Have students create their own descriptive maps

I have been playing with Scribble Maps off and on throughout the summer with my original plan being that I would somehow use it for map quizzes. Well I haven't been able to do that yet because it always gives the names of places, BUT - I have found a lot of other uses for it in class.

Scribble Maps is a mashup - that just means it's one big application - in this case Google Earth - that is "mashed up" with something else to make another specialized application. I have blogged about these before.

So here is what I am doing with Scribble Maps right now - my 8th grade World Geography students are doing a small project to learn more about economic indicators. After they learned about a few indicators and gathered some data, one of the steps in the project was to represent their data on a map.

Scribble Maps has been great for this - the students use different colors for different countries, they circle a particular country and then use the text box to make buttons for the different economic indicators. They also use the pinpoints to label centers of industry and government within the country, as well as points of recent conflict. It's unbelievably easy to use and there's no registration or sign up for the site.

Their Scribble Maps are just one part of the project - they can then use these maps in an online slide show they are putting together that they will narrate and explain the status of several chosen countries using the economic indicator data they have gathered and illustrated.

Scribble Maps can be saved and emailed, printed, or embedded into a wiki or blog.

It's Iditarod time again!

Those of us here in Alaska Gateway know dog mushing season is here again. On Saturday, March 7, Tanacross had their big dog races, the Great North American is coming up next week, and the last weekend in March is Race of Champions - and that's just in our neck of the woods!

As most of you are well aware, the biggie, The Iditarod, had its official start this weekend in Anchorage and then the restart in Wasilla. I know there are many classrooms here in AGSD that follow the race and run lesson plans and learning activities to coincide with the race.

For the EdTech portion of your classroom Iditarod experience, here are a few extra resources.

Of course there is the Official Site of the Iditarod complete with history, photos, live broadcasts, and current race standings. For classrooms who are doing activities with mapping race progress or graphing distance and speed of certain racers, this is race central - check it daily or several times a day as the information is always current.

For some ready made lesson plans and their accompanying resources, check out the Alaska Educational Program's "Alaska: Learning Taken to Extremes". They have a great Mushing in Alaska Unit with some nice looking resources.

The Discovery Channel Site has a nice selection of video shorts on the Iditarod. Last time I checked, there were over 30 of them to choose from - checkpoint info, caring for the dogs, interviews with the mushers, trail conditions, etc.

One other nice online classroom resource I will list here is Idita-Read. I know several teachers in AGSD have used this over the last couple of years and reported that the kids really enjoyed the competitive reading activities and the tie-in with the race. Idita-Read students rely on reading minutes to travel the distance along the trail from Anchorage to Nome.

*Flickr photo of husky by ozczecho

A different way for students to view the U.S.

SHOW USA is an online tool launched by Mapping Worlds. The website offers users a new way to look at the world by resizing countries on the map according to a series of global issues.

SHOW USA is ready to use - just select a subject from the top menu (People, Planet, Politics, Business, Living and their subcategories) and watch the states on the map change their size. Instead of land mass, the size of each state will represent the data for that subject--both its share of the total and absolute value. Roll you mouse over each state for a quick pop-up of state by state data. Underneath the map is a short explanation of the results, as well as a link to at least one book related to that subject.
After you select the subject and sub-category of interest the map immediately begins to change. For example, when I selected the Living category and the sub-category of Bigfoot Sightings, the map interestingly morphed to this;
Washington has the most Bigfoot sightings? Who knew?

SHOW USA can be a great way for teachers to visually show students data when studying ideas in geography, economics, current events, the environment, etc. It can easily integrate into any subject area as a useful and infomational supplement.

Students could certainly find SHOW USA a useful resource for research - each new map has an option to download or embed into a blog or website.

Young students beginning the study of U.S. geography often find it difficult to grasp the concept that Alaska is the largest, yet the smallest state. A quick click on the People tab and choosing Demographics very quickly morphs the country in front of your eyes - Alaska shrinks, while geographically tiny Connecticut dwarfs it. What better way for young students to really get this concept? Older students using SHOW USA as a research tool would find many ways to use these maps for comparison/contrast studies.

Lots of possibilities here - worth a quick trial run. Easy to play with, no registration or sign-in. Next to the title of this page is also a link to their other site SHOW WORLD, which offers a similar tool for viewing the world map.

Math and Google Earth is the Real Deal!

Wow! That is all I can say about this mash-up resource, so I'll say it again - WOW! Real World Math is a truly awesome website for math teachers grades 5-12 who want to push their math teaching beyond the text. Google Earth is the tool used to accomplish this.

Real World Math's collection of concept lessons uses Google Earth to present math topics like rates or scientific notation in unique ways. The collection of project based learning activities has lessons that requires students to work collaboratively in pairs or groups. The measurement lessons have students using the measurement tool in Google Earth to complete problem solving activities. There are also exploratory lessons which include non-traditional math topics like fractals, topography, or modern geometry.

Real World Math uses Google Earth which is interactive and 3-D. Students can add placemarks, annotations, photos and models, as well as measure distances and draw paths.

This growing collection of lessons (you can contribute lessons too) encourages higher level thinking skills, creativity, technology, and social learning.

Real World Math is very accessible for teachers and students - no registration required.

MetaCarta maps current events

MetaCarta is one of the new "mashup" sites that combines RSS feeds from Associated Press and Reuters with Google Maps to show current news on a map. On the left screen you'll see the most current headlines from AP and Reuters. A click will show the article and a map with all of the places referenced in the article. This is a handy way for history/geography/current events classes to do their reading and comparison activities that teach the interconnectivity of these events.