technology with intention
Posts tagged Google Earth
Google Earth and the Olympic Coast
741 days
by Jac de Haan
in 7th Grade
7th grade students have spent weeks in preparation for a 5-day hike in the remote North end of the Olympic Coast. We’ve learned about the biome and marine life, measured out hiking trails, practiced knots and tarp techniques, become familiar with backpacking stoves and packing techniques, played kickball while wearing hiking boots, and more in prep for the trip.
In tech class we’ve been using Google Earth to examine trail conditions, weather and tide charts. We’ve been learning to create custom maps and embed video and photos as well as taking advantage of the databases of info already available through the software.
Pribilof Islands
757 days
by Jac de Haan
in 7th Grade
7th grade students spend the spring learning about the effects of globalism and consumerism. This year, teachers are working with NOAA representatives to use the story of the Pribilof Islands as a case study of the impacts of trade on a culture.
In tech we are easing into the topic by getting a sense of the location of these tiny islands and scoring the primary database of Google Earth for video, articles and photos of the area. NOAA has posted a film that discusses what has happened to the people who live on the Pribilof Islands as the world learned of the seals that live there:
People of the Seal from NOAA Ocean Media Center on Vimeo.
“People of the Seal’ explores the centuries-old connection between the northern fur seal and the
Unangan natives of Alaska’s Pribilof and Aleutian Islands in the middle of the Bering Sea.
Aquilina Lestenkof traces five generations of her own family’s history in this remote part of the
world, weaving together native, Russian and American cultural threads. At the heart of the story
are the fur seals. Like the Unangan, the fur seals are struggling to survive. As Aquilina says, “if
they’re not here, then we won’t be either.”
*Special thanks to community member Pam G. who introduced us to this topic.
Free your data!
924 days
by Jac de Haan
in 7th Grade
7th grade students have been using Google Maps in American History to plot important information about the 13 colonies. As a tech extension for the project, we’ve been playing with the idea of separating data from the programs we use to create it. In Google Maps for instance, we can take the data that lies over the maps and remove it.
Students learned about importing and exporting data, and tied those vocabulary terms to real-world economy and globalization. We then took our .kml files from Google Maps and displayed it in Google Earth, where we found advanced functionality such as the ability to record tours and narrate over our content.
In all of this play, Max C. and Owen found a really cool discovery. As far as we can tell, Google uses a grid or coordinate system to display data over maps and images. However, the data doesn’t care what the maps or images are, just that it is in the right location. Once we imported our data into Google Earth, the placemarkers showed up on Earth but also on Mars, the moom, and in the sky!!! This is a really need glitch/hack – we attached some screenshots:
Colony info overlay on moon!
Colony info overlay on Mars
Colony info overlay on Earth
6th grade blasts off!
1307 days
by Jac de Haan
in 6th Grade
Only half of the 6th grade made it to tech this week, because of conferences. We spent the day exploring the lab computers and learning about 2 programs that support the work that is going on in Science and STEM.
Microsoft Student has an interactive learning tool that explores how speed and angle effect orbits. We spent some time playing with the 2 variables to create circular and elliptical satellite rotations.
The rest of our time was spent in Google Moon (a feature of Google Earth). On the Moon, we found evidence of humans (decommissioned, crashed satellites), entered panoramic photographs taken by real astronauts on their visits, tracked the paths of rovers that have been deployed, viewed video footage on lunar landings from YouTube, and overlayed historic maps of the Moon’s surface. In the process, we learned to use Google Earth’s layers and navigation controls.
