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Links

• SCOCA
• OACHE
• SEOCEMS
• Ross-Pike ESD
• Ohio Department of Education
• eTech | Ohio
• Ohio Resource Center
• Social Studies Resource Center
• My Delicious Links

Explore (and Share!) Your World

Download the software from Google - it's FREE!

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

And get the files to work with:

• Lake Alma Pictures (This is a zipped folder of pictures - right click on the link and choose to save the file. Then you will need to unzip it.)
• The How To (PDF file)

Rationale

From the 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 larges 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...

• Google Earth Across the Curriculum from Richard Byrne, FreeTech4Teachers.com
• Google's Page for Educators
• Cindy Lane's Google Earth Resources
• Free Google Earth mouse mats! 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.
  GE4 versions: simple | placemarks

Picasa

• Picasa Support Pages
• Picasa Image Editing Tutorial (on YouTube)
  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!
• 2010 Winter Olymics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be held February 12-28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This page has links to the Google Warehouse KMZ files with the 3D structures built for the Olympics.

Google Touring

• How to create your own Google Tours
  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 enpties into the Mediteranean.

Integration - Lessons

General

• GELessons.com - A Website By and For Teachers.
• Explore Your Earth from Scholastic
• Google Earth Voyages, Virtual Field Trips: Resources from CTAP
• 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 tries to find the slope with the longest, steepest run.
• Road Sign Math
• Where Are We From?
• Maths in Las Vegas
• Real World Math

Language Arts

• Literary Locations
• Google Book Search
• Google Lit Trips
• Let's Go Global - Celebrating Our Differences, Exploring Our Similarities (cross curricular)

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 Histroy Timelines
• Google 3D Warehouse
• 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
• Resources for Ohio Mound Builders Lesson

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!

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.