I would recommend GoogleEarth to visual learners. Really, I would recommend this to anyone because it is so fantastic. I think Google Earth would help students understand landforms and any aspect of geography. Many times, students don’t understand the difference between a city, country and continent. GoogleEarth would help them grasp and visualize the differences between these descriptions. To better understand landforms, students could “fly” from Maryland to Las Vegas and describe the differences in landscape.
Students also need to build background for settings of stories, and GoogleEarth would also be a great way to do that. For example, the story The Cricket in Times Square takes place in Times Square, obviously. Students don’t always have a good picture of New York City, and flying above Manhattan would help them see the setting of the story more clearly. I think GE would help provide a sense that the world is bigger than what they see everyday. Perhaps a global view?
There is a Google Earth Educator’s Forum and there is a page containing lesson plans for GE. The possibilities are endless for teachers of all levels and of all subjects.
Archive for April, 2008
Theory or Pedagogy?
I really was stumped at the difference, and whether there was one, about theory and pedagogy. I know a theory is a principle or explanation, and pedagogy deals with the strategies of teaching. The two seem so close to me, and I often think they are used interchangeably. I struggled to understand why there was such a debate on connectivism. It seems that most people accept that learning is now more connected than before. I am not sure, though, that this is something separate. Learning has always been connected, but now we are connected so much more immediately and frequently. Why, then, the debate over theory and pedagogy?
I think what the busy teacher needs to take from this debate is that their students are growing up in a more connected world. We have to adjust our teaching to meet their learning styles. I think Seimens put into words quite well what is happening/needs to happen in education, regardless of whether it is a theory or not.
