The Vicarious Travelers
This is a lesson designed to integrate technology, social studies, reading, and math. I used this lesson with pictures from Rome, Italy. However, it could be used for any travel destination. After viewing photos, students will research places of interest (landmarks, structures, and art) to decide what they would like to see. They will choose five separate locations and then find and identify them on a map using Google Earth (or other online mapping application) and place a "pin" in each...
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This is a lesson designed to integrate technology, social studies, reading, and math. I used this lesson with pictures from Rome, Italy. However, it could be used for any travel destination. After viewing photos, students will research places of interest (landmarks, structures, and art) to decide what they would like to see. They will choose five separate locations and then find and identify them on a map using Google Earth (or other online mapping application) and place a "pin" in each location. With each location, they must also learn and record at least two facts. These will be used in their final presentations. Next, they will calculate the distances between each area using the Google program and compare the distances to familiar places within their own hometown for reference. Finally, students will present their "trip" through either a PowerPoint, Prezi, or other application to share their adventure with their classmates for feedback.
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Material Type:
Simulation
Technical Format:
HTML/Text
Date Added to MERLOT:
May 15, 2011
Date Modified in MERLOT:
September 02, 2013
Author:
Submitter:
Duane B.
Karlin
Keywords:
math,
distance,
reading,
technology,
Google Earth,
presentation,
facts,
calculate,
Rome,
travel,
research,
social studies
Quality
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Reviewed by members of Editorial board for inclusion in MERLOT.Editor ReviewVery good quality; in queue to be peer reviewedavg:
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User Rating:
- Discussion (3 Comments)
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User review 4.67 average rating
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About
Primary Audience:
Grade School,
Middle School
Mobile Compatibility:
Not specified at this time
Technical Requirements:
Language:
English
Cost Involved:
no
Source Code Available:
unsure
Accessibility Information Available:
no
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Discussion
Discussion for The Vicarious Travelers
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5 years ago
Dianne Stemen (Teacher (K-12))
I really like how you built in options for the students so they could have ownership over their project. There a many different types of learning applications covered in this lesson which helps cover the different syles of learning. This is a lesson which can be easily converted to various age groups and for any destination needed to cover in the curriculum. If I were a fourth grader, I think this would be a really fun assignment to do. Nicely done.
Technical Remarks:
This lesson only requires basic programs that can be found on any school's computers, thus making it useful to most school applications.
Time spent reviewing site:
15 minutes
5 years ago
Julie Sheridan (Teacher (K-12))
As a fourth grade teacher I think that this is an outstanding lesson for this age group. This is a high interest lesson plan, it utilizes several different technologies, Google Earth, Power Point, Google Docs, as well as taking screen shots, completing research and putting together a presentation to be shared with peers. By allowing students to create their own individualized tour of Italy you are not only giving them control over how this project plays out, you are also giving them an unique sense of ownership over the final project that is not always possible in a classroom. If students had the basic background knowledge of using a word processing document and power point I believe that the other skills would come naturally after some demonstrations and practice.
Technical Remarks:
I think that this would be an easy lesson to implement. The only difficulties might be the speed of downloads and internet searches due to the age of the computers at school.
Time spent reviewing site:
20 min
5 years ago
Stephanie Scofield (Teacher (K-12))
This lesson plan seems like a fun project to assign as a final project for learning about distances. Lesson seems to be accessible to all learners. The design allows students to become comfortable with new technologies as the teacher can customize the amount of time spent on learning the different programs utilized. Additionally, technology seems to be integrated nicely and assists students in learning new programs that can be helpful to them in the future. Finally, it seems this lesson plan will be very interesting for students to carry out and gives them an opportunity to use a variety of methods to present their information that they find.
Technical Remarks:
A variety of technology is used that is also accessible to most schools and thus makes the lesson plan more easily used for all.
Time spent reviewing site:
30 minutes