SES: Google Earth and Ancient Egypt

Ken Hine, tech teacher, worked with the SES 5th grade team on a project involving math, Google Earth, and ancient Egypt. Students began with a grid indicating intervals of 10 feet. They also were provided with digital images of Saugatuck School and the Sphinx. Students used Google Earth to find their school and descend to an altitude of approximately 500 feet. They then used the measurement ruler to record the dimensions of the school. The digital image was then placed on the grid and sized accordingly.


Google Earth was similarly used to visit the great structures of ancient Egypt, and particularly the Sphinx. Again measurements were taken, the image was appropriately sized, and superimposed over the school. To the student’s surprise, the Sphinx covered the image of the school and the students re-ordered the images.
Similar comparisons were done with the great pyramids in relation to the SES football field. These activities allowed the students an acceptably accurate perspective of the great monuments of this culture. The students gained an improved understanding of the commitment, time, resources, and tools used by the ancient Egyptians to build their great monuments. In the process they learned to use some of the sophisticated features of Google Earth.