Inquiry and Research in the Classroom

How can I use Google Arts & Culture in my Classroom?

Here are few ideas of ways that Google Arts & Culture can be used in a variety of classrooms. Just remember, some images are not appropriate for all ages. For younger, less mature audiences, I do not recommend letting students openly search the site.

Student-Driven Activity Ideas

  • Curate a museum exhibit
    • Artist or Historical Figure’s Life and Legacy
    • Political, social, or economic movement
  • Build a portfolio of evidence
    • Collect evidence to defend a point of view, perspective, or opinion
    • Identify definitive characteristics of
      • artist’s technique/style
      • person’s life
      • country’s history, or
      • historical event
  • Enhance teacher-provided notes or a presentation with student provided links

Teacher-Directed Delivery Ideas

  • Curate primary sources to reinforce or introduce a topic
  • Lead 360º tours of famous locations and museums
    • Videos can be viewed on the YouTube app with VR devices for a more immersive
    • Add the Street View links to a Google Tour (which can be viewed on a VR device)
  • Use the “timeline” feature within a Google Arts & Culture's topic to let students explore definitive characteristics, events, and similarities

Resources for Download and Links to Use

To help get you started, here are a few classroom activities to access or download for your classroom.

Click on the images to see different activity possibilities with Google Arts & Culture. For the Google documents, after opening the file, go to FILE --> Make a copy, and then modify them to fit your content and classroom needs.

Utilizing Google Docs to Curate Research

Using documents like these, teachers can truly "guide from the side" while students explore topics of interest or curated material specifically related to curriculum.

Provocation Lesson Starter

Use Google Drawings to create "clickable" links of curated artifacts and exhibits.

Space Exploration MMTS

Multimedia Text Set for Inquiry or Research

Use a game-board design in Google Docs to create a checkerboard menu for inquiry or guided research.

Battle of Normandy: DBQ prompt

Document-Based Research

Post a guiding question with links in a two-column chart. Let students research and write in small, manageable steps.

Curated Research within Google Arts & Culture

Using documents like these, teachers can truly "guide from the side" while students explore topics of interest or curated material specifically related to curriculum.

360º Video Media

A vast resource to help teachers find 360º videos to share for VR or to embed in presentations.

360º Interior and Exterior Scenes

A vast resource to help teachers find and share 360º interior and exterior sites for exploration.

Google Arts & Culture Themes

Share themes to let students explore specific topics

Explore Google Arts & Culture

Scroll through stories with annotated artifacts

Utilize the Galleries Feature

Create a collection of artifacts to answer guided questions, or curate a collection to enhance classroom lessons.

Free Lesson Plans using Google Arts & Culture

Eleven Google-source lessons for a variety of disciplines that can be used in the classroom or through distance learning.