FROM SEA LEVEL RISE TO STREET VIEW: SOCIALLY RELEVANT TEACHING USING GOOGLE EARTH

The release of Google Earth in June 2005 to the public sparked worldwide interest in Geospatial technology and its usefulness to society. In Geoscience Education, Google Earth has caused a “sea change” in some labs from paper to digital, reading topographic lines to fly-through digital elevation models, and from “ground truthing” to street viewing. Like no time in the past, data on volcanism, bathymetry, and earthquakes are available alongside current weather and traffic conditions. Google Earth has been used as a powerful classroom tool for Geoscience students to help investigate pertinent 21^st century social problems including climate change, sea level rise, earthquake hazards, tsunami generation, mountaintop mining and even the genocide in Darfur. At Pasadena City College, student surveys suggest that Google Earth has enhanced the social relevance of course content in introductory Physical Geography courses.