A new series of interactive educational lessons using Google Earth includes five developed in partnership with PBS.
The PBS Education team worked with Fabian Baber Communications Inc., a developer of educational media, to develop Google Earth “Stories” with accompanying lesson plans. The digital content centers on the era of global explorers such as Christopher Columbus and John Cabot, providing interactive tasks for students to carry out as they follow guided tours of the explorers’ journeys.
Google Earth Stories are interactive journeys told through video, images and locations on the Google Earth platform. Other partners on the educational projects include National Geographic, HHMI Biointeractive and Mission Blue. Google highlighted these collaborations June 26 during the International Society for Technology in Education conference in San Antonio.
The related lesson plans are available through PBS LearningMedia. Each includes primary-source activities, a culminating task and an activity that walks teachers through implementing stories.
The five Google Earth Stories from PBS Education were in development for the past 10 months and went live on the June 26. The videos integrated into the Google Earth Stories were already available on PBS LearningMedia and had previously been used in classrooms.