I’m Feeling Lucky – Around the World With Google Earth

Google Earth is one of my all-time favorite tools for teaching geography and history lessons. Two of my favorite ways to use Google Earth in the classroom are outlined below. 

From voyages to games to simple measuring tools, the web version of Google Earth has a lot of neat features that can help students learn about the world. One of those neat features is the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button that is found on the left hand toolbar in Google Earth. Clicking that button will take students to a randomly-selected place in the world. 

On its own the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button provides a good way for students to discover new places. That said, students learn more through the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button  if you give them a little more direction than just “click the button and look around.” That’s why I created a little question sheet to prompt students to do a little research about the places they discover in Google Earth via “I’m Feeling Lucky.” My question sheet can be found here as a Google Doc

This short video demonstrates how students can explore Google Earth in more detail after clicking “I’m Feeling Lucky.”

The Amazing Race is the only reality game show that I’ve watched with interest for as long as it has been on television. Years ago I created a classroom game based on the same premise of the show. Last spring I updated that game with some new graphics and new challenges and then published it as a PDF on PracticalEdTech.com

Recording a Google Earth tour is the capstone activity in Around the World With Google Earth. There are a couple of ways that students can do that. Students who are using the desktop version of Google Earth can use the built-in recorder. Students who are using the web version of Google Earth can use a screencasting tool like Screencastify to record a tour

In this short video I demonstrate how to record a Google Earth tour in your web browser by using Screencastify. 

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Thank You Readers for 14 Amazing Years!