Here’s some examples of Earth Art by Year 7 as part of their work on landscapes (inspired by you know who)
It would be greatly appreciated if readers could add a one word comment to indicate their favourite picture.
Oct 272011
I can’t remember the original source of the Earth Art idea, and I suspect several people would claim the honour (though NASA is in pole position) but Searthing offers some pretty spectacular examples and the chance to contribute to the site.
A few years ago I was enthusiastic about getting learners to find interesting angles in Google Earth, adding a suitable caption using Big Huge Labs’ Motivator tool. Who can forget the classic “Cabbage of Jub”?
Sep 302010
Around this time of year I like to teach the essentials of weather forecasting to Year 8. I always cover the basics of the relationship between air pressure and weather; the objective being to arrive at a point where students can create their own forecasts using the BBC synoptic chart as their sole source of information. The pressure chart is available from the tab above the map, and the isobars can be animated through a four day prediction, allowing the students to make multiple forecasts.
Originally I used a web page from Juicy Geography as a weather studio background, but happily there are now better alternatives. The most recent one I’ve come across, via GMM, is a Google Earth based interactive weather map background.
I’ve tried to work out who the developer is, so I can thank them, but I haven’t had any success yet. It appears to be a work in progress, and I can’t figure out how the option to add your own logo works. Undoubtedly it’s a very useful classroom tool, especially in conjunction with a pocket video camera. Once the symbols have been added to the map, it will play through an animated tour of the UK, forcing students to make very concise reports in a limited amount of time.
The live weather layer in Google Earth, with the real time cloud and rainfall display, provides an additional source of data for making close-range forecasts of the next few hours. Here’s how to find it:
This year I’ll get students to complete two forecasts, both short and long range, and as usual, I’ll film them, ready to play back the recording on the day of their predictions. Students do find this an interesting and rewarding experience.
Visualizing A Safer City 2009
GIS, Google Earth, Google Earth lessons, Student work, Teaching resources
Comments Off
Apr 112009
My Year 8 class have been working on the Google Earth hazard planning activity: San Francisco: visualizing a safer city. I’ve added some of my own feedback to their placemarks, as the activity isn’t quite finished yet.
Basically, the idea of the activity is to locate a safe site for a new hospital, leveraging the full potential of Google Earth Layers, Street View and some custom overlays of various types of data.
Download the student’s work as a Google Earth file here. Then add the necessary Google Earth overlays to check the validity of their claims!
There’s a poll to choose the best piece of work. Feel free to vote or leave a comment.
Note to class – the comments are moderated, and one of you isn’t allowed to win anyway 
Loading ...Here’s a sampler of some new ideas I’ve been developing as part of an online resource to support the new GCSE AQA syllabus A.
Students are presented with an actual brownfield site in Google Earth, together with an imaginary development plan, represented as extruded polygons. They can demolish the buildings and create their own versions, or just edit the exemplar files.
Brownfield redevelopment - what would you do?
To demonstrate their understanding of the principles of sustainable urban redevelopment, students edit the KML with ideas on how the buildings can be used. More able students will refer specifically to the socio-economic geography and environment of Shoreditch to justify their ideas.
The actual resource contains a detailed KML file and lots of supporting files including images, panoramas and video, as well as an extended webquest style teaching activity. I hope to be able to publish a couple of exemplars here in due course.
The aim is to create an alternative to standard textbook-type questions, while promoting independent enquiry, creativity and spatial thinking.
In the meantime, Digital Geography is in a minor hiatus while I endeavour to meet the deadlines!
Nov 132008
While exploring the amazing new Ancient Rome layer in Google Earth I thought it would be useful for kids to be able to add “audio-bites” by way of annotation. The recordings might, for example, take the form of imaginary discussions taking place in Rome.
After a little research, I discovered Vocaroo.com This great little site lets you record a snippet of audio and upload it to the web. The recording can be played through an embeddable Flash Player. What’s really cool is that I found the HTML code for the player can be pasted into a Google Earth placemark. There’s no need to register to use Vocaroo; the whole process couldn’t be easier or more classroom friendly.
Tragedy!
Here’s the Google Earth placemark we recorded earlier:
Tragedy in the gardens of Lucullus
Obviously the technique has endless potential for further development. Maps that speak are an excellent example of neo-geography!
Dreaming New Mexico
Google Earth, Google Earth lessons, Teaching resources
Comments Off
Nov 022008
Google Lat Long blog has highlighted a great resource for teaching about energy issues.
Dreaming New Mexico uses the Google Earth API to invite viewers to witness the impact of fossil fuel energy generation on the environment,
… and then proposes some more sustainable alternatives.
This is a fantastic resource at KS3 and KS4 with lots of discussion points. Requires Internet Explorer on a Windons PC. Apparently the API will be available for the Mac any moment now….
Recent Comments