Top 10 Google Applications for

Educators

Jennifer BurchEDUC 5611

• From time to time, students have to convert units during labs or on their homework. By using this handy Google Toolbar feature, students could do so quickly and easily.

#10—Convert Units

Doing a research project? Add “view:timeline” following a space in your Google query to see a chronological arrangement of information. This feature would definitely be helpful when gathering information on people and/or events.

#9—Timeline Search

• When students have been directed to include a specific number of print resources for a paper or project, they don’t always know where to look. This Google feature could prove to be helpful when there’s been some procrastination or to narrow and focus the information found for the topic.

#8—Google Books

• With a new focus on STEM integration in science and math classes, the Google Blogger would provide an excellent opportunity for students to journal their experiences while working on a design project. Small groups could document the details of the engineering design process as they work to create a product that would solve a problem or fill a need.

#7--Blogger

• With so many features, Google Earth can fit into a variety of lessons, from stargazing to volcanoes. It’s an excellent resource for science and social studies teachers, as it brings relevance to the classroom.

#6—Google Earth

• This Google feature seems to be one that could help students narrow research information to those written by reliable sources. It also seems to have the potential to be something teachers could use to integrate technology in to a project. Students could research a topic and then write their own Knol and provide the teacher with a link to what they have written. Instead of taking home a stack of papers, the teacher could pull up the URL! Students could even share their Knols with one another and rate them based on a teacher-created rubric!

#5—Knol

• This is an awesome feature! Students can type in their topic and immediately get a graphic organizer filled with information on related topics. This is an excellent feature for extension activities and research projects, and it presents the information in a very student-friendly way!

#4—Google Squared

• A must have for the Top 10 list! The best thing about Google Docs is that it provides students with Internet-based access to word processing and presentation software that they might not have access to on their home computers. There are so many other features that can be used with Google Docs, including tools for group collaboration, but for me, the most important aspect is the accessibility and transferability of projects. Not all students have access to Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, but with Google Docs, whatever they work on at school can be saved and accessed at home, and vice versa!

#3—Google Docs

• VERY COOL FEATURE! As a science teacher, I find this Google tool fascinating. I can’t wait to play around with it and see how many different times I can have students use it this year in class. My students do not like when I assign diagrams or illustrations, but with this tool, they might actually decide that scientific drawings can be fun!

#2—Sketch Up

• When I taught Physical Science, I set up a Google Group for my class, and it was wonderful! Students would post questions about homework, and I could immediately respond. All of the students in the group would receive the original question from a classmate, as well as my response. A lot of times, several of them had been wondering the same thing! It worked very much like our online discussion boards, and their questions and comments were often springboards for the next day’s lesson!

Google Groups

…..and the #1 Google application for educators…….