Post date: May 11, 2016 5:33:56 AM
Yr 8 are studying world populations. We started with Australia. They researched data on various towns around the country, then they submitted the data they found to me in a Google Form: the city name, population, and something interesting about the location. We then used the import function on MyMaps to import the spreadsheet of data. Students were then given collaborative access to the map to tweak their inputs and add their own specific icons.
When they felt they were ready, I tweeted the map out to the world and shared it on Google+. We got responses from Denmark, Indiana, Melbourne, Canada, San Francisco and Texas! Lots of people shared the map on Twitter and the kids were excited to know their work was being seen around the world.
It also gave us a chance to discuss ethics and etiquette of collaboration, copyright of images and videos, and research techniques. They didn't get it all 100% right first go, but it was a great first step and, after watching them do some tasks on paper before I got to work with them, the increase in engagement was fantastic.
It was a simple task that took less than 20mins to complete, but the interest, engagement and concentration on the outcome was huge.