Download the software from Google - it's FREE!

• Google Earth

• Picasa

• SketchUp (optional - you will probably want this one too!)

Files for this workshop - right click on the link and choose "Save Target As..."

• GE-Lancaster

Workshop Evaluation

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Rationale

2006 National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy

"Americans are far from alone in the world, but from the perspective of many young Americans, we might as well be. Most young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 demonstrate a limited understanding of the world, and they place insufficient importance on the basic geographic skills that might enhance their knowledge.

Young Americans answer about half (54 percent) of all the survey questions correctly. But by and large, majorities of young adults fail at a range of questions testing their basic geographic literacy.

Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map—though U.S. troops have been there since 2003.

6 in 10 young Americans don't speak a foreign language fluently.

20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It's the largest country in Africa.)

48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It's Hindu—by a landslide).

Half of young Americans can't find New York on a map."

Ohio Academic Content Standards (Ohio Social Studies Resource Center)

Third Grade

• Use political maps, physical maps and aerial photographs to ask and answer questions about the local community.

• Use a compass rose and cardinal directions to describe the relative location of places.

• Read and interpret maps by using the map title, map key, direction indicator and symbols to answer questions about the local community.

• Use a number/letter grid system to locate physical and human features on a map.

• Identify the location of the equator, Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle, North Pole, South Pole, Prime Meridian, the tropics and the hemispheres on maps and globes.

Fourth Grade

• Use a linear scale to measure the distance between places on a map.

• Use cardinal and intermediate directions to describe the relative location of places.

• Describe the location of Ohio relative to other states and countries.

• Use maps to identify the location of major physical and human features of Ohio including: Lake Erie; Rivers; The Appalachian Plateau; Bordering states; The capital city; Other major cities

Fifth Grade

• Use coordinates of latitude and longitude to determine the absolute location of points in North America.

• Use maps to identify the location of: The three largest countries of North America; The 50 states of the United States; The Rocky and Appalachian Mountain systems; The Mississippi, Rio Grande and St. Lawrence Rivers; The Great Lakes

How-To's and other resources...

• ITSCO's Picasa-Google Earth Tutorial (2.3MB PDF)

• Conference PowerPoint Presentation

• Google's Page for Educators

• Cindy Lane's GE Resources (Lindbergh School District, MO)

Picasa

• Picasa Support Pages

• Picasa Tutorial from Google Video
  If you have never used Picasa and need a program to manage all your digital photos, this tutorial is for you. From downloading and installing the software through file management and creating albums, this tutorial will get you started with Picasa (it is kind of grainy at full size, but still worth watching).

• Picasa Image Editing Tutorial
  This tutorial will help you learn to make your photos POP with some simple adjustments!

Google Earth

• Google Earth Help Pages

• Using Google Earth - from John Gardiner, an employee of Google and author of the Google Earth User Guide.

• Juicy Geography's Google Earth Page for Teachers
  Free Juicy Geography Google Earth help sheets! Print them off and laminate back to back so that students have a simple guide to the program. One side covers the basics, the other, more advanced skills. Easily editable Word documents. Use them as mouse mats!
  

Google Touring

• Example: The River Nile Tour
  This Google Tour takes you from the source of the Nile River (the Blue Nile and the White Nile), through the major confluences and to the delta where it empties into the Mediterranean.

Integration - Lessons

General

• GELessons.com - A Web Site By and For Teachers.

• Explore Your Earth from Scholastic

• Google Earth Community: Educators

• Video Tours of the US National Parks from Discovery

• Google Earth Classroom Wiki

Math

• Extreme Triangles - Students select a ski slope at a North American Resort and try to find the slope with the longest, steepest run.

• Road Sign Math

• Where Are We From - Students collect and analyze data and learn about mean, median and mode

• Maths in Las Vegas (or any city) - Identify geometric shapes, determine area of a parking lot, percentage of filled parking spaces, collect data from web cams (count cars, pedestrians, etc)

• Real World Math - lessons for using GE in the math classroom

Language Arts

• Literary Locations (temporarily down)

• Google Book Search

• Google Lit Trips

• Storybook Settings by Satellite

• Let's Go Global - Celebrating Our Differences, Exploring Our Similarities (cross curricular)

• Google Books - The Complete Plays of Shakespeare (in the summary section on the right, click on "More About This Book" and you'll find all the placemarks for places mentioned in the work - same applies to all the books they have online, incredible resource!!)

Science

• Smithsonian Institute's Global Volcanism Project

• Google Earth for Earth Science

• Endangered Planet Project (Grades 3-5)

• America's Everglades - Lessons include use of Google Earth as a tool

• Weather Satellite Animations

Social Studies

• TimeRef: Medieval History Timelines
  Google Earth 3D Models and Placemarks
  

• Ancient Monuments Placemarks
  Includes Serpent Mound and Portsmouth Earthworks as well as other Ohio sites

• North American Explorers - Students create presentations of the routes that Viking, French and English explorers had taken to North America and explain the reason for their journeys

KML/KMZ Files in Google Maps

If you have posted your KMZ file on the web so that it has a URL, you can type the URL in the search box at Google Maps and display your KMZ or KML file in a web browser! Here is an example:

• The Wellston Bike Path KMZ file viewed in Google Maps

TIP: In order to conserve resources on your computer, when you find a KML/KMZ file that you want to use in your classroom, download it to a folder you have created on your desktop or in your documents folder and don't save it to My Places inside Google Earth. If you keep the program streamlined (not so many placemarks to open at launch) you will have a smoother experience and you can always open the KML/KMZ files from that folder.