Where Would You Like to Go Today? Exploring Google’s Mapping Tools to Promote Creation in the Classroom

One of the things I enjoy about summers as an educator is that we have a little more time to seek out new learning. For me this takes many different forms. I usually read some new books over the summer, I often take a class or two, and I attend a few conferences or workshops. I also enjoy the opportunity to facilitate sessions at conferences or workshops. Not only does this help me feel that I am contributing to the learning of others, but I always gain new knowledge and some tips and tricks from participants as well.

In the last few weeks I've had several opportunities to facilitate professional learning sessions for educators. I helped lead two workshops designed to assist teachers as they move toward implementation of Iowa's new Social Studies Standards and I've been a part of two different conferences. At each of these conferences I helped facilitate sessions on using Google's mapping tools to promote student creation in the classroom. This is a perfect fit for my interests and my dual roles as an Instructional Technology Consultant and a Social Studies Consultant. As an added bonus, my co-presenter for both of these sessions was my wife. We've both been in education for 20 years and we've presented at many conferences and professional learning sessions, but until now we had never presented together.

Our goal was to present a session to demonstrate uses of Google My Maps, Tour Builder, and Tour Creator with a focus on creation over consumption. Map skills are important for students, but we wanted to demonstrate how we can move beyond map quizzes and simple recall to get students more involved in their learning. These tools can help build mental maps as students emphasize location, place, analysis, and stories in their use of maps. We chose to focus on these Google tools because of their simplicity and due to the fact that most districts in Iowa utilize Google's G Suite for Education. We also took advantage of the immersive capabilities of Tour Creator by importing tours into Google Expeditions and viewing them with virtual reality goggles.

Our first session was at the Heart of Innovation Summer Summit. This event involved about 100 area educators and was meant to provide a free learning opportunity through Heartland AEA as well as serving as a kick-off for those who choose to take part in our webinar series and learning tracks that will be available throughout the 2019-2020 school year. This event, the process of putting it together, and our planning for a year of learning deserve more than a quick mention, so I'll plan another post to offer more explanation.

Our second session was at the Best Practices in Social Studies Institute. This is a free, two-day event hosted by Iowa's Department of Education to provide an opportunity for social studies professional learning connected to best practices with a focus on helping teachers move toward implementation of Iowa's new Social Studies Standards.

Both sessions were well attended and seemed to go very smoothly. We heard many positive comments from those in attendance and conference reflection surveys mentioned our sessions as a positive experience. We made a few tweaks between the two sessions to allow for more exploration of tools by participants and more focus on instructional uses of the mapping tools.

The slides presentation we used to facilitate these sessions is included below.

I would love to hear feedback on  our presentation as well as other ideas for using Google My Maps, Tour Builder, and Tour Creator in the classroom. Please leave comments below or connect with me on Twitter to share your thoughts on our presentation, these tools, and summer learning.

Finding Jewels in an Oyster - Pearl Harbor Lesson Ideas

With tomorrow being the 75^th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor I’ve been thinking about strategies for teaching the “day of infamy.” My goals in teaching about Pearl Harbor have always been for students to discover the reasons for the attack, to recognize the shock and fear many Americans felt as a result of the attack, and to realize that despite its devastation, this attack did not cripple American efforts, but instead united the country behind the war effort.

Alston, Charles Henry. "REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR - WORK - FIGHT- SACRIFICE!!" / "WE'LL REMEMBER - AND BY GOD, YOU WONT FORGET!!" Digital image. Wikimedia Commons. N.p., 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2016.

It is essential for history teachers to include primary sources in lessons to give students a chance to experience the role of a historian. Primary source analysis provides an important opportunity for students to practice critical thinking skills and to learn how to piece together information for themselves. I’ve utilized several different approaches for teaching Pearl Harbor with primary sources, but one of my favorites is simply asking students to analyze sources to determine why Japan chose to attack the United States. This creates a sense of a mystery for students as they attempt to discover the reasons for the attack.

I have searched and compiled primary source sets in the past, but there are many pre-assembled primary source sets available on this topic. I enjoyed using the set put together by the DBQ Project as part of their Why did Japan bomb Pearl Harbor Mini-Q (although this does require purchase of the mini-q). I find that DBQs are an excellent way to gather primary sources for class activities. The sources in DBQs are already excerpted to a short, manageable size and can easily be adapted to a number of classroom lessons. A quick search for “Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor DBQ” yields many results with a number of valuable primary sources that can be used with the DBQs they were compiled for or for other classroom activities.

I also like to have students analyze firsthand accounts of the attack. I want my students to realize that history involves real people who aren’t all that different from them. Eyewitness accounts help to reinforce this reality. One such source is Ginger’s Diary. I like this account because it is written by a 17-year-old girl, making it something students can relate to.  Essential Pearl Harbor includes several other similar accounts, this website also has a number of other valuable resources for teaching about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Remembering Pearl Harbor includes accounts of sailors who witnessed the attack. Thanks to Richard Byrne, I just discovered The 1941 Project, which is an interactive map featuring stories of survivors of the attack.

Student analysis of these firsthand accounts may be done in a variety of ways. Depending on the dynamics of a class, I might have students simply read and discuss these sources. Other times we’ve compared and contrasted different views of the attack, and still other times, I’ve asked students to read firsthand accounts and write an entry as if they’ve just witnessed the attack. This allows them an opportunity to be creative and express feelings similar to those they’ve read about. 

Unknown Navy Photographer. A navy photographer snapped this photograph of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, just as the USS Shaw exploded. Digital image. Wikimedia Commons. N.p., 2 Nov. 2007. Web. 6 Dec. 2016.

I also like to use activities similar to the deliberative strategies that are common in the Choices Units by Brown University. I like these activities because they generally require students to take on a role and/or a specific perspective as they view a key decision or event in history. Students must analyze and synthesize information to support a point of view. In this case, I ask students to imagine they are part of a congressional committee tasked with investigating the attack on Pearl Harbor. I divide the class into groups and assign each group a topic to investigate as they prepare to testify before the committee. Groups include a report on the attack itself (what happened), why Japan attacked, did FDR know about the attack, did Churchill know about the attack, and was the attack a success. Additionally, one group takes the role of committee members and they must develop questions to ask each group as they testify.

Today I discovered another good lesson for teaching about Pearl Harbor. In Pearl Harbor & Hawaii during World War II, students predict why Japan might have attacked, conduct research on the attack, and take part in a Google Expedition to gain background knowledge on Hawaii. Students then use My Maps to create an interactive map illustrating the attack. This is obviously a more involved and more time consuming lesson plan than some of the ones I mentioned above, but it seems to do a nice job of incorporating different skills and utilizing technology to create a student-centered lesson. I like the inclusion of Google Expeditions (Expeditions is a virtual reality app that allows users to view 360-degree panoramas, creating an immersive experience that makes users feel as if they have travelled to different locations. This app can be used with or without virtual reality headsets, such as Google Cardboard.). I also like the integration of My Maps, which I discussed in Finding Your Way - Using Google Maps in the Classroom.

Finding Your Way - Using Google Maps in the Classroom

By Arambar (Own work (sculpture and photo)) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Last month I had the privilege of presenting at the Best Practices in Social Studies Institute. I really enjoyed this opportunity to work with social studies educators from all over the state of Iowa and to learn from presenters and participants. Although I'm no longer in the classroom, I still view myself as a social studies teacher at heart, so its always nice when I get the chance to work within this subject area.

The institute offers two days of free professional development for K-12 social studies teachers. More than 220 Iowa teachers took advantage of this opportunity to further their learning around best practices in social studies instruction. I attended sessions on Teaching 21st Century Skills in Social Studies Classrooms, Student Relevance & Engagement with IPTV Digital Resources, Geography and Literacy Connections, National History Day and Primary Sources, and Population Connection: Hands-On Activities for the People and the Planet. Additionally, there was a review of the state of social studies in Iowa, including a Call to Action and a review of the process and progress of writing new social studies state standards. Closing remarks were delivered by the Iowa Secretary of State, Paul Pate.

I planned to present a session related to technology and mapping in social studies classrooms. After considering that attending teachers may fall anywhere within the K-12 range, may or may not have background with mapping technologies, and that I had a limited amount of time to present, I chose to focus on tools related to Google Maps rather than more in-depth tools like those available through Esri or their ArcGIS platform.

I feel that many educators are aware of Google Maps, but they may not recognize its educational potential. For this reason, I wanted to share some of the tools within and/or powered by Google Maps and ways to effectively integrate these tools into instruction. I spent much of my presentation demonstrating the capabilities and uses of these mapping tools, but I also created the slides below partly to guide my presentation, but also as a reference for teachers to refer to later.

I had to adjust some of my plans and ended up doing more demonstration and less participant use of tools due to spotty Wifi access, but I still felt that my session went very well. Participants were engaged in the content and most seemed to learn something they could apply to their instructional practices.

I was impressed with my experience at the Best Practices in Social Studies Institute. There were a number of valuable sessions and it is always good to get a chance to collaborate with other teachers. I hope to attend this event again in the future and I would encourage social studies educators in the state of Iowa to take advantage of this free learning opportunity.