This study looked at three seventh-grade classrooms in Southeast Ohio to examine the extent to which Google Earth can be used as an effective tool to enhance middle school students' historical empathy and develop geographic literacy. This study draws its inspiration from the literature in three areas: an extensive research base supporting the use of historical empathy in the social studies classroom; commentary related to the use of technology in social studies instruction; and recent research connecting historical empathy, geographic literacy, and technology use in the middle school classroom.
The study investigated both the teachers' perceptions and students' attitudes toward using Google Earth in their social studies class. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered to explain and describe the use of Google Earth in three seventh-grade social studies classrooms consisting of 143 students and their teachers.
In the quantitative segment of the study, a 22-item pre- and post-study survey was administered to determine changes in students' attitudes towards social studies, using computers, the importance of learning geography and history in school, their use of Google Earth, barriers to using Google Earth, and their ability to apply Google Earth to what they were learning in history. A paired sample t-test at the .05 significance level was conducted to examine students' change in attitudes regarding each item. The results did not show a change in students' attitudes towards using Google Earth.
In contrast to the quantitative data, the qualitative data suggest a significant change in students' attitudes toward using Google Earth. The qualitative data was derived from interviews with 18 seventh-grade boys and girls as well with their classroom teachers prior to and after the use of Google Earth. The qualitative results suggest the positive influences Google Earth had on students' perceptions of geography and developing historical empathy.