Google Earth

What is Google Earth?

Google earth is a program that allows users to explore planet Earth focusing on any location that they want. Details such as cities, houses, mountains and bridges can be seen in 3D. The program is extremely easy to use, even people who aren’t computer literate can use this program comfortably. All you do is type in an address, suburb, city, country or even a mountain and it will instantly fly to the desired location. Once at the location you can simply click and drag the mouse curser around the map and explore the surroundings of the location. For example, I typed in Mount Everest and it flew to the location in an instant. Google earth has the ability to show Mt Everest and the surrounding mountains in 3D and in great detail. Depending on the population and popularity of a certain location will depend on the quality of the picture. Most of the land is covered in a reasonable rate however places such as Melbourne or Las Vegas are high resolution areas and will have a lot more detail than other less popular locations.
Google earth allows many layers to be turned on and off at the users choice. These layers include roads, 3D buildings and landmarks, street views, borders, traffic speed limits on certain roads, weather and picture galleries just to name a few of the features.

Theory and classroom uses for Google Earth

Google Earth makes links to Kearsley and Shneiderman’s (1999) Engagement Theory as this tool “provides rich, authentic and meaningful learning experiences”. Google Earth is an educational tool, as it makes learning real and authentic with multiple opportunities for learning.
Google earth is an easy tool to get lost in. One minute you can be exploring your local surroundings and the next minute you can be exploring the other side of the world making it an extremely useful tool for students to use to learn their surrounding environments. They can explore the streets of Paris, the many states of the USA or the coast lines of Thailand, the options are endless.

References

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999), Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning, viewed 4th September 2009 http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm