Google Earth

Google Earth allows you to go anywhere in the world to view by satellite images. I began my google earth adventure by typing my street address, and in the click of a mouse, I was able to select the country, state and area which I lived in and take a virtual tour around the world and was able to see an accurate picture of my house from a satellite view. I began thinking of how useful this tool would be to grasp the concept of latitude and longitude and also to get an idea of earth and where each country is situated.
Google Earth would be a great e-learning tool to use to show the students East and West Timor when discussing globalisation. You could demonstrate to the learners how one side of the island is “rich” and the other “poor.” They would visually be able to see the difference and then lead to further discussion about globalisation. I thought that this could be implemented in the classroom using the Learning Design Framework (AusInfo, 2003) by the learning tasks, learning resources and learning supports.

Learning Tasks: The students can research their own houses and see paths and routes to take to get from one destination to another. Learning tasks could be related back to their cultural assessment task where they can visually see what the land of their country of study looks like. Setting this purposeful task allows the learners to achieve many outcomes. This also relates to the Productive Pedagogies as the learning manager will be implementing strategies in relation to what is being taught and by accommodating for different learning styles (Education Queensland, 2006).
Learning Resources: The students would be offered a variety of resources to use to gather information and understanding of their country. The use of Google Earth also allows the students to address other KLA’s such as mathematics, science, social science and technology. The learners are able to learn latitude and longitude and geometry.
Learning Supports: the learning manager has the responsibility of scaffolding the learning experience to meet the outcomes, however the learners have the task and resources available to make judgements and conclusions of their understandings using this e-learning tool.
It would also be interesting to trace global landmarks on Google Earth as most students may have heard of different wonders of the world, but never really had the visual literacy to back up the knowledge they have had created.
Until next time,
Amy


References:

AusInfo. (2003). The Learning Design Construct. Viewed on 08/08/09 from: http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm

Education Queensland (2006). Productive Pedagogies. Viewed on 18/08/09 from:
http://education.qld.gov.au/corporate/newbasics/html/pedagogies/pedagog.html