Google Earth
While not really a website (unless you’re going on the lite version of Google Maps, Google Earth provides an obvious but often overlooked resource for Asia in the Classroom. Typing in a name of a location, landmark, or region of China, students can (whole class, small group, or individual) see the layout of the city, interesting facts, and geographical features. Simple compare/contrast activities can be done with students regarding “us vs. them,” as well as just an overview of images and facts to break stereotypes of what they think China is. What I found interesting is that “street view” where you can see what a car driver sees is not available in most of China with the exception of Hong Kong. Upper grade students can certainly get into a geopolitical discussion as to why this would be the case.
Clicking on certain icons off the coast also gives facts which can be useful in science and geography. For example, clicking on the “wave” icon in Dong Sha, I discovered that I should “never go there if you're not sure the swell is coming. It is safer to go only before or after a typhoon has passed by (June-September).” – thank you Wannasurf.com in Google Earth for that! The dead fish icon has info from the World Resources Institute. Of course the list of resources Google Earth provides is extensive: National Geographic Society, Unicef, WWF, Jane Goodall Blog, etc.
With the class you could easily assign one portion of China, and one resource of Google Earth and the class would get a very in depth look of that area using just Google Earth.
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Dennis O. Colato
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