In the web browser version of Google Earth there is a section called Voyager. Within the Voyager section you’ll find lots of pre-made tours, quizzes, and activities. One of those activities is called The Geometry of Castles.

The Geometry of Castles is a Google Earth Voyage that you can use to teach short lessons on angles and calculating line of sight distance. The voyage takes viewers to five castles around the world to illustrate these concepts. For teachers there is a handy guide available from Media4Math.

Media4Math has two other Voyages featured in Google Earth. Those are The Geometry of Sustainable Architecture and Triangular Structures. Media4Math offers helpful guides for teachers for both of those Voyages in Google Earth.

Applications for Education
For more than a decade I’ve encouraged teachers to look at Google Earth as being a tool that can be used for more than just social studies lessons. Sites like Google Lit Trips and Real World Math are dedicated to using Google Earth for language arts and math lessons. The obstacle to adoption of those ideas for many teachers was the requirement to install Google Earth on students’ computers. Now that Google Earth can be used in Chrome, math lessons using Google Earth are accessible to more teachers and students than ever before.

We’ll talking about Google Earth, VR Tour Builder, and other virtual tour activities in the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. Register here.