Google Earth & Shapes of Kazakhstan
Inspired by my friend Frank’s post about finding 3-D shapes in Google Earth, I looked for a city that has buildings with all the different shapes our students need to know (cylinder, cone, sphere, pyramid, cube, rectangular prism SOL 3.18, 4.17, 5.16). Astana, Kazakhstan fits the bill. Open Google Earth, fly there by typing “Astana” and look south of the city for a unique layout of interestingly shaped buildings. You should be able to find all of the shapes within a 2-mile radius by using the navigation controls (be sure 3D buildings is checked in the Layers). As the students find each shape, instruct them to use the ruler tool and measure the height of each building, then enter their data on the sheet which you can download here or if you want to see the PDF version, click here. If your students are having trouble finding the shapes, you can cheat by downloading the KMZ file here. The KMZ file will load the places into Google Earth and if you click them you will get a tour that looks kind of like this. If your students would like to learn more about Astana, Kazakhstan, I created a website here to describe the buildings a little more, and it also includes an interactive map. If you find any more interesting-shaped buildings let me know!