Have you tried Google Earth? Authentic assessment. What is the perimeter and area of our school field? How many rounds must you run to complete 2.4km around the school field? Cos getting my students to do a virtual field trip to England to measure the length and width of the coastal feature. Then realized it might be useful for Maths too. In the real world context.
For Lit or EL teachers. Google Earth can be used to explore the setting of a book. Many of the narration or stories could be based on places in the real world. They can find out more by "flying" to the places mentioned in the book as some of the places are very foreign to them and they fail to relate to. For more developed areas the 3D images will definitely awe your students. They can even create a path in Google earth to show the movement of characters in a story. As mentioned authentic assessment in the real world context. Students learn best when they can find the connection to the real world.
Lesson ideas from
Using Google Earth: Bringing the World into your classroom
By JoBea Holt
Published by Shell Education
My son commented that part of it might be outdated as you know much changes every year and the layer on temperature was removed. But the lesson ideas are still relevant.
You can check out how I am using Google Earth for Geog.
Upper Sec Physical Geog
Sec 2 Geog
Sec 1 Geog
