Using Google Earth in Ancient World History

This past year when teaching Ancient World History I began to incorporate Google Maps Street views into my geography lessons. I would type in a location such as Mt. Everest or the pyramids of Egypt and play a time machine sound effect and the class would "travel" to the far off location. I enjoy using Google Maps when teaching geography because I make it a point to show the students that the same geographical features that we talk about in class are still the same features on earth today almost 10,000 years later. 

The students love when we pretend to teleport to other countries, but after exploring even more ways to incorporate Google Earth into the classroom I think there are some creative ways I can incorporate this tool even more. Not only is google earth pro now free, Google provides many ideas and lessons through Juicy Geography to use for history and geography lessons. 

I like the idea of traveling back in time to historical places to see how they have changed. The students can compare and contrast these images and places. I also found an idea where students can practice differentiating between physical geography and cultural geography through Google Earth. 

I'm looking forward to playing around with this tool more and reading into the lesson plans provided by Juicy Geography and Google. I think using Google Maps and Earth is a great tool to use to extend the learning beyond the four walls of the classroom and engage students in the subject matter.