TPACK for Google Earth

Content: The content I am using comes from the Utah State Core:
4th Grade Standard
Social Studies 1.1
Classify major physical geographic attributes of Utah.
The students will also be learning about the significance of some of the sites they will explore in Utah.

Pedagogy: The pedagogy used in this lesson is very interactive and independent. The students will be able to go through this virtual tour on their own. They will be able to explore at their own pace. I think that this is effective pedagogy because the students will be able to take control of their own learning. They must complete the stated criteria, but if they would like, they can continue to explore the wonderful and diverse geographic attributes of Utah. I think that this is a good fit with the content being taught because the the students will be held accountable for obtaining the information about physical geographic attributes of Utah while they are independently exploring an interactive map of the world.

Technology: This lesson would not exist without the technology. The students will view a virtual tour from Google Earth designed by me. This virtual tour will show the student diverse physical geographic attributes of Utah. Google Earth is a wonderful tool to help the students realize how complex and diverse our earth is. This tool ties in to the pedagogy of the lesson because the students are able to move at their own pace through the tour and they get to take more from the experience than is required than they have to. This style of teaching helps students be intrinsically motivated to take control of their learning. The technology is a great fit with the content of the lesson because Google Earth is an interactive and accurate map of the world and specifically Utah. Because the students will be able to view terrain levels and close up satellite views of the diverse destinations, the students will get a more realistic experience than they would if they were to look at still photos.