Use of Google Earth for map reading. One of the problems which we faced in map reading is that students could not see the geographical features or landform represented on topographical maps. We can use Google Earth to help them see the actual landform and to relate that to map reading. The students will be engaged as they "fly in" to the actual place using Google Earth and compare the geographical features or landform to that shown on the topographical map. Learning will be enhanced by sparking their curiosity using authentic data which is part of Geographical inquiry. There is self-directed learning as the students are motivated to find out more about features which are represented on the topographical map and that of the actual landscape in Google Earth.
The teacher can add Placemark in Google Earth to help them see the features. The students can zoom in the area to have a closer look at the feature or to zoom out to study the spatial relationship. Using google earth, the students can tilt the view and see a more 3D representation of the feature as well. You can refer to my post on how to use Google Earth - http://ezitnew.blogspot.sg/2012/06/using-google-earth-for-geographical.html
Click here to download the Google Earth file for the coastal area south of UK
http://lily_lee68.webs.com/Coastal%20area%20south%20of%20UK.kmz
2010 2193/2 O Level Paper Map Extract of a Coastal area South of UK (Axmouth)
Google Earth can also be used in topics such as plate tectonics and weather studies. You need to have Google Earth before the following kmz files can work.
