Google Earth Evaluation

I watched Stephanie, Meagan, and Jessica's google earth tours.

I think that implementing a Virtual Tour in the classroom would be very effective if done correctly. Although I feel fairly comfortable with Google Earth I think I would have to further my understanding if I wanted to teach it to a classroom full of students. I think that time is a relevant issue. I found this activity to be very time consuming and although I learned alot I am not sure that it is time-effective. I do think, however, that this type of lesson would really appeal to certain types of learners that may not respond well to other teaching styles.

My Virtual Tour

My tour delves into four different and prominent world religions. Here is a link to my tour. World Religions Tour

Standard 1
Students will understand how ancient civilizations developed and how they contributed to the current state of the world.

Objective 2: Evaluate how religion has played a central role in human history from ancient times to today.

Identify key tenets of the major world religions (i.e. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism).

I believe that this will be a fun topic for the students. Exploring different cultures and religions will be enhanced by the use of google earth because it will heighten their understanding of where these religions are prominent geographically.

Virtual Plan

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Mahabodhi Temple in Bodygaya India	View photo of Buddhist temple. Note defining characteristics (geographic location, aesthetics of temple, etc.)	Visit the following site and record 5 facts that you learned about the Buddhist religion: http://www.buddhanet.net/
2. Temple Mount in Jerusalem	View photo of Islam temple. Compare similiarities and differences (geographic location, aesthetics of temple, etc.) between the Islam and Buddhist temples.	Watch the movie at the bottom of the blog which can be accessed by the following link: http://islamicmultimedia.blogspot.com/search/label/TV Show
3. Peruvudaiyaar Koil (Peruvudiayaar Temple) in Thanjavur, India	View photo of Hindu temple. Compare similarities and differences (geographic location, aesthetics of temple, etc.) between the Hindu and Islam temple.	Navigate around this site and write down three things that stood out to you when learning of the hindu religion/culture. http://www.hindukids.org/
4. Karaite Synagogue in Jerusalem	View photo of Jewish synagogue. Compare similarities and differences (geographic location, aesthetics of temple, etc.)	Visit this site and scroll through the pictures. Note the things that stand out to you and try to identify certain objects by their traditional Jewish term. http://sami119.tripod.com/shemaisrael/id5.html