Web 2.0: Google Earth

A recent assignment of ours was to explore the uses of Google Earth in the classroom. For this assignment I was paired with a fellow LitEd major, Melissa Ihle, and we were not only tasked with learning the technology, but also finding ways to apply it to the classroom at multiple levels. While were able to find several websites that were applicable to the languages arts classroom, I would honestly see less of a use of the program outside of tracking a travel novel or providing a modern view of the place where the novel takes place. However, the content area classrooms would see a significantly more effective use of this software. History classes could easily utilize Google Earth to show areal views of places that battles occurred, where significant landmarks exists, and do virtual tours of modern cities with the 3D Model option. With the extended Google Solar System option, eventually students will be able to study the planets in science class virtually.

It's quite pretty, but less useful...

However, outside of these two, very specific classrooms, Google Earth seems to have less value in a language arts, math, language (not cultural), or alternative classrooms. I do wish I had more to say about this technology, but I unfortunately don't see much about it that I can apply to my two passions. Maybe down the road as the program evolves and I gain more experience, I'll figure out a better use for this.

It's quite beautiful from space...

However the use of the Scoop.it! page was actually quite interesting. While it seems unreasonably similar to Pinterest after closer inspection, it's a great way to create a page, especially for students, where there is a significant amount of information. This could be extremely useful when teaching students how to do almost anything, but I'll pick research papers for the sake of argument. If one were to make a "research paper process" Scoop.it! page, one could easily include "scoops" to pages that have scholarly articles, primary sources, how to utilize MLA properly, how to not plagiarize, why Wikipedia isn't a scholarly source, etc. With all of this information in the realm of cyberspace, there is no chance for the students to lose, "forget," or "never receive" the information on the subject and it is constantly available to them.

It would be nice to never hear "You never taught that" again...