Google Maps is amazing because it allows you to find just about anything you ever wanted to find. You can switch between different views such as terrain view for our area in the Smoky Mountains to show the terrain of the mountain area. Also the maps features allow you to have a picture view of what you are searching for. For instance, if I wanted to find directions from Brooklyn, NY to Manhattan, NY with a view from my car the picture would show what the Brooklyn bridge way would look like when crossing over into Manhattan. With this you can also pan around and look at what you could expect to see on the opposite sides of you.
A few of the features I had no idea google maps offered was the ability to get more info and review a listing. Like the example given of the pizza place, I had no idea that you could get details of the hours and read reviews of the restaurant as well as review it yourself. The ability to claim the restaurant as a business owner as well is new to me. Creating your own maps was also another feature I had no idea existed. Google maps like the other google products allows you to share the maps with other friends and perhaps make map for a planned road trip. This will be something to keep in mind for me in the future. Also this could be useful in a classroom because the students reading Grapes of Wrath in my literature class could create their own map that tracks where the family travels! How cool.
The lesson plan I selected for further exploration of google maps was the To Kill A Mockingbird Lesson. The created map virtually took students through the plot summary, vocabulary, author information, awards information, and characters through "Stops" on the map. It was amazing. Each stop had significant information about each feature for instance the character Bob Ewell had a description and picture from the feature film. Another feature this lesson plan offered through the map was a quiz. Through the "stop" a link was provided to a quiz on Sparknotes that allows for students to gage what they just learned through going from point to point on the map. This would be extremely cool to incorporate into a classroom especially with novel units that have multiple aspects to consider when studying.
A second lesson plan that I examined was the social studies lesson plan on World War II Battle Areas. This lesson was a great use of the google maps and very practical application as well. The students go from point pin to point pin reading about the different battles and the point pins allow the students to not only read and learn the information about the battle but also to learn the geography! This lesson truly incorporates historical fact, context, and geography in such an organized fashion that many students would probably be able to retain the information about the different battles in their long term memory as well as their short term.
Overall, google continues to astound me. I thought that maps was simply helpful for traveling from here to Florida on spring break, but exploring this further has taught me there are so many more personal uses for google maps, but more importantly there are so many educational and classroom applications to be utilized through google maps.
Excellent!
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