Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Goolge Earth: The next excuse not to leave the house?
It was amazing being able to visit Shakespeare’s Globe Theater today! I see great use for Google Earth in my class in helping to provide context for the setting of the literature we read. I visited The Globe in 2006 and being there was a much richer experience. Well, duh. That seems obvious. It also seems obvious that I can’t take 2 classes of 9th graders to London for a tour twice a year. This is a real and enriching alternative. I actually tried to use Google Earth last year in creating a project where my myth students were going to create a tour of Odysseus’ journey throughout Homer’s Odyssey. Of course I had technical difficulties and had to abandon the project in its beginning stages. I didn’t have the time to waste tinkering. I think that’s a shame. With everything that a teacher has to think about in a given day, something has to give. In this case, it was that project.
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I'll just betcha that there is a kml or kmz file already out there that shows the journey of Odysseus. And I'll bet someone we know knows how to search for it. I'd start with the kmz filetype first.
ReplyDeleteJust sayin'
:)
I can see the lure of Google Earth to view places I might never get to see. Some of the tours on the site illustrate many of the possibilities for environmental science, such as the tour of mountain top removal or marine populations. It's a great tool for my students to explore environmental hot spots throughout the world.
ReplyDeleteThat's one thing I have to get used to...not reinventing work someone else has already done. I make tutorials on Jing that are probably already on youtube waiting to be viewed.
ReplyDeleteFrustrating when a project doesn't work and there isn't time. I feel you pain.