Tip O’Neil, former speaker of the US House of Representatives, is credited with adage that all politics is local and the same could be said for news and current events.
It seems like almost all social studies teachers give some sort of current events assignment at some point in their career. I have struggled with this type of assignment because it is often given as homework and becomes irrelevant to the students. While tearing out sod from the front yard this morning, I had an idea about how to use google earth as a platform for current events. The way I have it here is envisioned as part of a Washington state history course (Seattle Neighborhood Blogs), but this concept could be applied to any collection of online news sources.
The basic idea is that students will download a google map file like this to access a series of sources. Students would then complete some documentation and analysis using these sources. The application of google earth could allow students to build understading of some of the 5 themes of geography in the process of doing their current event work.
Students would access this work through a class webpage or wiki. Check out the demo I set up on my class blog.
It seems like this assignment pops up in many forms at the beginning of the school year. I have been playing around with this as a way to teach students how to use google earth in a way that allows them to focus on learning the software without having to worry about learning new conten
Objectives
Working in google earth students will:
In order to do these things students will already need to be able to navigate in google earth and use the search bar to find locations. It is also helpful if they can turn on an off layers. In my mind students need a day to play with the software and a day to do the work.
Sample: Summer Vacation
Process:
Students will choose 5 locations that they visited this summer. For each location they will create a place marker with a short description of the place. They need to include at least 3 hyperlinks for the project. Each place marker description does not need a hyperlink. As an extension students can use html tags to embed the link into the text.
