"A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" emphasizes that the practice of science is inherently a model-building activity focused on constructing explanations using evidence and reasoning (NRC 2012). Because building and refining is an iterative process, middle school students may view this practice as tedious and fail to appreciate science as a creative endeavor. Digital tools such as Google Earth (GE) can help with this challenge, but many classroom applications of GE limit students to passive observation of pre-developed GE tours. The authors wondered how they could get their students to use GE as a scientist would--to view, explore, and create geospatial visualizations that advance scientific understanding. Consequently, they developed the Cyber-Enabled Earth Exploration Curriculum, which is described in this article. Using this curriculum, students progress from making simple observations in the GE environment to creating their own data files and overlays to evaluate and visualize data. (Contains 12 figures and 1 online resource.)