Navigable 3D model of the planet. Lands in PT (passive transform) when students consume an immersive geographical experience that paper cannot deliver.
Creative Transform (CT)
Interactive class habitat map
The class collaboratively builds an interactive habitat map of the school grounds. Each pair surveys one habitat zone (a hedge, a corner of the playground, a flowerbed) over the week, photographs the species they find and adds them to a shared map with drop pins. Each pin opens to species notes the children write. Visitors navigate the map by zone.
Tools: Google Earth
Children build a digital story-map of their local area
Each child builds a digital story-map of their local area that includes at least four locations (their house, school, a chosen park, a chosen shop or community space). Each location has a child-recorded audio commentary explaining what happens there and one photo. Visitors navigate the map and listen to children's voices about their place.
Tools: Google Earth, Google Sites
360-degree virtual tour of school grounds
Small groups capture 360-degree photographs of six locations around the school grounds and stitch them into a virtual tour with child-recorded audio commentary describing what they observe at each location. They publish to a class showcase that visitors can navigate.
Tools: Google Earth
360-degree virtual tour with student commentary
Each student builds a 360-degree virtual tour of a fieldwork site (could be physical visit using a 360 camera, or a remote site using existing 360 imagery). The tour has waypoints with the student's audio commentary explaining geographical features, processes and human-environment interactions. They publish to a class showcase.
Tools: Google Earth
AR story-map of a local urban regeneration project
Each student builds an AR story-map of a local urban regeneration project (e.g. a redeveloped high street, a new housing estate, a converted dock). The map has waypoints; at each waypoint a viewer points their phone camera and sees a virtual overlay of "before" imagery, current data, and the student's voice-over interpretation. Students walk the class through their map at the actual location.
Tools: Adobe Aero, Google Earth
Interactive Amplify (IA)
Map skills with shared digital map pins
The teacher posts a shared Google Map with no pins. Students are each given a country plus a case study (e.g. earthquake, flood, drought, urbanisation). They drop a pin on the right country, label it with the case study type, and add a one-line summary. The class scrolls the populated map; the teacher highlights any pins on the wrong continent and asks the contributing student to explain.
Tools: Google Earth
Migration evidence on a shared map
The teacher posts a shared Google Map. Each student is given one country pair (origin and destination) representing a real migration flow (e.g. Syria to Germany, Mexico to USA, Bangladesh to UK). They drop two pins on the map (origin and destination), label each with one push or pull factor, and post a one-line caption. The class scrolls the populated map and discusses dominant push-pull patterns.
Tools: Google Earth, Padlet
Ancient civilisation pins on a shared map
Each pair is assigned one ancient civilisation (Egypt, Greece, Rome, Maya, Indus Valley, China). They drop two pins on a shared class map: one on the heartland of the civilisation, one on a place it traded with or influenced. They label each pin. The class scrolls the populated map and discusses how civilisations connected.
Tools: Google Earth
Passive Transform (PT)
VR Google Earth tour of the Amazon basin
Each student navigates a guided Google Earth tour of the Amazon basin. The tour stops at six locations: the river mouth, three tributary junctions, two deforestation fronts. At each stop students observe the satellite imagery and the timeline slider that shows the same place ten years ago, twenty years ago. Pairs share three observations after.
Tools: Google Earth
360-degree street view of an Indian megacity
Students explore three preset locations in Mumbai using 360-degree Street View: Dharavi, Bandra-Kurla Complex, and the airport district. They are asked to record three observations per location about housing density, infrastructure, and visible economic activity. The class discusses contrasts after.
Tools: Google Earth
This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and key stage. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.