Here’s a quick lesson plan idea for tuning into inquiry using Google Earth Engine Timelapse*. It can provide a timelapse of change from 1984-present, based on satellite and aerial photos. 

Context

Ideal for: Individuals & Societies, Sciences, Interdisciplinary Unit

Global Context(s): Fairness & Development or Globalization & Sustainability

Key Concept(s): Change, Development, Interactions, Time-Place-Space

Related Concepts (I&S): Globalization, growth, resources, sustainability, causality

Related Concepts (Sciences): Environment, transformation, consequence, evidence

Tuning In

Find where we live and model See-Think-Wonder (Project Zero) on the timelapse from 1984-now. You might want to create a GoogleSheet with columns for each stage, to be shared with the class. Alternatively, get out some big whiteboards or butcher paper.

• See: look for general outlines, specific landmarks, big developments, interesting changes. Then dig deeper – compare the start to the end, or look for evidence of significant events in the time period. Keep pushing the ‘see’ until ideas are truly exhausted.
• Think: connected to the ‘see’ statements, note potential cause-effect relationships, sequences, consequences or other ideas. Keep going until this is exhausted.
• Wonder: finally build on the ‘see’ and ‘think’. What questions does this generate? Categorize and rank the questions.

Finding Out

• What lines of inquiry will you take to find out more?
• What can be found out by students and what needs to be explicitly taught?
• What unit-related vocabulary needs to be used and taught?

Approaches to Learning

Information Literacy

• Access information to be informed and inform others
• Make connections between various sources of information
• Understand and use technology systems

Critical Thinking

• Practise observing carefully in order to recognize problems
• Interpret data
• Draw reasonable conclusions and generalizations
• Revise understanding based on new information and evidence
• Formulate factual, topical, conceptual and debatable questions
• Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues
• Identify trends and forecast possibilities

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*HT Twitter: