Before beginning these activities, students will need to review Boolean Internet Searches, copying and pasting, and view tutorials from the Google Earth Users Guide about Marking and Saving Places on the Earth, Tilting Terrain, and Viewing Layers.
All American Cities Knowledge Quest: Theme of Location
"Every point on Earth has a specific location that is determined by an imaginary grid of lines denoting latitude and longitude
" (NGS).Student Goals:
Identify the Latitudude and Longitude of Key Locations
Look for All American City Trends
Document geography work by creating a .kmz file
Activities:
Students will use Google Earth to create placemarks for All-American Cities from different years. Later, they will access and download the .kmz files of other students in order to look for geographical trends for these cities. An example of adding place marks and text can be found at the post for 2008 All American Cities Knowledge Quest at Google Earth Communities. Students or student partners should be assigned different years to map. The teacher can then save the .kmz files to a portable hard drive and add them to a single Google Earth project. Ask students to look for trends in locations. Statistical analysis can be applied to latitude and longitude. What was the average latitude for a current year? Is there a trend over time? These and other questions can be generated by the class.
Assessment: Grade Level Expectations will vary.
4 - Exceeds Expectations - Students have accurately completed more than assigned.
3 - Meets Expectations - Students have accurately completed assigned work.
2 - In Progress - Students still working toward completing assigned work accurately.
1 - Incomplete - Students have significant portions of work missing.
Landform Knowledge Quest: Theme of Place
Student Goals:Learn core geography curriculum
Apply Internet search skills
Create place marks with text on Google Earth
Present Google Earth movie of project
Activities:
This is a review of landforms and an introduction to Google Earth. Students can choose a number of required landforms and a number of optional landforms for their project. The list of landforms and pictures of the landforms on Wikipedia is perfect for this task. Make sure tht students remember to cite their sources. Web publishing may require additional permissions.
The list of required landforms can be easily created for individual classes depending upon specific course objectives. For this example, my required landforms are: dune, loess, archipelago, atoll, bay, inlet, and isthmus. My optional landforms are: hoodoo, spring, wadi, and crater lake. An example movie of this project is posted at the Google Earth Community Educators Forum. You will need Google Earth in order to view the .kmz file.
Assessment: Grade Level Expectations will vary.
4 - Exceeds Expectations - Students have accurately completed more than assigned.
3 - Meets Expectations - Students have accurately completed assigned work.
2 - In Progress - Students still working toward completing assigned work accurately.
1 - Incomplete - Students have significant portions of work missing.
National Standards from the National Council for Geographic Education
Essential Element I. THE WORLD IN SPATIAL TERMS
Standard 1. How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
Standard 2. How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.
Standard 3. How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface.
