Google Drawings

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This page will serve as an introduction to Google Drawings. Use the video or the embedded website by Alice Keeler to familiarize yourself with Google Drawings.

It is recommended you follow along to practice the skills being introduced.

Video: Google Drawings

Embedded Website: Getting Started with Google Drawings

Graphic organizers are a great tool to share information, explain a concept, or illustrate a relationship using elements including images, shapes, text, colors, and connecting lines (ControlAltAchieve.com Links to an external site.).

The following information on graphic organizers with Google Drawings is the work of Eric Curtis (ControlAltAchieve.com Links to an external site.) and is licensed for noncommercial reuse and modification.

Students can greatly benefit from using and creating graphic organizers. Benefits can include:

help students plan and structure projects
help students with brainstorming
help students examine relationships between concepts
help students organize concepts and ideas
help students determine cause and effect
help students make connections

help students make decisions
increase student reading comprehension
help students break apart a story into its main elements
good for students who are visual and logical thinkers
provides another option for communication
help determine student understanding of concepts and relationships

Levels of Use

When using Google Drawings for Graphic Organizers there are several levels of use based on the student’s age and the nature of the project. On one end of the spectrum you can have a graphic organizer where the shapes and images are already provided, and the student is simply moving and connecting items, or typing in text. On the other end, you can have students creating a diagram entirely on their own from a blank drawing.

Most projects will fall somewhere in the following three categories:

Pre-made activities
Fill-in templates
Creating from scratch

Example: Cause & Effect Fill-in Template

Resources

For access to free Google Drawings templates, including examples of digital manipulatives and diagrams, click here Links to an external site..

Another great idea is to teach students to insert pre-made diagrams using the "Diagrams" feature in Google Drawings.

Google Drawings can also be used to create interactive diagrams where students arrange or label a template of a diagram to demonstrate their understanding.

Each of the examples below were created in Google Drawings using text boxes, lines, and images from the internet.

Example: Label the Skeleton

Example: Label the Parts of the Cell

Example: Arrange the Phases of the Moon

How to Share a Template with Students

If you choose to use a partially created diagram with your students, like the ones above, you'll need to share a copy with them that they can complete or manipulate. To do so:

Click "Share" to get the shareable link. Copy the link.
Paste the link wherever you are going to make it available to students.
Change the word edit in the link to the word copy. Do not change any other portion of the link.
When students click on the link, they will be prompted to make a copy for their own use.

Tips: Arranging Objects

When preparing to create your own diagrams, it is important to know how to layer objects, or put some in front of others:

Select the object that belongs behind the other(s). From the toolbar, select Arrange > Order.
Use Send to back to put the object behind another.

To make it so multiple objects are "stuck" together and move as one unit, you'll need to group them:

Select the first object, then hold down Shift while you select the rest.
From the toolbar, select Arrange > Group. Your objects should now all move together.

Lastly, if you have lots of objects for students to arrange and you want them "out of the way" to begin, consider placing them "off canvas." Students will still be able to see them, but they must drag them onto the canvas before they are visible when they submit their assignment in Canvas or Google Classroom.

(image by Alice Keeler Links to an external site.)

A mind map is a tool for the brain that captures the thinking that goes on inside your head. Mind mapping helps you think, collect knowledge, remember and create ideas (simplemind.eu Links to an external site.).

Mind maps can include words, images, and when created online, links to more content. Benefits of mind mapping include the attention to relationships of ideas and hierarchies of information, as well as how the structure of a mind map mimics the way our brains store and retrieve information.

Ideas for student-created mind maps:

Unit "big picture" look
Essay or presentation planning
Research topic narrowing
Note taking
Literary analysis

The Connectors Feature in Google Drawings

This video will show you how to use the connectors feature to make creating and manipulating a mind map easier for students.

As with graphic organizers, you can choose to build the manipulatives for students and then just have students use them, or you can have students start from scratch in Google Drawings.

Video: Using Google Draw for Virtual Algebra Tiles

Other Digital Math Manipulative Examples

Algebra Tiles Links to an external site. by Alice Keeler

Integer Dots Links to an external site. by Alice Keeler

Counting Bears in a Boat Links to an external site. by Alice Keeler

Fractions on a Number Line Links to an external site. by Dr. Cortney Steffens

Creating Angles in Google Drawings

Math Protractor Template Links to an external site. by Alice Keeler