How To Sail The Book
Introduction
Sail The Book uses Google Earth to take the reader on a virtual journey to locations mentioned in seven inspirational books of maritime nonfiction literature. The reader will be able to select a book and embark on chapter tours. The tours/chapters consist of from one to twenty Points of Interest (POIs). Each POI has an info window, with a passage from the book. At the bottom of the text is an activity page link. Activities consist of questions related to the info window passage, vocabulary, language, history and science. The later questions are colored green. These are specific Google Earth activities. “Green questions” draw on Google Earth layers, such as: Photos, Ocean, Gallery, Borders and Labels and 3D Buildings. Other Google Earth activities employ the Ruler tool, Historical Imagery and Street View.
In order to Sail The Book it is necessary to download the latest version of Google Earth and become familiar with some basics of this application.
- Click here for free Google Earth download.
- Click here for Google Earth User Guide.
Getting Started
By clicking on one of the book titles, located in the right column, a linked table of contents will open. A free version of the book is available by simply clicking on the chapters.
Under the chapter there will appear a yellow highlighted link to a kmz file. This link is Sail The Book. By clicking on the link you will download a chapter tour that will open in Google Earth. The tour folder contains all the POI’s in the chapter. Before Clicking the Play Tour button make sure to do the following: set control touring preferences such as, time between POI's, desired pause time at each stop and show text balloons by going to:
Tools > Options >Touring, at the top Google Earth menu.
Tools > Options >Touring, at the top Google Earth menu.
How to Sail The Book (3 Methods)
METHOD 1
Click on the link to download the tour. The tour will stop at each POI and an info window will open. Click the pause button and read the passage from the book. Enjoy the imagery and then click on the play button to continue to the next POI.
METHOD 2
Same as Method 1, except at the end of the passage click on “Go to activity” link. You now have access to questions, music, photos and video that have been selected to enrich the reader’s experience. Before doing the activities, don’t forget to check the following Google Earth layers: Photos, 3D Buildings, Ocean and Gallery to get the most out of the material.
The green questions at the end of the activities have been developed specifically for the Google Earth Imagery. The range, tilt and heading have been set to allow the reader to observe, measure, use Street View and Historic Imagery at the POI.
METHOD 3
There will be times when it is more fruitful not to run the tour. By clicking on an individual POI an info window will open and you will not have to pause a tour. The advantage of this method is that the Ruler tool and flight simulator, that are unavailable during a tour, will be active. There are math and physics questions that involve measuring and require the Ruler tool.
Conclusion
I have tried to include a wide range of activities and encourage teachers to add to the process. I am a high school physics, earth science and marine science teacher. Before becoming a teacher I was an environmental geologist. Naturally, when I look at Earth imagery I see potential questions in the landforms, waves, geology etc. I have made an effort to include language, history and culture as well. This is a work in progress. It has proved valuable in getting my students interested and even excited about literature in a science class. The chapters/tours can be adapted for English language arts, history and geography classes. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions.
Happy Sailing
Ira Bickoff
