Lesson Plan: Simulating river life as an early American settler - the 'fall line' cities of the Mid-Atlantic

Students that hate geography are probably used to lessons like this one (no offence to the lesson planner!)

Memorize the 'regions' of Virginia, color in a map, do a worksheet - yada yada yada snooze.

Here's a way to use Google Earth to 'see' Virginia and at the same time learn some real geography. The lesson plan for this lesson (.doc file plus .jpg pictures) can be found here.

In short, geography is about exploring and investigating not just where something is, but also why it's there. In this lesson, students use Google Earth to follow the rivers of the mid-Atlantic region upstream until they reach the 'fall line' (the border between the coastal plain and the Piedmonts which is characterized by waterfalls and rapids). As they do so, they will be virtually travelling through one of the most beautiful sections of the United States and they're encouraged to "stop and smell the flowers" (again, virtually:) Here's some screenshots:

The aim of the lesson is to add a series of placemarks which can be connected to establish the location of the fall line in the mid-Atlantic region of the USA.

Students literally 'cruise' up-river. As they wind through the meanders of the river they pass natural and man-made environments which they are encouraged to explore.

As they do so they encounter the cities and environments of the mid-Atlantic through user-created content. Way more interactive, way better than a worksheet, and way more real.