I used Google Earth and a resource I had made about a year ago in my numeracy lesson today. It was just so much fun and the children were really responsive! Maths Vegas is basically a set of placemarks detailing some maths activities in and around the city. I remember that when I made it I sort of realised there was a great deal of maths available in real life it just needed unlocking. And the spyglass that is GE is a great way in.
So we have been looking at the area of compound shapes and generally exploring 2D and 3D shapes again. So I zoomed into the city of Las Vegas with the 3D buildings layer switched on and looked closely at some of the buildings we could see. Identifying a cylinder and other cuboids. We then explored the area and perimeter of a car park that I had added. The children loved it and were really engaged with the work. One thing that was useful was the ability to use objects they know to help them estimate – so we estimated the breadth of the car park and looked at what units of measurement would be most appropriate and the size of one of the cars parked in the car park. This helped them realise the scale of their estimates.
The Maths in Las Vegas kml resource was posted last year on my part of the GE Forum
Oh how I love Google Earth! Not being a math teacher myself, I am mystified that you could even think of this! Wow! I will pass it on to my more mathematically inclined colleagues via my wiki: http://www.mscofino.wikispaces.com
Thanks for sharing such great ideas!
Kim
What a magnificent idea. As a Maths teacher, the potential you have just opened my eyes up to is flabbergasting. I’ve just sat here considering the potential and I finally came up with the creative project I’ve been looking for for my Year 9 class project with Simulataneous Equations using Google Earth. They’ll love it (I hope). I’ll post it on my site http://papajo.edublogs.org/ when I finish writing it up in the next few days.
Thanks for your brilliant idea,
Joseph
Hi,
What a fantastic idea! I’ve just started a Primary PGCE and have been looking for exciting things to do with ICT in keystage 2. This is something I’m really keen to use, so thanks for sharing your ideas and resources.
Helen