interactive learning

Q1 Charting Your Course

12. Interactives

Introduction

Efficient travelers move between point A to point B as quickly as possible, using whatever transportation is available. This means you could be driving, walking, or taking the local bus. But how do you know which one is best for the situation?

Google Maps lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps and terrain. You can explore rich geographical content and with a free account, save to my Maps, and share with others. During this Quest you will be charting your own course. Follow the steps below to learn how!


I Can Statements

  • use simulations, games, and mapping
  • use mapping tools

Key Vocabulary

Absolute location: Absolute location is the direct location of a person or place.. 

Interactives: Interactives are media such as text, graphics, animation, video, audio, games, etc. designed to respond to the actions, commands, etc., of a user.

Modes: Modes are types or forms.

Relative location: Relative location is the location of a subject in relation to another point. (e.g., she lives next to the railroad tracks.)


Play the interactive Quizlet Game: Direct Link


Steps
Part One - Mapping


1. Start off by watching the video below. It's a basic overview of Google Maps.

2. Now go to maps.google.com   

3. Locate the search window at the top left. Click on the blue diamond with white arrow for directions.  gmap directions arrow

New Google Map Map

Part Two - Get Directions From Home to School
You will need your home address, the name of your school, and the city and state where your school is located.

4. On the top line, type your home address. On the second line, type the name of your school, the city and state your school is located in. (NOTE: If Google Maps is unable to find your school by name, you can type the school address on the line). 

Example shown for walking directions. 

gmap walking direction example
 

5. Compare the time for walking, driving, and by bicycle by clicking on the icons. Select the one that best fits for the way you get to school. 

6. Take a screenshot of your map showing the route and paste it into this Mapping Activity Document. Also paste the link to your map in your document by clicking on the link icon as shown in the video above.

Part Three - A Link to Social Studies 

7.  The next step is to find your absolute location.

  • Right-click (or on a mac control-click) on the marker for your home. 

  • Click on What's here? whatshere (2)

  • the latitude and longitude coordinates are shown at the bottom next to a street view image.  It will look something like (42.995643, -84.119769) and is referred to as your absolute location.

      SRESD Street View

8.  Now visit the GPS Coordinates Site and type in your address to get the GPS coordinates. Add a sentence to your Mapping document giving your absolute GPS location in latitude and longitude. The GPS directions will be something like:

      gpscoordinates

9. Now let's find out about your relative location. Watch this short video (3:18)


 

Then explain what your relative location to the Capitol of the United States is in your Mapping document. Here is the location of the Capitol in Washington, DC:

Address: The United States Capitol is located at First St SE in Washington, DC 20004.

Absolute location of the U.S. Capitol in latitude/longitude is 38° 53′ 35″ N, 77° 00′ 32″ W.

Relative location: An example of relative location is that the U.S. Capitol is located 598 miles South East of Corunna, MI. 

10. Using the Google maps or alternative mapping program, figure out the relative location of the Capitol of the U.S. to your school and add this location to your Mapping document

11. Now find the relative location of your school to one of the U.S. national landmarks listed below and list the locations in your Mapping document:

  • Yellowstone Park
  • Grand Canyon
  • Mount Rushmore
  • Pictured Rocks
  • Statue of Liberty
  • Lincoln Memorial

12. Write a paragraph in your Mapping document describing the national landmark you selected, if you would like to visit it someday, and how long it would take you to get there from your school including what transportation you chose (walk, bike, drive, fly).

Completing this Quest

Save your results in your File Space. Remember, if you're posting this on a blog or other website, don't include screenshots or the latitude and longitude for your home address or any other personal information. Just share your results.


 Check off this Quest on the 21t4s roadmap 

  I am ready to move on to Quest 2 Interactives

MITECS  Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students, and

ISTE Standards for Students

1. Empowered Learner
a. Articulate and set personal learning goals, develop strategies leveraging technology to achieve them, and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning outcomes
d. Understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies, are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies

5. Computational Thinker
b. Collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making
c. Break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving