Connecting with Google

Nothing more visibly captures the connectedness of our planet than atmospheric images of earth and nothing more easily accomplishes this than Google Earth (GE). We use it here in the elementary school on an almost daily basis. Using tools that allow us to write on maps (scribblemaps.com)
or embed video (http://jingproject.com) at spots anywhere on Earth, every point on the globe can become interactive. The essential questions of how the environment shapes our communities and how our communities shape the environment are much easier to picture when you are able to visually see the connections.

One atmospheric phenomenon I explored was the weather patterns across the tropic latitudes. The YouTube video on “global circulation” combined with GE weather overlay clearly shows the subtropical belts of high pressure with their associated dry climates. These large brown bands of arid land that resides around the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn run through Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and much of Australia. This is an incredible image that an atlas just can’t compete with and easily leads to class discussion on environment.

And from these images we can then zoom in and look at cities, towns, and villages and get a better understanding of the cultural difference and similarities we encounter.

There are some limitation with the GE weather overlay, or at least, issues that I could not resolve. GE states that the images are refreshed daily at 9:00 am GMT. It would be nice to have some sort of a time stamp to get an exact time and date. Also, there is no accompanying identification of weather systems to help describe what you are observing. For that reason, visiting MODIS Image of the Day at http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/index.php# is an essential aid to recognizing some of the natural phenomena observed from satellite images. This is an especially good tool for our introductory lesson on basic landforms. The photo below show a major phytoplankton bloom off the coast of British Columbia and the Olympic Peninsula

Across the curriculum, Google Earth has become an indispensable teaching and learning tool. Adding the TD resources from this class, as well as NASA & NOAA video, YouTube, Discovery Education, and other web 2.0 tools, our students are making global connection.