|
BOOKS INDEX PAGE
GIS in Schools
Order this title
In northern Minnesota, students use Global Positioning
System (GPS) satellites to track wolves, and a geographic information
system--GIS--to analyze the animals' journeys across the winter landscape.
On the east coast, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, high-school students stage a
simulated spill of toxic chemicals, and manage the mock evacuation with
the help of GIS. Halfway across the country in Missouri, two fifth graders
analyze water quality in a neighborhood creek and with a GIS determine
where and how the water is being polluted. In North Carolina, the
supposedly dull subject of history shocks students when a GIS-based
project brings 1949 fire insurance maps--graphic evidence of
segregation--into their field of view for the first time.
These are just a few examples of the ways classrooms--and
learning--are being transformed in elementary, middle, and high schools
across North America. GIS in Schools documents these changes with
case studies that show what can happen when students are given real-life
problems to solve, and the technology of GIS to help solve them: new
enthusiasm for learning, new dialogues between teachers and students, and
new levels of interaction among schools and communities.
In addition, GIS in Schools offers teachers some
practical ideas about how to implement GIS inside the classroom, as well
as some theory behind the success stories. Administrators of larger urban
school districts contending with growth, expanding districts, annexations,
and diverse student populations will learn how the fifth largest city in
North America--Toronto--found a way to get GIS into the hands of every
student in its public schools.
Once the process has begun, it is hard to stop: GIS
jump-starts the natural energy and desire of young people to learn, making
the classroom--whether it stays indoors or ranges through neighborhoods,
cities, and wilderness areas--a high-powered vehicle for exploration,
study, and growth.
About the authors:
Richard Audet is Assistant Professor of Education at
Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Gail S. Ludwig is Associate Professor of Geography at the
University of Missouri-Columbia
|
