Week 6 - Assignment 1: Reflection 5

Engagement this week required the use of a tool which we could choose from a list. I chose Google Earth as I can remember really enjoying using it when I was younger and I wanted to revisit it's use. The ability to zoom from my house in my hometown to a street on the other side of the world is still just as mind blowing. This program is a fantastic way to attend to visual learners and brings a global aspect to the classroom. It can be a great starting point or be used as an aid for a lesson.

• Click here to watch a recording of my use of Google Earth

Some suggestions on how this tool can be used in a primary school classroom are as follows:

Curriculum: History

Topic: European Settlement

• Students can map the journey the First Fleet took from England to Australia
• Students can "street view" important places of interest and compare today's world with paintings depicting the land at the time of settlement.
• Teachers can show a recording of use as a "hook" to a lesson
• Teachers can quickly search a town or place of interest for the class to view 

As I had not used Google Earth for quite some time it was refreshing to use it with a new point of view with the context of a classroom in mind. I plan to use it frequently in the classroom because I am confident that it is a powerfully engaging tool that students will find fun and interesting.

Week 6 - Google Earth

Please watch a recording of my use of Google Earth below:

After being given a selection of tools to try I just couldn't go past Google Earth. I can recall being a teenager when it was first released and being absolutely mesmerized by it. Having only have traveled out of Queensland twice and never out of Australia, I reveled in searching dream travel destinations such as Paris and Canada and experiencing the visual of virtually "flying" from Mackay, Australia to a luxurious, exotic place. As I am largely a visual learner I enjoy being able to physically understand my position from a global perspective - making me realise I am just a tiny dot in the grand scheme of things. 

Google Earth would be fantastic for the classroom within any lesson when talking about places in the world because a simple search and click brings up an interactive globe that can be viewed at a street, city, state, national or international level. It brings a global aspect to the classroom and can make it personal for a student when there is a visual connection between where they live and a place they are learning about.