Google just got awesomer with World Wonders Project
I love Google stuff. For social studies people, tools like Google Earth and Google Tools for Educators are no-brainers. And it seems like their nerds are always coming out with something awesome.
Their latest?
Want to take a field trip to Independence Hall or the Palace of Versailles? Yeah, me too. But . . . it’s gonna be a little difficult getting admin approval on something like that. And so for the last few years, we’ve been using Google Earth to give kids at least a little bit of a sense of what these sorts of areas are like.
The World Wonders Project is a new tool that can help make those virtual trips a bit more realistic.
The project brings world heritage sites of the modern and ancient world online. Using Street View, 3D modeling, and other technologies, Google has made these amazing sites accessible to everyone across the globe. With advancements in camera technologies, Google can go off the beaten track to photograph some of the most significant places in the world so that anyone, anywhere can explore them. With videos, photos and in-depth information, you and your kids can now explore all sorts of very cool historical sites as if you were actually there.
So you can send your kids on virtual field trips where they get to “walk” around and through some very cool places using Street View technology. And with many sites, you also get additional info, videos, photos, and 3D images and buildings.
As teachers, we need to be providing historical context for kids and training them to analyze a wide variety of resources, including places. World Wonders provides a tool that helps us do that.
To give you even more help, the Google folks put together a very helpful Education page. You can find both elementary and secondary teacher guides as well as specific history and geography tools.
And just like that, the World Wonder Project is the latest Google non-brainer.
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But how did they do it? Go behind the scenes with cars, trikes, trains, boats, and cool technology.
History Tech 
This would be very useful in my ELA class. Thanks!