Google Earth

Standard 1

Students will understand how geography influences community location and development.

Objective 2

Describe how various communities have adapted to existing environments and how other communities have modified the environment.

a) Describe the major world ecosystems (i.e. desert, plain, tropic, tundra, grassland, mountain, forest, wetland).

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth content
1. Arctic Tundra	Click on the arctic tundra and answer these questions after reading about it: What type of vegetation grows in the arctic tundra? Along what arctic coasts is the arctic tundra?	terrain tool on.
2. Sahara Desert, Africa	Look at some of the surrounding pictures and information on places in the area. What are some groups of people that live in the desert?	Places tool on.
3.	Look at some of the animals that could live int he everglades. Why do you think they are so well suited for this ecosystem? What adaptations do you think they have made? What adaptations would they need to make if they were to live in the desert?	gigapxl photos
4.	Using the information given and the available tools determine how high the mountain is. What kind of animals might live in this ecosystem? How do they make adaptations to live in this ecosystem? What adaptations would we need to make if we were going to live in a civilization here?	gigapxl photos

I chose this standard for a google earth tour because I thought this would be a really good way to teach this material. It can be a really interactive, fun way to see various examples of these different types of ecosystems. The students have the opportunity to look at these ecosystems and look at the the surrounding areas and see how they differ and really get to gain a knowledge of what the ecosystem looks like and how it affects the nearly communities. Unlike just reading about these different ecosystems the students have a hands on way of exploring and learning more about these places and really seeing where they are located and what they look like.