Traveling the 5 Regions of Virginia -an Exploration of Google Earth-
1.Description of target population (grade levels/age range)
This experience is designed for a fourth grade classroom exploring the 5 Geographic Regions of Virginia.
2.Academic skills
Students will visually interpret the various landforms of each region of Virginia and make connections of how these landforms affect the products and industries of each area.
3.Summary description of the learning experience
Students will be introduced to the Google Earth Feature through teacher modeling of the feature on a SMART board device. Through this exploration, the students will recall the regions. Students will then “travel” to that region as the teacher reveals it on the map. Students will take note and discuss places and things they see there and be challenged to examine the landforms. Through exploration, students will be making connections to compare and contrast each region and how the topography differs.
4.Specific role Google Earth plays within the learning experience
Google Earth will provide students a real simulation in which they will be able to actually “see” each region to identify how each differs and further explore to determine how the landforms effect industries of the area.
5.Description of the prerequisite skills/experiences needed to successfully complete the experience
The students have background knowledge of the concept that there are 5 regions in Virginia and they are: The Coastal Plains, Piedmont, Blue Ridge Mountains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau. Students will also need to gain prior knowledge of key vocabulary: Product and Industry.
6.Listing of the types of problems learners will need to solve in order to complete experience
As young learners, students will need technical support as they use computers and will need to start their exploration with teacher modeling. The teacher may consider allowing students to first “free explore” through the site after showing the features to familiarize the students with the program. While working as a cooperative team, students will be given specific roles they will play to assume teambuilding. While working on the independent portion of the project, students will use the guide provided by teacher to support their learning.
7.Description of the types of support the students would need to successfully complete the experience
1. As mentioned above, students will first experience Google Earth as a modeled experience by the teacher. Students will recall the 5 regions and the teacher takes time to show students where exactly this region is located. Through prompting, students will notice and discuss major features of landforms including bodies of water, topography, etc.
2. Students will then have the opportunity to use the Google Earth experience in cooperative pairs. Students will use the knowledge gained of landforms to connect to the products and industries in each region…. Do they play a part??? That is for the students to explore and find out.
3. As fourth grade students, some structure will need to be provided in order to ensure students are on the right track and as a guide to where they should be starting their exploring. The following chart would be used:
Extension:
Students can take “snapshot” of the regions and write a summary of what they can conclude about this are:
Example of What Students Would Simulate:
We are visiting Virginia Beach. The beach is located in the Coastal Plains Region. You can see the Atlantic Ocean Bordering the region to the east in this photo. We saw that the land was flat. People would visit the beach to vacation. This would be an example of the tourism industry because the visitors spend their money in hotels like you see on the left, on food, entertainment, souvenirs at shops, and more while they are visiting the region.
Assignment 2: Reflections:
Reflection 1:
1. What worthwhile skills were learned and/or applied by the student in order to successfully create this project?
This student has clearly used many worthwhile skills while creating this project. The student was able to make an interactive, real simulation. He was able to make it “real” by not only introducing and exploring each of the 15 different poets but also explore exactly how their geography influenced the poetry. The student had to use critical thinking skills and also very complex technical skills to complete this project.
2. Suppose the student was in a class with a teacher who did not know anything about Google Earth. And suppose this teacher assigned the student the same type of project: "Write a report that addresses how historical and social references are made in the poetry of 15 different poets, and discuss if geographical location influenced the imagery used in their poems." How might this project be different for the student, and how might Google Earth make the entire process better (or worse) for the student?
As students, I think we often come across teachers who are “behind the technological times” and are simply not open to learning how it works. Unfortunately for this student, if his teacher is one of these, and he completed the same project as presented, it could be at a disadvantage. While the student does use extremely higher order thinking and skills to complete this project, this particular teacher may not have the skill set to even view the project properly. For the student, hard work would not be recognized. Additionally, if going a different route, the project may not have been as worthwhile for the student.
Reflection #2:
1. Papert asks the following question following his parable of the time traveler from 100 years ago who lands in an operating room, as well as a classroom, and sees two very different levels of advancement:
Why, through a period when so much human activity has been revolutionized, have we not seen comparable changes in the way we help our children learn?
How would you answer this question?
I would respond to this parable from the side of a “yearner”. While I do not feel citing the weaknesses of each and every element of the school system, nor do I feel there is a way around our problems like some described, I do find myself in the position to manage my own classroom in a way. In our education system, we sometimes need to veer away from the “norms” in order to make strides forward. I find that we are approached with a million new ideas every year at those lovely back to school professional development sessions. It seems that every year, we are going with this grand new “philosophy” or best practice that MUST be implemented in our classroom. Just went you figure out what you were supposed to be doing last year, they throw something completely new at you. There is not consistency. While these new ideas are wonderful, you can’t move ahead with an idea, make it more developed, enhance the learning in the classroom, if you don’t have the time and practice to develop it.
2. Papert seems to believe that video games are particularly educational. What have been your personal experiences with video games? In what ways are your feelings about the value of video games the same or different from Papert’s?
Honestly, I had never looked at video games and their advantages from this angle before. Papert makes an excellent point that in most cases, these games are the first expose children have to mastering a computerized device. As silly as it seems, these games DO make kids think and work through a variety of complex problems and test new ideas or methods. In a world in which computers are such a prominent piece of learning, business, and the world around us, kids do need this exposure. It also agree that through this “play” students are experiencing a rewarding and fascinating experience of learning new approaches to thinking and problem solving.
3. Papert asks the following question related to instruction:
In trying to teach children what adults want them to know, does School utilize the way human beings naturally learn in nonschool settings?
How would you answer this question?
I feel that as adults in the school system, we are under an enormous amount to pressure to teach to redesigned standards that heavily lie upon our evaluation of how students perform on testing instruments that we have little choice but to force students to learn and retain information whether it is what they want to learn or not. Bottom line; students do not like being told what to do every second of everyday. The power of choice is powerful. Students who take accountability in their own learning and reach outside the box to strive to explore and learn certain areas that interest them creates a much more effective and productive learning environment. In turn, when they are out of school, they have necessary skills they need to learn, problem solve, and be innovative young citizens.
4. After Papert’s story about sleeping giraffes, he mentions the possibility of the creation of a Knowledge Machine. The book was published in 1993. Do you think the Internet is the Knowledge Machine Papert envisioned in the early 1990s? If so, does it work the way Papert envisioned?
I absolutely see the connection Papert has made with the idea of envisioning a knowledge machine and how it is how the internet works today. The internet allows our students (and the rest of the world) to gain access to information of what everyone has studied and discovered about almost any topic you can think of. Students can explore the world in a way they once were not able to with the click of a mouse. Through the internet, we are able to explore and even further refine our knowledge to learn about topics that interest us. I do think the internet is what Papert envisioned, however, that goes without discussing one topic—have we (and students) become too dependent on such a thing. Take into consideration the discussion among the preschoolers about the giraffe. With our modern technology, how often do we really find such in depth conversations and thinking? As the adult in that situation, I can just grab my phone, laptop, etc, find the answer and immediately tell the students exactly how giraffes sleep. Or, in turn, a student who is older can also access such information for his/her self. Have we become too dependent on such a tool and less likely to do some good “thinking” first??
5. After envisioning the introduction of a Knowledge Machine into the classroom, Papert asks the following question:
How would the introduction of Knowledge Machines into the School environment compromise the primacy with which we view reading and writing-that is, children’s fluency in using alphabetic language?
Assuming the Internet, as it exists today, is the Knowledge Machine Papert envisioned, how would you respond to this question?
Without a doubt, reading and writing is the essential foundations skills that students must acquire. We are in a time where the tools we rely on to learn are ever shifting and growing. In this age of “Knowledge Machines” we must take full advantage of using these tools to not replace the basic skills taught, but rather to enhance them. Students need to take more ownership is acquiring knowledge they wonder about. In order to do so, of course students need to learn how to read and write, but as educators, we can put those skills to work by allowing students to using them to find the answers and develop new questions and thinking along the way. The use of technology is a wonderful asset to aide in this new age of exploration.