - The Google Earth Way!]Invites Pennsylvania teachers to participate in a project supporting PA Historical Markers. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|World War II placemark] - This link will give you the download to use in Google Earth. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Science: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Google earth is changing science - This is the title on an article that explains how biologists, meteorologists, epidemiologists, and others are using google earth in their work. To read about it click [|here]. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|GIT Ahead] - Take a look at Teacher Resources. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Current Volcanic Activity] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Crisis management with Google Earth] - This lesson has received good reviews. It is a role play activity on Montserrat completed with objectives and resources. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Major Earthquake in Indonesia] that occured January 21, 2007 can be viewed in Google Earth once you download the placemark found on this link. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Climate change]- The goal of the lesson is for students to understand the factors that can impact earth's climate. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|modeling sea level Change on the Gold Coast] - An activity containing the required resources. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Soil Survey Observation Points] - The soil survey took place in Massachusetts. There are photos of of the soil profiles and location. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|NEO]- NASA Earth Observations allows users see NASA datasets in spatial form with Google Earth. Data set topics include land, life, oceans, atmospheres, and energy. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|NOAA's Coral Reef Watch] Adds Google Earth Data <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">NOAA's [|Great Lakes] Environmental Research Lab publishes Google Earth Content. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Fly Tornado Paths using Google Earth]- You will be able to see the path of tornados from 1950 to 2004. Use the calendar to pick a specific date. Select the tab which says "Fly the Path" this allows you to download the path for that tornado and view it in Google Earth. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Near Real-time Severe Weather Data for the US] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Near Real time Ocean/Weather Data] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Google Ocean] - Contain marine data for Google Earth and Google Maps <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Stream Flow]- Google Earth files on streams. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|DLESE NY Landscape Regions]. In this site you will be able to download several files dealing with geology and environmental issues. It also contains a tour that introduces students to glacial erratics on Long Island, the Ronkonkoma terminal moraine, and the Rock Hill erratic. Coastal erosion and deposition can be studied by viewing dunes, beaches, and wave cut banks. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Investigating Wind Energy] - Students make decisions on a good location for a wind farm.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Foreign Languages: **