Google Earth, A Social Studies Tool

I reviewed Google Earth, specifically for Social Studies Education. I plan to teach U.S. History, Government, and Geography. Google Earth is an excellent tool for all three of these subject areas, especially Geography. It is an excellent resource for identifying everything from continents, down to specific streets in small cities throughout the world. Having a clear visual representation helps students gain a deeper understanding of the different parts of the world that they are studying. Google Earth's feature utilizing latitude and longitude would also help teach these principles in a classroom setting.

While this program may seem intimidating at first, Google provides an excellent User's Guide that is easy for new users to understand.

Once the basic principles of Google Earth have been grasped, teachers can utilize it in a number of ways. Teacher Cheryl Davis uses Google Earth and images to teach history lessons. Her demonstration provides excellent insight on how to use Google Earth for such a lesson.

Overall Google Earth is an excellent content exploration tool for many different areas of Social Studies.