| Teaching Time with the Sun and Google Earth |
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 15 October 2008 05:48 | ||||
|
Lately, much of the morning news is focused on financial markets. The news people talk regularly and pessimistically about the stock markets in Japan, Australia, London, and Germany, just to name a few. For adults, it is easy to understand that when we are sleeping here, people in the other side of the world are at work, but this concept may not be as easy for children to understand. To make it simpler, you can show them in Google Earth, using the sunlight layer.
To turn on the sunlight layer, click the Sun button in the top Google Earth toolbar or choose Sun from the View menu. Once this layer is turned on, the current level of daylight is displayed for the place you are viewing. For example, the following graphics show the United States in Google Earth at 9 a.m, Pacific Time and also at 3 p.m. 9 A.M. Pacific Standard Time 3 P.M. Pacific Standard Time To change the time of day, drag the timer that displays to the left of the navigation tools to the left or right. With the sunlight layer, you can also teach how the sun comes up in the east and sets in the west, how the sun rotates, and you can also explain seasonal sunlight differences. This is especially timely now, when the days are getter shorter and the temperatures are getting colder. To show the sun rise and set, tilt the location you are viewing so you can see the horizon. Then, move the slider to see the sun in action. This works best when overlooking a coastal city like Seattle or New York. Tina Ornduff is a member of Google's Geo Education team, working to help teachers utilize the power of Google Earth, Sky, SketchUp, and Maps in classrooms. She writes developer documentation for Google Earth, as well as other Google products.
POSTED ON HOTCHALK.COM
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Comments (0)
 Write comment
           
|
||||
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Education News