Year 9 have studied why the Berlin Wall went up in 1961 and why it came down in November 1989. The teacher first shows a 1980s photograph of the wall and its death strip at Potsdamer Platz, then opens the Timelapse layer in Google Earth on the board and centres it on the same area between the Reichstag and Potsdamer Platz. At this resolution the wall itself cannot be seen, and the teacher says so, but the large patch of open ground where the border cut through what had been one of Europe's busiest squares shows against the surrounding blocks in the 1980s frames, which the teacher checked before the lesson. Students watch that gap survive the first years after 1989, then turn into building sites and fill with new blocks through the 1990s, until by the 2000s the line of the old border is hard to pick out. The teacher replays and pauses on 1988, 1995 and 2005, and students answer the enquiry question 'How long did the division of Berlin stay visible after the wall fell?' in their books, citing the years they have seen.
Tools: Google Earth Nine ideas for your own version in Generate
This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and grade. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.