flight day – iLearn Technology

Google World Wonders Project

June 4, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3591 views

What it is: Google has a way-cool new project called the World Wonders Project. Thanks to Google, you can now wander the Earth with your students virtually to discover some of the most famous sites on earth. The site makes a great addition to the history and geography classroom and opens your classroom to the wider world. Not only are wonders of the modern world available, students can also explore wonders of the ancient world. Using the street-view technology from Google maps, Google has made wonders of the world available to all of us at any time. Themes include archaeological sites, architecture, cities and towns, historic sites, monuments and memorials, palaces and castles, parks and gardens, places of worship, regions and landscapes, and wonders of nature. When you explore a site, you get Google’s street view of the site, information about the site, YouTube videos related to the site and Getty images of the site. The result is a truly rich experience that will make your students feel like they have jet-setted around the world.

How to integrate Google World Wonders Project into the classroom: Google World Wonders Project is a fantastic way to help make your students more globally aware. The World Wonders Project lets students really explore and discover the world from the comfort of their classroom. Aside from actually getting to visit these places in person with your students, this is the next best thing! Understanding the world and features of the world that we live in is the first step in becoming more globally minded. Seeing different architecture and landmarks from around the world helps students to better understand the cultures and people who call those places home.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, Google World Wonders Project is worth a hundred times more. Students can envision geography and history because they have a picture (that they can interact with), video, a story and a slideshow of Getty images. History comes to life when students can “put themselves” in the shoes of those who lived it. Geography is so much more tangible when it isn’t just a label on a map.

Building up global citizens is crucial. Below are three steps that can’t be skipped if students are truly to be globally minded:

Step 1: Encourage students to be global minded

Educational globe trotting is impossible without this important step. Students have to understand the overlaps in humanity. They have to be willing and open to learn not only about their own cultures, but also the perspectives, values, traditions and cultures of others.
Being global minded means that students know how to show empathy and compassion for others. It means that they know how to respect others ideas. Building global mindedness can feel like a chicken and egg scenario. Connecting your students with others globally is a great way to build global mindedness.Global mindedness truly begins in your classroom. Build a culture of caring, compassion, empathy and respect and it is easier to transfer to the wider world. Reflect often with students about feelings and attitudes. When students recognized the shared humanity in their own classroom, it is easier to understand that shared humanity in light of a larger world.

Step 2: Encourage students to be inquirers

Students who are inquirers are curious, they are willing and open to discover new learning. Kids are naturally curious, unfortunately in school we tend to “undo” this natural curiosity. We allow students only one line of inquiry (the one they have been given). We keep kids from asking additional questions (we don’t have time for that). We teach kids that there is one right answer (the one the teacher has). Without an inquisitive nature, being global minded becomes just another assignment to do. Deep connections with others aren’t made.

Step 3: Teach students to communicate effectively

It baffles me that this isn’t a larger focus in our schools. Communication makes everything else we do in life possible. Students have to learn how to represent their ideas and learning clearly with confidence. They must learn how to work with others, pausing long enough to hear the ideas of others.
There are two extremes that I often see in communication: 1. The student doesn’t believe that their ideas are worthy of words. They are shy or afraid of how they will be received. 2. The student finally gets the floor and doesn’t want to give it up. They want to talk and will go around and around with their ideas without letting anyone else get a word in edgewise. There is a balance here.

Google World Wonders is one way to help students understand other cultures, ideas and times. It can be explored by students individually on classroom or computer lab computers, or explored as a class using a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard. If you teach young students, make this an experience. Set up your classroom like an airplane. Take tickets, have students “pack”, serve an inflight meal, watch an inflight video about the place being visited, create a Flight Day. When you land in your destination, students can explore the Google World Wonder assigned.

Google has some great teacher guides and educational packages to use with the World Wonders project. Check them out on the Education page!

Tips: I am leading a session in Adams 12 tomorrow about Global education. You can see the website I created with links I am sharing here.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Google World Wonders Project in your classroom!

Flight Day with Google Earth

October 11, 2009October 11, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2948 views

What it is: Every year the second grade students at CHC participate in Flight Day. Each class ‘flies’ to a different country where they learn about the customs, architecture, and geographical landmarks of the country. This year we spruced up flight day with Google Earth. I created tours in Google Earth so that our students could virtually ‘fly’ from Denver International Airport to their destination (France, Germany, and Mexico). Before landing in the destination country, we toured famous buildings, landmarks, and points of interest in the destination country. Flight day begins with a re-arranging of the classroom. Chairs are arranged in rows to simulate an airplane. Desks surround the chairs and act as the airplane enclosure. Students prepare for flight day by creating suitcases (that looks like the flag of the destination country) and passports for their travel. Students have to go through security before they can board the plane. There bags are searched and they have to take off their shoes and be wanded. We have amazing parents who volunteer to act as the pilots of the plane and stewardesses on the flight. The parents are great sports dressing the part and following a script we have written. The Promethean boards displayed the Google Earth tour that I pre recorded for teachers. Each flight leaves from our airport. The features in Google Earth are incredible, using the 3D buildings option in Google Earth, students could actually see the white peaks of DIA as they waited on the tarmac. The plane picks them up from a terminal and the flight begins. Before flight day I had teachers create an itinerary of places they would like to see before the plane landed. I based all tours on this itinerary. Students flew to destinations in France such as the Eiffel Tower, Arch De Triumph, Notre Dame, Versailles, Saint Chappelle Cathedral, and the Louvre. With the 3D buildings and Google Street view options selected, we were able to see each place in 3D and then see a real 360* panorama view of each stop. During the flight, we provided students with in flight entertainment videos. Our videos came from Discovery Streaming and the links were embedded right in Google Earth. The videos were all related to the final destination country, we found some great videos of kids talking about what school is like in each country. Students were also served an in flight meal. Students traveling to France enjoyed a croissant, baguette with brie cheese, grapes, and sparkling lemonade. Each meal came served in a little box topped with the flag of the destination country and a note that said “Thank you for flying Air France.” When the flight ended, our Google Earth tour finished by landing at the airport of the destination country. Students disembarked the plane and got their passports stamped. Students then pretended to visit the local library and were read a story about the country. The students who ‘traveled’ to Mexico were greeted by Spanish speakers and singers as they exited the plane (our 7th grade Spanish students came down to make the experience more authentic). This was a very neat day for our students and is SO much better than reading about the countries they visited from a social studies text book. Tomorrow students will create crafts of the country and sample some of the local cuisine. They will watch some more clips from Discovery Streaming, learn a few phrases in new languages, and see some more pictures of the places they are visiting. You can view our tour of France here: France (To get the full effect make sure that you have turned on the 3D Buildings, Street view, Borders and Labels, and Terrain under Layers in Google Earth.)

How to create a Google Earth Tour: Google Earth is a truly incredible tool. If you aren’t using Google Earth in your classroom, you should be! It is a free download here: Google Earth 5. To create a tour of your own: Before you begin, come up with an itinerary of places you would like to visit.

1. Open Google Earth (I worked in Google Earth 5) and create a new Folder under “Places” 2. Under the Search type in your first destination. (Ours was DIA, our local airport). You can search by business name, city, or specific address. Google Earth will search for places that match your search criteria and drop place markers on the map. When you find the place that you want to add, zoom in and click on the “add placemark button” (the yellow pushpin in the top menu).

3. When you add a pushpin, the place will show up under your places folder as your first destination. Continue searching and adding placemarks for each of the stops you would like to make on your journey. You can add notes, links, etc. when you create a placemark. Make sure that the view of the feature is exactly the way you would like students to view it when they play the tour. In other words, if you want students to actually see the 3D model of the Eiffel tower, make sure that when you place your placemark you have zoomed into the map and adjusted the screen.

4. Under “Layers” you can select the features you would like to show up on your map. For our flight day I wanted students to be able to see the 3D buildings, Street View, Borders and Labels, and Terrain. You can select as many or few layers as you would like.

5. Finally you will play and record your tour. To play the tour click on the video camera play button which is located directly under the Places panel. This will automatically play your journey. To record your tour, click on the “record” button which is located in the top menu button and looks like a video camera with a red record dot. As I recorded, I would pause the play back of the tour and zoom in and around buildings and feature landmarks. When you press play again, the tour continues.

6. Play the tour for students. When we played the tour for students we paused often so that we could talk about the different architecture and land features that we were seeing. Pausing also gave us the opportunity to “fly” into the street view so that students could see what it would look like to actually stand on the street corner and look around. Amazing is the only word that comes to mind! (As a side note, the Louvre has an incredible 360* tour, be sure to check it out!)

Tips: Google Earth is preset to ‘fly’ quickly between destinations, because we wanted the students to feel like they were actually on a flight, and to get a feel for flying over the ocean to reach a destination I changed the Preferences in Google Earth. I delayed the amount of time that it took to reach the destination and tweaked a few other settings to get the tour to run the way we needed it to. The tours can be saved as a place and even emailed to other team teachers directly from Google Earth.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Google Earth in your classroom.