By Amanda Connelly

Why should teachers use Google Earth Tours in their classroom? How does this virtual reality tool help and/or benefit students? How can this virtual reality tool help with global collaboration?

You may be asking these questions after reading the title of my blog. However, I am going to explain why Google Earth Tours is an important virtual reality tool and how it not only benefits students but also how it supports global collaboration.

Imagine you are a sixth grade history teacher. You are about to teach a unit on the Middle East and really want your students to be immersed in the lesson. You think and think of the best way to grab the attention of your students and it finally comes to you. You decide to reach out to a teacher in Israel and ask them if they are interested in working with you to help broaden both your students and their students minds. They agree and you both decide that the students will meet each other over Zoom after a few weeks of research on each other’s countries. You decide that you will use Google Earth Tours to help educate your students on the Middle East, with a focus on Israel. You have your students use all of the features that Google Earth Tours offers to take tours, view pictures, measure distance, and even create their own maps of places in Israel they would like to visit. As a result, when the students meet on Zoom, they will have some background information and know more about each other’s countries in order to ask more in-depth questions and enjoy getting to know each other.

I decided to use the example above to show how Google Earth Tours can be used in the classroom and how it can benefit students and even teachers. Google Earth Tours opens up a whole new world for students by allowing them to use virtual reality that can take them to any place in the world without leaving their classroom. By using Google Earth Tours, teachers give their students the opportunity to explore and travel the world without having to board a plane. By using this virtual reality tool, it can open student’s eyes to new places and might even encourage them to visit the places that they visit using the tool. Students truly need to be exposed to different parts of the world in order to grow as people, and by having the opportunity to use Google Earth Tours it help them become more knowledgeable.

I found a tiny article called, What on Google Earth!?, that included an almost 24 minute podcast and 7 minute video about Google Earth. This was done by a person named Shanna Martin, who explains why Google Earth is so beneficial to students. Martin provides ways in which students can use this virtual reality tool in different subject areas. Shanna Martin also discusses all of the features Google Earth has to offer and how they help open the door for more exploration of the world. Martin believes that Google Earth can take a classroom anywhere. She ends her article with a quote from Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus, which is the same quote I am going to leave you with as well. ” Where the road ends, adventure begins!”