Journey of a Lifetime – Take a Virtual Tour Around the World Using Google Earth and the SMART Board

Using their own passport, every Monday afternoon, 5^th grade students at Glenn Elementary are boarding on the SMARTBoard, flight #2012 to take  a virtual tour around the world. Over the summer, Mrs. Denise Holmes, 5^th grade teacher at Glenn,  participated in Digital Mania as an instructor and as a participant. She created this lesson plan putting together CMS, SMART Notebook, Discovery Education, and Google Earth. Using the laptop cart, her students are flying around the world without getting any jet lag!  The following success story was writen by Mrs. Denise Holmes...

 

The student’s in Mrs. Holmes’ fifth grade classroom at Glenn Elementary are going on the journey of a life time right from their own desks!  Every Monday afternoon a card is drawn identifying an important landform, country or historic site through out the world.  After we identify our destination on a large world map we prepare to depart.  The students get their passport, which also serves as their trip log, and after watching a flight safety video, take off on the first leg of their journey.  We begin by flying to the location through Google Earth.
Upon arrival at their destination they are to record the current time, latitude, longitude and elevation.  They turn on a number of options in layers and begin touring the area.  They record the geography of the location, paying attention to population density, areas of agriculture and routes of transportation.  The students enjoy going to ground level and have found that sometimes they can enter buildings or monuments.  They are able to look at photos that other visitors have posted.  They can mark their visit and have the location saved to their places menu.
After spending sometime exploring the site and recording the information in their log they exit Google Earth and log in to www.wunderground.com .  This site allows them to visit locations around the world through the eyes of live webcams.  They are able to discover the current weather conditions and learn about time zones, (often it’s night time).  The webcams provide a look back at the images for a period of a month and view video through time lapse photography.  Wunderground provides them with a “right now” glimpse of life in the specific location.
Our last stop is in Discovery Education.  By opening the Discovery Atlas Interactive Map students can select a location and fly to it, similar to Google Earth.  Each location provides a number of short videos related to the areas of culture, government, history and the natural world.  Viewing the videos deepens the students’ understanding of the lives and history of the people living there.
More information on the Google Earth – Journey of a Lifetime can be obtained by contacting Denise Holmes at holmesdc@unit5.org or Rita Gyires at gyiresrk@unit5.org.

Using Google Spreadsheets to Collect Class Data In Science Class

Problem:

Science teachers often need to compile data from many groups over many trials in order for the whole class to visualize their data.  This comparison can lead to in depth conversations about sources of error and best lab practices.  But collecting all of that data is a pain!  It takes too much instructional time to have each student write in their data on a single class-wide data sheet.

Solution:

 A shared Google spreadsheet allows each student to type their data into a class-wide data sheet at the same time.  This sheet can be shared over multiple classes, as well, allowing students to see data from hundreds of students instead of dozens.  Students can use the same sheet to comment on each others work, and chat in real time about their data.

How We Did It:

Mrs. Klokkenga and Mr. Weber at NCWHS conduct a lab in which their classes travel to a local lake and take water samples.  Each class is separated into six groups, each focusing on a different aspect of water testing.  They record data in the field and bring that back to share with the class the following day.  We set up a Google spreadsheet (click image for larger view) that contained space for all of the groups data from each class.  The spreadsheet was then shared to every student in each of the three classes.  When students logged in to Google Drive, they opened the spreadsheet from their "Shared with me" folder.  Every student in class (and even students from the other class) could be in the spreadsheet at the same time filling in their groups data.  Each student could see each others work in real time!  This shortened a process that normally could take an entire class period down to an activity that could be completed in only a few minutes.  That left time for more meaningful discussion about the data.  Not to mention that the students could now compare their data with the two other classes who also did water testing!  Check out the video below to see these features in action.

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In the video below, take note of the following things...

• Multiple classes are present in the sheet


• Multiple students are viewing and editing the document at the same time (right side)


• A chat is occurring between students and the teacher

 

Important Google Drive Updates!

For Students

Students often have difficulty managing the uploading and downloading of files from Google Drive.  In an effort to make this process much more simple, students can now download the Google Drive App for PC on their computer.  This will put a set of folders on the computer which automatically sync with their folders in Google Drive.  Now students can simply save their work to this folder, and know that it will be copied directly to their Google account.  They can also open all of their documents from this location, edit them, and save over their previous version.  You can find detailed directions on how to have students download this application from Stuview here.  This has been tested in various classrooms throughout the district, and the feedback from both teachers and students has been overwhelmingly positive.

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For Staff

Staff now have access to their own Unit 5 Google Account.  This account offers access to Google Drive, Contacts, and Calendar.  If you choose to use your Google account you can look forward to the following possibilities...

• See exactly what your students see when they utilize their Google account.  You can more easily troubleshoot issues that arise for your students.


• Share a folder with your students.  Anything added to this folder will automatically appear in your students Google Drive.


• Have your students share their course folder with you so that you always have access to the files that they have there.


• Create Google documents that can be shared with colleagues and worked on collaboratively.


• Back up your H: drive and have access to your school files from any computer with Internet access.

 

You can access your Google account in the following ways...

1.  Access the Unit 5 specific version of Google

• Go to Staffview (sign in off-site using your email address and password)→ choose your level → click on the Google Drive icon at the top of the page


• Enter your Unit 5 user name and Abcd1234 as your password

 

2.  Go to Google

• From the main Google page, click on the sign in button


• Use your Unit 5 username@myunit5.org and Abcd1234 as your password


• Once signed in, you can click on the Drive option along the top of the page.

 

You can then change your password by clicking on your name in the upper right hand corner → Account → Security → Change Password

If these methods do not work, please fill out a helpdesk ticket in order to have your account set up.  There will be groups of staff members (ie. IMC specialists) who will need to do this process. 

Finally, staff have access to download the same Google Drive App for PC that was described in the student section.  Because of our permissions on the network, staff members can simply download the App directly from Google Drive.  The steps outlined for students will also work for staff members.