by Melissa Wert and Scottie Gurgus
When reading a novel, you have that limit of using your imagination. From reading the text straight to what you interpret what you are reading. In this article, it presents students who read a novel, "The Kite Runner", about a man's journey to Afghanistan to Pakistan and then to California. The students used a great deal of Google Earth to envision the political and personal conflicts in the story. Some links on this site had informational videos of certain sites, famous landmarks, and cities. It also provided students to look up actual places that the man visits bringing the journey to life. Google Earth does provide a navigation tool so that students can refer to if they have any questions.
I found this idea of using Google Earth because most novels do provide a location in a the story. Google Earth would be very beneficial in a science lesson or history lesson. I would definitely use this in my classroom instead of always using textbooks. It is a good practice to locate specific areas and also be that extra resource for student learning.
It's good for the student's to know about the places they are reading about. It can help them enjoy the book more, and maybe understand it better. It's a good way for students to learn about different areas, seein the different locations and connecting it to a book.
ReplyDeleteI think using google earth is an awesome idea, and gets the students more knowledgeable about other places around the world. We hear descriptions about places, but being able to physically see the area would leave a lot less grey area for the imagination. I never thought about using this site, but it's definitely an idea worth using.
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