Astronomy Night: We Went to Mars!

Google Earth In the Classroom

Google Earth (No Longer Google Dirt)

Thanks to Daughter #3, I am informed that there are some cool new features on Google Earth. She wanted to be sure I saw this LA Times article. In the article, I learned that Google Earth has been downloaded to half a billion computers. What is that, 500 million? In any event, as often happens, I was not up-to-date on my version of the software. By updating, I am now able to explore the oceans of the planet. In addition, I can leave the planet and explore the surface of Mars.

No less than Al Gore (who also happens to be a Google board member) spoke at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco about this "extremely powerful educational tool." I would agree with that assessment, and so would my students. They never tire of using it. And I never run out of new ways to use it.

If you don't have Google Earth, click here to get the free download. If you already have it, be sure and update! (Go to "Check for Updates Online" in the Help menu)

Glorious Google Goods Galore

I have been a Google products fan for awhile. Now my task (for my graduate course) is to write about these tools. Where to begin?

First of all, of course, is the fact that this blog is made possible by Google Blogger. Then, there are the websites I have made using Google Pages (no longer available, but Google Sites works too). I really like Google Calendar, which I use both for my personal (rather busy) calendar, and for the calendar on our school website. I use Google Docs to collaborate with my colleagues and save important files. I plan to also start using it with my students. GMail seems to be the only e-mail I can use to send outgoing mail on my phone, and it is the key to using all these other Google products.

Google Reader helps me keep up with my daughter's Blog posts. Google Earth is downloaded onto my computer and is one of my students' favorite programs. I really do think Google Maps is the best of all the map/directions websites, and I used it for our school website. My personal homepage uses iGoogle, and I love the fact that when I travel and am on some other computer, I can go to a page that looks just like my good old laptop. Google Toolbar is a must for my browser; it is a big time saver.

Picasa is a great way to store and share photos. I use it all the time. Although I can't use YouTube at school, it is a great way to post a video I have made for friends and family to see. I have told lots of people about Goog-411 to save money on those annoying Directory Assistance charges. Finally, we all know that the word "Google" is a synonym for searching for something on the web. (My students tend to call out "Google it" when I confess ignorance of a certain factoid.) Google search gets better all the time. I really like the image search and the news search as well.

So there you have it. There are actually a few Google products which I have not yet used. I probably should check them out, because all the others are fantastic tools. What is YOUR favorite Google product?