In this computer room activity, students
meet Amelia the Pigeon and are introduced to aerial photography, mapping
and historical record-keeping using photographs.
Using a PowerPoint template, students incorporated
skills learnt from the interactive story with
Google Earth/Maps images to
describe what Amelia the Pigeon would see if she flew over Taronga
Park Zoo, Darling Harbour and Sydney city.
Amelia The Pigeon in Sydney helps
students see their world from a new point of view—a birds-eye view up in
the sky. It provides the opportunity for
students to identify, locate and describe natural, heritage and
built features in the Sydney area and understand
their significance and management. Amelia's story helps students develop mapping skills
which they then use to
identify, describe and locate a series of places
around Sydney.
Students
study historical photos of several Sydney locations and compare these to
current aerial images using Google Maps/Earth technology.
They identify how the community values and cares for these locations and develop their own values and attitudes
related to ecological sustainability, democratic processes, and
social and civic participation.
Using the interactive technology that
Google Earth/Maps provides,
students locate the four compass points and other significant
features on a map and develop skills to locate and evaluate information
from this source.
Credits
This activity is based on
The
Adventures of Amelia the Pigeon,
which is part of NASA's
IMAGERS (Interactive Multimedia Adventures for Grade School
Education Using Remote Sensing) Program, a
comprehensive Earth science education resource for the introduction of
remote sensing and satellite imagery to children in grades K-8.
The Pigeon Adventure presents science concepts through
metaphors and analogies that relate to inner-city life. The use of a
pigeon as the vehicle for the web site provides a metaphor familiar to
city children, and Amelia is utilized to introduce the concept of
perspective. Through aerial photography created by Pigeon cameras, the
web site focuses on the benefits of a bird's
eye view. Throughout the interactive adventure portion of the web site,
aerial and satellite imagery are used to demonstrate the advances of
remote sensing through the century. Amelia the Pigeon presents new
insights into habitats as she explores the urban environment of New York
City.
Historical photos are from the
City Of
Sydney Archives Collection. The City of Sydney Archives is
responsible for managing a collection of more than 120,000 archival
photographs and other images of the City. Most date from between 1900
and the present day. They include photographs taken by Council agencies
as part of their business activities, by the Sydney Festival, and
photographs donated to the Archives by the public.
All images, trademarks, screenshots and known terms are the property of
NASA,
Google Maps and the
City of
Sydney Archives
or their respective owners; they have been used for educational purposes
only with no intention to infringe the trademark or breach copyright.
Computer technology skills covered:
- Using a Web Browser (Internet Explorer)
- Interpreting and evaluating information from a Website
- Creating a multi-slide PowerPoint presentation
- Designing an information report containing
text and images
- Inserting graphics from a file
- Using 'screen shots' to create images from
screen information
- Cropping graphics
- Slide-show animation
- File management and software management
- Publishing, editing and printing
Curriculum areas include:
English
- RS2.5 Reads independently a wide range of texts
on increasingly challenging topics and justifies own interpretation
of ideas, information and events.
- RS2.6 Uses efficiently an integrated range of
skills and strategies when reading and interpreting written texts.
Mathematics
Science & Technology
HSIE
-
ENS2.5 Describes places in the local area and other parts of
Australia and explains their significance.
-
SSS2.7 Describes how and why people and technologies interact to
meet needs and explains the effects of these interactions on people
and the environment.
Cheryl Hill © 2008
