The new web-based version of Google Earth is currently employed to support active learning in online introductory Earth science courses at Seminole State College of Florida. Google Earth offers faculty and students the opportunity to engage in real-world exploration of Earth’s dynamic landscapes and water bodies. Adapting and creating exercises for this powerful tool comes with some challenges but can provide substantial benefits for students (Blank, Almquist, Estrada, & Crews, 2016; Cohn et al., 2014; Johnson, Lang, & Zophy, 2011).
Active learning is not a new approach to learning; until the modern era, the system of apprenticeship relied almost exclusively on active learning. The Industrial Revolution ushered in the factory model of education that emphasized group uniformity and lecture-style teaching. Recognizing the value of active learning, instructors in the sciences have long embraced learning by doing. Defined as “doing things and thinking about the things they are doing” (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 2), active learning involves engaging in an act and then learning by reflection on that action (Matsushita, 2017). According to Matsushita (2017), active learning is characterized by the following:
doing rather than listening (reading, discussion, writing);
emphasis on developing students’ skills rather than transmitting information;
higher order thinking (analysis, synthesis, evaluation); and
Focus on students’ exploration of their own attitudes and values (p. 15).
In science education, active learning is vital in adopting the scientific mind (action and reflection). According to Eric Mazur of Harvard University, “Just as you can’t become a marathon runner by watching marathons on TV, likewise for science, you have to go through the thought processes of doing science and not just watch your instructor do it” (Rimer, 2009, para. 4). Holley (2017), in her study titled “Engaging Engineering Students in Geoscience Through Case Studies and Active Learning,” found that student learning increased with the use of active learning strategies and that the use of case studies improved student motivation.
Since its launch in 2005, Google Earth has transformed the way geographic information is utilized in research and conveyed to the general public, appearing in the primary scientific literature (Begall, Červený, Neef, Vojtěch, & Burda, 2008; Cisneros, Abdala, Rubidge, Dentzien-Dias, & Bueno, 2011), nightly commercial news broadcasts, and in the classrooms of primary, secondary, and postsecondary students. For the first dozen years of its existence, access to this data-rich digital globe has required the download of a large (approximately 200 Mb) executable file to a hard drive.
The new Google Earth debuted in 2017 and is freely available on the web for use with the Google Chrome browser, without any need to download software. Included in this new Earth are Street View groundbased imagery; user-uploaded photographs; the ability to rotate, tilt, and fly over landscapes; and 3D renderings of buildings, trees, and other features. Also included is the new Navigator feature, which can be used to provide prepackaged guided virtual tours of natural, historic, and cultural points of interest developed by scholars and educators. Although less powerful than the downloadable version, the web version (and a similar app-based mobile version) has a simple interface that can be used by a wide range of students in all course modalities.
For more than a decade, Google Earth has been used to enrich the educational experiences of students in Earth science classes at Seminole State College of Florida. Ancient microcontinents, modern stromatolites, faults, erosional and depositional stream morphology, and deltas are just a few of the features that instructors have been able to share with students without ever leaving the classroom, enhancing learning opportunities by placing these structures in their geographic contexts. Starting with classroom demonstrations, implementation grew to incorporate the software into student homework. Although this required students to download the program to their personal computers, student-teacher interaction during and after class allowed students willing to put in the required effort to be successful in achieving learning outcomes.
In contrast, sharing Google Earth with students in online sections has proven more difficult. With its numerous layers and highly customizable display, downloadable versions of Google Earth can be challenging for novice users without immediate access to instructor guidance. Without face-to-face interaction, asking online students to download and utilize the software at home was unsatisfactory. These barriers to student engagement have in the past led instructors at Seminole State to use a combination of Google Maps and screen captures taken from the downloadable Google Earth in online sections. Although Google Maps is familiar to nearly all students, it lacks the rich, 3D experience of Google Earth, and these strategies did not provide students with the connection to the planet that comes from zooming in to a close-up view of an Earthscape from high above the surface. The new Chromebased version makes the power of Google Earth available to students for their individual use at any time and place they can connect to the Internet.
Beginning in 2019, students in online Earth science sections are engaging their home planet with Chrome-based Google Earth. Learning objectives in introductory Earth science related to stream morphology, structure and tectonics, and oceanography are met by querying students to interpret imagery across scales from a few meters (normal faults in the Peach Springs Tuff) to hundreds of kilometers (the tidally-dominated Ganges-Brahmaputra delta). Online sections in environmental science analyze the geospatial distribution of alternative energy facilities.
Google Earth represents an exciting opportunity to incorporate active learning in Earth science courses. Web-based Google Earth is easier to use than its initial incarnation that required users to download a large file in order to access the tool. Google Earth for Chrome can be used to engage students in activities that develop skills that prepare them for potential careers in science-oriented professions.
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