December 13, 2016

Workshop Leader: Kyle Brumbaugh

Link to workshop resources HERE

GOOGLE MAPS

I am obsessed with the whole suite of Google Geo tools. I started dabbling in Google MyMaps with my students last year. I blogged HERE about how I transformed a lesson using our class novel, By The Great Horn Spoon. In this story, a boy travels by steamer ship from New York, down and around Cape Horn, and eventually to Sacramento during the Gold Rush. In the past, I gave students a black line master map of North and South America and students would plot the locations of important parts of the story and draw a line to map out the route of the ship. Having the student complete virtually the same assignment using MyMaps, allowed them to interact with the locations and learn more. We were also able to zoom into the Straits of Magellan and students were able to understand one of the major plot points of the story where one ship takes a short cut and overtakes another ship that was sailing all the way around Cape Horn. Students were able to add notes to the pins on the map reflecting on the important parts of the story instead of keeping a handwritten reading journal. The students LOVED it.

This year, I plan to use Maps more when we are studying westward movement and the Gold Rush. I want my student to use maps to explore the major ways that people traveled to California. We will be able to trace the route of the Donner Party and see where they went wrong taking the so-called short-cut south of Salt Lake. I will also use Maps to teach students about topography. When studying pioneers and wagon trains, students always ask why they didn't travel across the country in a straight line. I will ask them to review the topographic map so they can see where the mountains and waterways are which is why the wagon trains traveled the path they did.

I also plan to have students use Maps to identify the locations of the 21 CA Missions. They will trace the trail of El Camino Real, and calculate the distance between the missions. In Google Maps, students can also view images of the missions they will be studying, and many of them are 360 photospheres which allow students to explore and feel like they are there.

One of the features that I enjoy using with maps is drawing lines and shapes.

Every year I make pounds of play dough and have the students sculpt topographic maps showing the four regions - this would be so much neater! Instead of sticky dough, flour, and paint, I would only have to deal with tangled Chromebook charging cables!

I could also have students create historical maps of CA using shapes showing what parts of CA were under Spanish and then Mexican rule before CA became part of the United States.

Students can use shapes to indicate historic boundaries of different regions of territories during different periods of history. The possibilities are endless.

One major benefit of MyMaps is that you can add collaborators, so a whole class or a group of students can collaborate and add to one map project.

Individuals can also learn how to take 360 images with a smartphone which you can upload to Google Maps via the Street View app. I blogged about how to do this HERE.

Adding pins to a map using data from a Google Form

One idea I plan to implement when my class returns to school in January is creating a "Fourth Graders on the Move" map.

I will accomplish this by creating a Google Form and then importing the data collected on the form to a map. Once students add entries to the form, I export the data to a Google sheet. Then I can import the data into a Google Map where pins will automatically be placed at each location.

Watch my screencast to see how easy it is to import data from a Google sheet into a Google Map. My mind was blown when I first saw this! Once all the data is on the map, you can change the icons. You can use an icon from the default palette or create a custom icon (i.e., a picture).

There are many other ways this idea can be utilized in the classroom.

• Flat Stanley adventures
• summer vacation activities
• track field trips and share experiences school wide
• google hangouts, mystery SKYPE class locations
• settings of novels read

GOOGLE TOUR BUILDER

I learned about Google Tour Builder this past summer when I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Google Geo Educator Institute in Mountain View. One of my fellow cohort members described it in our workshop as a Google Maps / Slide mash up and he was exactly right!

Tour Builder allows you to pin specific places on a map, add images and share it with others in the form of a tour where the viewer can proceed from slide to slide while reading commentary and viewing images as they move along the map.

It is amazing simple to create Tour Builder projects. One thing to keep in mind is that with MyMaps, you can share with editing privileges and have multiple collaborators, so a groups of students can be working on a project together. With Tour Builder, there is no collaboration ability. Projects must be done individually, or with a small group working together on one device, with only one student logged in.

Read my blog post from this summer HERE for more information and examples about Tour Builder.

I love the tagline for the program: "Put your story on the map." It is a great way to promote digital story telling.

Overall I found the workshop to be extremely informative and valuable. Using technology to help students experience the world around them help increase understanding and gives students real context for what they are learning. I feel the Google Geo tools are the least utilized in education and some of the most powerful. I will be sharing with my fellow teachers how to create maps and tour builder presentations to help students put their stories on the map. I will actually be leading a district PD session on Tour Builder at our district EdTech Symposium in February. I look forward to reading the posts of my fellow cohort members and hearing their ideas on how to implement these tools in the classroom.