Google Maps and Blogging, page
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Using Google Earth and Google Maps with Blogs/Wikis
Mark Collinson
Mullumbimby Public School
NSW DET
What did students do?
This is a small activity which formed part of a broader multicultural day. Other
activities on the day included researching and making traditional costumes, mask
making, cooking traditional foods, locating and retelling traditional stories, and learning
traditional dance. Guest speakers were invited to cook, tell stories, play music, and
dance.
In the library, children were invited to put a pin on the map to show where there
“ancestors” originated. The following activity is an extension of that. One that can be
shared with a wider audience (e.g. relatives in ancestral home) than those people that
walked through the library and saw the wall display.
How does this activity enhance student learning?
By enhancing the “wall map” activity, and being able to share it with a global audience,
the children were much more enthusiastic about the activity. The “immersive” nature of
Google Earth and the ability to zoom in and fly from place to place makes it fun.
Why Use Google Earth in the Classroom?
o To provide a sense of reality and purpose for learning within the K-12
classroom
o To engage and excite learners
o To help learners conceptualize, visualize, share, and communicate
information about the world
o To provide cross-curricular learning options
o To add a new dimension to learning environments not previously possible
o To leverage ubiquitous tools for learning
o To create active, exploratory, and empowering learning environments
o To give students opportunities:
o
to exhibit their learning to others
o
to use emerging technologies and digital tools
o
to communicate their research in a personally meaningful way (using
Web 2.0 tools)
o
to view their world from a more connected, global perspective
o
to enhance map reading and navigation skills
o
to engage more complex dimensions of human perception
from: http://www.alicechristie.org/gearth/index.html
Google Maps and Blogging, page
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What syllabus outcomes does the activity address?
From the NSW HSIE change and continuity strand…
The activity meets the aims of HSIE by enhancing the student’s sense of personal,
community, national and global identity;
It meets the objectives of HSIE syllabus by:
 providing knowledge and understanding of cultures in Australia and other
places, their diversity and similarities and how they influence people’s identities
and behaviors.
 by developing skills in acquiring information, and social and civic participation
By studying change and continuity, students should develop historical knowledge and
understandings about their heritages and the past, and how these have influenced the
present and may influence the future.
The activity fulfils the HSIE foundation Statement Outcome:
Students explain how different cultures and traditions contribute to Australian and
community identity. They examine a variety of local and other communities,
investigating similarities and differences including ways of living, languages and belief
systems.
Outcomes and Indicators
CCS2.2
Explains changes in the community and family life and evaluates the effects of these on
different individuals, groups and environments.
Indicators:
 listens to life stories of people from different cultural backgrounds
 distinguishes between primary and secondary source material when acquiring
information
 uses historical language when referring to source material, e.g. primary source,
secondary source, oral history, life story
 identifies the contributions of some significant people and events to community
heritage.
CUS2.3
Explains how shared customs, practices, symbols, languages and traditions in
communities contribute to Australian and community identities.
Google Maps and Blogging, page
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Indicators
• identifies diverse customs, practices and symbols shared by their local community and
all communities within Australia
• listens to and retells traditional, religious and ethical stories that relate to some
groups in the Australian community.
Here is an example of what we did.
The students were asked to find their country of origin. Speak to grandpa or grandma.
Record a story of why they came to Australia, or what life was like in hometown or
even how life is different here.
Then for this session.
1/ Find place on Google Earth.
2/ Put place mark on Google Earth and name it.
3/ Give a quick story 1-2 mins about the place or why ancestors left to come to
Australia
4/ (Extension) Email friend or relative the link to the map we publish, and invite
comment
http://mullumwriters.blogspot.com/2009/02/where-are-we-from_18.html
.
How is it Done?
A simple (one hopes) 3 stage process. (Oh yeah, you will also need a google account.)
1) Add place marks on Google Earth.
2) Import place marks to Google Maps.
3) Link the map’s code to your wiki or blog.
1 a) Open Google Earth. Right
click on my places and add a
folder. Name it (for example)
origins.
Google Maps and Blogging, page
b) Find your place of origin and
click the add place mark. Drag the
place mark to your point of
interest and name it. Repeat and
add more points of origin
c) Make sure all placemarks are in
your “origins” folder. If they are
not in there, just drag them in.
d) Right click the “origins” folder
and Save Place As a kmz file
(keyhole markup language…it
harkens back to the days of the
cold war….read about it on
Wikipedia).
2 a)Open Google maps
(maps.google.com) and login to
your Google account. Click my
maps.
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Google Maps and Blogging, page
b) Create new map, name it
origins, make sure it is a public
map, and then save.
c) With the new “origins” map
selected, click Edit,
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Google Maps and Blogging, page
d) Then click import,
e) Choose the KML file that you
saved in Google Earth, and then
choose “upload from file”.
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Google Maps and Blogging, page
f) Your Place marks are now on
the map.
g) All that is left to do is to get the
code and paste it into your blog or
wiki. Click “link” and copy the
html code ready to paste.
That’s it for the maps part.
Next to embed into your
wiki/blog.
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Google Maps and Blogging, page
3. a) Open your blog, go to new
post, and use your blogs specific,
“insert html” feature. All blog
platforms are slightly different, so
you may have to look for the
feature.
This e.g. is WordPress (of which
Edublogs is a variant).
Paste it in., and update or save
your page.
b) That’s it! View your blog/wiki.
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Google Maps and Blogging, page
Review
1) Add placemarks on Google Earth.
2) Import placemarks to Google Maps.
3) Link the map’s code to your wiki or blog.
As a follow up activity, I would get those children who put a place mark on
the map, to email the blog link to a relative or friend and invite them to view
and comment.
Further resources
http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html Google earth site for educators
http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/googlecoursework.html 10 ways you can use Google earth
with your students
Questions?
Feel free to email me
mark.collinson@det.nsw.edu.au
http://c21skills.blogspot.com
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