Posts Tagged “google earth”

Happy 2009! Hopefully all  year-rounders  went back to school with renewed spirit and vitality!

I hope you’re all enjoying this new year so far; so much excitement and changes in our world already.  I found some really neat educational challenges and building tools I can’t wait to share with you. Some of you may have seen these but for those of you who have not…

Google.com is very excited to again be hosting the Doodle 4 Google competition, where K-12 students are invited to play around with the Google homepage logo and see what new designs emerge. This year U.S. kids can join in the fun, to the theme of, “What I Wish for the World.”  These are some exciting times, for the US and the world. Significant changes are on their way. Google believes in thinking big, and dreaming big. I can’t think of anything more important than encouraging students to do the same.  This year, Google is partnering with the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum for the competition as they hope to encourage the next generation of designers and artists.  Registration closes on March 17, 2009 and entries are due by March 31, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time. Everything you need to get started can be found at the official website http://www.google.com/doodle4google/.  Only teachers or school employees should register. *Parents or students who are interested should contact their teacher to register them.

Speaking of changes around in the world; when it launched, Google Earth changed the way people everywhere access the world’s geographic information. Since then, Google has added many other useful features like 3D buildings, Street View, Sky in Google Earth, and tons of educational content layers. This week three exciting new features have been added in Google Earth 5.0. Touring in Google Earth… students can record and play back their own tours, complete with voiceovers! Plus, new historical imagery allows you to use a time slider to explore local and global changes over the past few decades. This is too cool!!! But wait, there’s more….you can now dive to the deepest part of the sea with oceans in Google Earth! This new edition allows you to fly beneath the surface to explore underwater canyons, see shipwrecks in 3D, and watch YouTube videos submitted by oceanographers and aquatic experts. Check it out at earth.google.com! So many cool projects; so little time you say. These are great center time, solo or group project building ideas. You can cover just about every subject area using these easy websites.

As a teacher I remember one of the hardest assignments for my class was always writing and following directions. Spice up the normal “write me an essay on how to do blank” by having a student partner follow the directions precisely and see if the blank comes out the way you imagined it to be or if it resembles nothing it was supposed to……

For those 7-12th grades, here’s another idea….How about writing a knol?  Knols are articles written by people who are knowledgeable about specific subjects. Anyone can write one and now Google is giving a little added incentive to show off individuals’ skills.   They’ve teamed up with the people at Dummies.com to give everyone the chance to write a how-to article about something they’re great at and possible become a bit more famous in the process.  Go to the official contest page, have students create their own knol about a subject they feel they know well, and the contest judges will select five finalists who will be eligible to have their knols featured on the Dummies.com site. The best entry overall is being awarded a $1,000 grand prize.  Submissions are open through March 23rd, 2009. If you feel this is a tad above your students levels try making it a class or class level contest instead. It will surely spice up the directions section of the curriculum a tad. As always, keep smiling and have fun. Life it too short for boring assignments. J