Use of Web Albums Combined with Google Earth for the Classroom

I frequently use iPhoto on my laptop combined with a projector to show students in my American History and Fine Art classes images relevant to the lesson plan of the day. It is not infrequent, particularly in my American History classes to jump back and forth between an image of an event – like Magellan’s ships – and a map – like the Straits of Magellan – to illustrate an historical point. In my Art classes I might discuss architecture – like that of Pompeii – and show painted depictions of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. In both instances, having images embedded in Google Earth can give a sense to the students of to where it is that I am referring.

If we are planning on going on a class trip to, say, the Fitzmaurice Ruins or Montezuma’s Castle, embedded photos in Google Earth can help the students understand where the ruins are and their relationship to each other.

Kestrel High School students go on many wilderness trips. When we plan our school yearbook, we can use Picasa and Google Earth to supplement the yearbook sections on wilderness trips by showing – instead of a just a collage of images – where exactly the images were taken.