Geospatial lessons rock!

I use geospatial lessons all of the time in my world geography classes. I am lucky in that I have access to computer for all of my students on an everyday basis, so I really try to use Google Earth as much as I can. Google Earth can be used for so many different aspects of social studies, especially world geography. I had my students study the changes of the Aral Sea in Eurasia and map how the sea has shrunk due to human activities.

Colorado also has an interactive map of crimes for different neighborhoods that I sometimes use just to let the kids look at because it is interesting. One just needs to type in their address and a map with symbols pops up and shows the locations of different crimes. You can also set the date range so you can see change over time. This can be found at:
http://www.spotcrime.com/co/aurora

Access to computers is the main factor that makes this very easy to do in the classroom. I try to find time at least once a week to have the kids play on google earth or something similar. This is a very fast growing field in the workplace as well, so exposure to this in high school is something that makes students more marketable in the workforce.

Kate

Reposting My Ideas

I posted this as a comment under Alison's initial post, but I'm reposting it on the main blog now that I am able to. :)

Hey all!

I know there is a lot of potential for these little website activities...I looked at two that I thought had some relevance to activities we recently completed, and I'd love to see how they work next time around.

The first was using the Gmaps Pedometer. I wanted to see how detailed of a map I could pull up of Outdoor Lab, and was able to see most of the individual trails, not to mention the entire site. So I thought it would be cool to have the kids log on when we get home, take their schedule from the week, and track their hiking distance at least, and maybe their calories burned to see how active their week was. I tracked one of my hikes just as a test, and I think they would enjoy reliving some of their classes from an overhead view.

The other dealt with volcano maps from UNAVCO. We're dealing with volcanoes in our geology unit, and it would be neat for the kids to pull up maps of the volcanoes around the world and see how the layout of the world affects these structures.

Just a few brief ideas.

National Drug Intelligence Center's Dynamic Mapping

Hi, everyone. I work in the Training Unit at the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) and there is now a "Dynamic Mapping Initiative". I would love to get more involved with this initiative. It would be interesting to show policy makers how drugs are coming into their neighborhoods.

I hope to learn more about mapping in this class and from all of you. I can also talk to the individuals who made the maps on the NDIC webpage and I would like to work with them to develop training for our analyts. We could even incorporate the mapping into our communications courses. Then, we can have the analyts use the maps in their briefings.

-Rebecca

Thoughts on Geospatial Literacy

Hi Everyone,

As a teacher of the social sciences, I am not sure there was a site that I explored that I could not identify as having direct application in my classroom. Many of the sites have a variety of correlations to my content. The tools used to develop geospatial literacy can form learning and demonstrate relevant connections to be used in this process.

Obviously for World Geography, Google Earth and its many uses can enhance the study of humans and societies around the world. Alison stated it well in one of her posts this week: "I think this shows the human condition, we are all similar, some differences, good to point out before the prejudices set in." The more I am able to connect young minds to the cause and effect relationships throughout history, the more we can as a learning community address the prejudices and intolerance of a global society.

Another way that I see some of these tools being used is in the teaching of American Government. Many times when students are asked to identify patterns of human voting behavior or react to data, they can have difficulty analyzing and retaining the information. The ability of sites like Strange Maps and the interactive maps of election results, past and present, to deliver information in more creative ways than out of a textbook are a resource for me as an educator. For my students, these sites offer the ability to engage them in the content and provide avenues for dialogue beyond the surface level.

The boundaries for developing geospatial literacy are endless. Finding ways to incorporate them into instruction across all disciplines is a necessity for reaching today's learner.

Thanks,
Shannon

Blogging Still New to Me

Class,

This is one item we've had to do that I really still don't understand. I hope that I'm doing this right.

I looked at the map websites and I had a hard time using most of them, but then I'm challenged when it comes to working maps on the computer. I did like the Jules Vernen Jr. map. We study the continents in second grade and I liked how I could show them a blown up picture of each continent.

Vickie Watson

My hope is that this would fit into an integrated curriculum under both Social Studies and Science. One of my passions during my undergraduate work was in comparative analysis of ancient Chinese and Olmec culture. I did a lot of work with art, materials, and common symbols. My idea for a lesson is to have students use both google earth and google sky to examine the temple complexes at Angkor Wat and Giza. Angkor Wat is layed out to represent the Draco Constellation and the Pyramid complex at Giza is layed out to reflect Orions belt. I would want students to work in small groups to understand why the following items are important:

1) Why would people of ancient cultures want to build an earthly representation of the heavens?
2) Where these places religious centers or did were they used for observation purposes? Were they used for both?
3) What can be learn about the movement of heavenly bodies between the era in which these complexes were built and now (i.e. planetary wobble, the change of orbits of other planets, etc)?

Letters from Felix

We read the book Letters from Felix, a book about a rabbit that travels to several spots around the world and sends letters back to Sophie, the little girl who lost him at the airport. There are pages with envelopes that really open and letters that you pull out to read. There is also information about the cities Felix visits as Sophie learns about where he is. When I read it, I juggled a globe on my lap to show the students where we are and where Felix was. Google Earth and street view would be great to show the students where these places are and what Felix was seeing and easier for them to visualize it. There are some photographs, but photos from street view would seem more real for my students. Unfortunately, street views are not available for large areas of the world, but I'm sure that will continue to grow.
I was aware of Google Earth and its potential, but had not looked into it seriously. Now I have and will surely use it in the future. I just consider myself so lucky that I have an projector to show these sites to my students.
-Elizabeth

About google earth and UNAVCO

Hi, classmates,

Allison, thanks for the invitation I never got any email until today. That is why I couldn't write it before.
This is what I wrote on the comments:
I am amazed because of the possibilities these tools offer. For instance, in Google Earth I found Ancient Rome 3D. It offers a great opportunity to teach art, emperors and political history. One can also use it to create an authentic context in a theater play or to write an story. Kids can learn about history, politics or daily life imagining their own story as they walk through the buildings. In the near future, I will use these tools to recreate the context.
Another tool I will use is UNAVCO to make the geography topics more palpable to the students.

Susana

Diagramming auto accident scenes

Hey - I finally got it figured out. I had to accept the invitation. woohoo....

In the past if an auto claims adjuster couldn't get an idea of an intersection or parking lot layout, he or she would have to ask each of the parties to submit their own diagrams and/or photos. Now with these tools (google map w/ street view & google earth), my adjusters (students) can pull up the map & street view to get a clearer picture of the positioning of the vehicles in an auto accident, which should create more questions to ask about positioning and how the accident happened. All of this with the party on the phone, pulling up the scene diagram on their dual monitor. My company has blocked google earth via our firewall, but before they did, adjusters were using it in a similar way. This can be simulated in a role play in our training system.

Sanitation Struggles

One of my favorite units to teach is about disease. I discuss diseases such as cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis and others caused by worms that thrive in dirty water. We take a look at pictures of areas of the world that do not have their sewage contained in pipes but instead live right on top of it, literally floating around on it. These poor teenagers are always so horrified by this and it's a good way for me to create a better appreciation for what we have here in this country. Often times it's the first time they actually see that not every place in the world is like America. I would take this lesson and implement the use of google earth by zooming in to get an actual ariel view of different areas so the kids are even more convinced that these situations exist in the world today. We research particular areas (such as Zimbabwe which is what we would be focusing on in class right now because there has been a huge Cholera epidemic in the country killing 575 people) and find information on their living conditions. Then we could establish how this disease is travelling and what could be done to stop it. This lesson gives me a good chance to tie together social and economical factors with health factors. In other words, if the money was available and the sewage was dealt with properly many of these disease would not even occur. Money is often times not available because of poor social management in the country, etc.
I'd like to use one of the mapping software sites to create an ongoing map for the school year of disease in the world. Then my kids could really see disease transmission in action. I'm always watching the news for a disease outbreak and oddly enough it never occurred to me to keep track of it on a map during the year :)

Postcards Around the World Lesson

I originally posted this topic as a comment to Alison's original post. I am reposting it as my own post as Alison requested. This will make it more organized when we are making comments to posts. Thank you Alison for the guidance! I am learning so much.

My response was:
This is an amazing tool. Last year we did "Postcards around the world" and sent postcards to numerous different areas in hopes that they would send postcards back to us so that we could study different regions. I think geospatial mapping would be a great tool to show the kids more detail about the places we received postcards from. This would make the locations come to life for the students and we could determine just how far away each location is from us. What an exciting opportunity for the students and for me! I, too, will see if I can find some sites that we might actually explore. I will let you know what I find.

Arctic Exploration

Lesson Plan Number Two
I have always been fascinated by arctic exploration. What drew these guys (yes it was exclusively males, woman probably had more sense) to the farthest north or south to endure extreme cold and desolation just to stand on a nondescript point of the globe is somewhat of a mystery to me. But the literature of these adventures makes fine reading. Consider Scott, Shakelton, Amundsen, Cook, Mawson, Henson, Perry and many others.
Here are several suggestions for how this topic could be used in geospatial literacy lessons for high school students.

1. Students would read biographies and autobiographies of these explorers, or scholarly works of specific explorations. These books often cite latitude and longitude achieved by explorers as a way to tell the story and mark events of the explorations. Students will use Google earth, zoom in to a reasonable resolution of the south or north pole, locate the general area of an event, Place a push pin, edit the long and lat to the exact location of the event, add description to the pushpin, and click OK. Google maps will place this exactly where the event occurred. Students will create a path of push pins documenting the exploration and its major events. They can zoom down to a ground view and see exactly what it looks like.

This could also be modified for other explorations such as Marco Polo, the cruise of the HMS Beagle, or You decide.

Lesson Idea Number Two
The United States is currently engaged in two wars. Regardless of an individual's opinion of the them, it is a fact the US soldiers are fighting and dying in some very obscure places. Everyday in the news names and images of these places are presented in a limited scope. Students in middle school and up would use Google Earth to find these places and research why the indigenous people live there and what they do to earn a living there. "Earn a living" will have a totally different definition then we are used to here in the US. This will involve using the Internet to research facts about the people and the local customs, economies, religions, politics, but the inclusion of Google Earth will give a much better visual understanding of the region and will answer many questions about geography.

I had hoped that you all could create your own posts rather than just reply to mine. Here is what I see across the top of my blog window. (note the "new post" You may not see this but if you do, create your own post then our class can respond to it.

If you don't see it, we can just repsond to each others responses, not as satisfactory but will do. Someone let me know if you can post, I guess I'll see this next time I'm on. Give posting your own post a try if you can. Alison

Share your mapping ideas

For this weeks assignment, use a mapping tool to find an application to your professional life. Post your ideas and screen shots or links in a blog post. Respond to two of your peers posts. You will find this area fun and enlightening. Hope you have fun. Alison