Google Earth

For students Google Earth is a fun way to fly around the world and zoom in on places of interest. It can also be used to reach students that prefer nonlinguistic representations. Graphic organizers, pictures, diagrams, charts, and drawings are commonly used aids for visual learners and Google Earth can be used in the same way. Recently I created a lesson in which students created a Google Earth Tour that would highlight specific locations within a city. The students would summarize information about a building or structure and would attach these notes to a 3D model. As a group they would then present the various locations as a tour. In addition to showing the building models and self created descriptions, they also clicked on the wiki descriptions and user uploaded pictures to show different perspectives. While students enjoyed this project, the real benefit was for my students with disabilities. Obviously students who are visual learners preferred this lesson. More surprisingly Josh and my other students who have attention disorders seemed to be able to focus better. Maybe it was the change of pace, maybe the visuals made more sense to them, or maybe it was just fun. Regardless, the attention disorders seem to fade away. Josh who typically scores very much below average, was able to create a clear and well thought out presentation.