Using Google Images, Maps and Earth to teach critical thinking: Decolonising the curriculum and beyond

Christoffer Guldberg

doi:10.31273/jppp.vol2.2022.1231

Using Google Images, Maps and Earth to teach critical thinking: Decolonising the curriculum and beyond

Christoffer Guldberg

Brazil Institute

University of Warwick

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

In this article I outline how Google Images and Google Earth can be used to visualise to students the constructed nature of legal and political concepts in law and international relations. The method consists of asking students to critically discuss the gendered and racialised nature of Google results when googling such legal, geographical, and political concepts as “drug trafficker”, “international development”, “Great Britain”, or “Brazil”, as well as discovering the different layers of natural, cultural and political boundaries and connections that crisscross the world by using Google Earth.

As an innovative method for technology-assisted teaching this method can be used in both face-to-face and virtual learning situations to teach students critical thinking in a way that is both interactive and multimodal, while drawing on technology that students know from their everyday lives. The method can be applied creatively by both students and teachers, and ideally should allow for students to become their own critical researchers, able to uncover the ways in which apparently neutral concepts are shaped by and shape global structures of inequality.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	61-77
Number of pages	16
Journal	Journal of PGR Pedagogic Practice
Volume	2
Issue number	2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.31273/jppp.vol2.2022.1231
Publication status	Published - 17 Oct 2022

Keywords

critical theory
teaching and learning
Google
race
gender
decolonizing the curriculum
war on drugs

Access to Document

10.31273/jppp.vol2.2022.1231Licence: CC BY

1 Article

Decolonising GenAI use: formative assessment to stimulate critical thinking in International Development courses
Guldberg, C., 24 Feb 2025, Assessment for Learning at King's.
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

2 Visiting an external academic institution

IoE Institute of Education
Guldberg, C. (Visiting researcher)
27 Nov 2024
Activity: Visiting an external institution › Visiting an external academic institution
Institute for Government and Public Policy (University of East London)
Guldberg, C. (Visiting researcher)
27 Jun 2024
Activity: Visiting an external institution › Visiting an external academic institution

Cite this

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title = "Using Google Images, Maps and Earth to teach critical thinking: Decolonising the curriculum and beyond",

abstract = "In this article I outline how Google Images and Google Earth can be used to visualise to students the constructed nature of legal and political concepts in law and international relations. The method consists of asking students to critically discuss the gendered and racialised nature of Google results when googling such legal, geographical, and political concepts as “drug trafficker”, “international development”, “Great Britain”, or “Brazil”, as well as discovering the different layers of natural, cultural and political boundaries and connections that crisscross the world by using Google Earth. As an innovative method for technology-assisted teaching this method can be used in both face-to-face and virtual learning situations to teach students critical thinking in a way that is both interactive and multimodal, while drawing on technology that students know from their everyday lives. The method can be applied creatively by both students and teachers, and ideally should allow for students to become their own critical researchers, able to uncover the ways in which apparently neutral concepts are shaped by and shape global structures of inequality.",

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KW - teaching and learning

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KW - gender

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Using Google Images, Maps and Earth to teach critical thinking: Decolonising the curriculum and beyond

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

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Research output

Decolonising GenAI use: formative assessment to stimulate critical thinking in International Development courses

Activities

IoE Institute of Education

Institute for Government and Public Policy (University of East London)

Cite this