Maps

= Maps =

Ideas:
This article is about [|23 Interesting Ways to Use Google Earth in the Classroom]. There are many ways to use Google Earth in the classroom, but one of my favorites from this list is to take a virtual drive. This allows students to plan a destination and see stops along the way.

In this article, there are approximately [|40 ways to use Google Maps in the classroom]. I like this website because it has a particular content objective topic, and then how you could use Google Maps for each different core subject. For example, you can use Google Maps for a Geographical Encyclopedia as a content objective. Then, for the core subject of math, you can use it to find volumes of a pyramid; for geography you could use it for tours of landmarks.

Samples:
Map of the University of WI-Oshkosh media type="custom" key="24350416"

Here is the walking route from the back door to the front door of a school, it is .68 miles.

I explored the history function in Google Earth. This is a picture of a strip mall and hospital in my hometown. This was built fairly recently, and you can see all the changes that have happened since the 'before' picture was taken. Before: After:

Places I've Traveled (See thought section for description)

Thoughts:
One way I would have students use Google Earth or Google Maps in my classroom is to create a travel autobiography. Students would create a list of the places they have traveled. It could be a list of places their family lives, vacations taken, or where they have lived. You can learn a lot about what a student knows by where they have traveled. I created one (see sample section) of the bigger places I have traveled to in the last few years. The purple represents my homes, the green is places I have traveled because of snowmobiling, the blue is places I have traveled for school, and the red is places I have gone on vacation.