FETC - January 2007
session title

Defining "OurSpace": GIS/GPS Tools to Go from
Community to Global Understanding

session information

Across grades and curriculum, GIS and GPS technology enhances students' understanding of their community and world. From an initial grant to study beach erosion, we incorporated these geospatial tools into other projects and you can too. Leave with an understanding of software and hardware options and a project resources guide.

GPS and GIS are pervasive today from cellphones to Mapquest. No longer just for developers and marketers, these affordable tools build upon students' natural curiosity. GIS enables virtual exploration while teaching critical analysis of patterns and trends; add GPS and you enable students to verify and augment map data.

After obtaining a grant to study and track beach erosion, I faced the challesnge of what to buy and how to get trained. The more I read the more I realized that this was only the first step in a quest to integrate spatial learning across grades and academic disciplines. The purpose of this workshop is to build awareness of GIS and GPS capabilities and share my experiences in its implementation. See demonstrations and receive a quick guide of purchase and training options, projects ideas, and ways to involve the school and community.

Take geography, add economics, history, science, and technology with plenty of opportunity for applied mathematics and get students asking "What are the why's behind what's seen?" With expanded global vision, students can better appreciate that where and how they live impacts the world socially and environmentally, and that the world in turn, truly benefits from their participation.

  
session handouts

OurSpace Presentation

GIS Project Resources Guide

MapSavvy - Understanding Scale

why GIS

eSchoolNews - Schools urged to teach "Spatial Literacy"

Essential Background Information from USGS - a wealth of supporting materials for GIS in Education

"Geography for Life": 18 national geography and science standards

Extend learning beyond contour line interpretation, scale and coordinates

  
essentials

Lat/Lon

Lat-Lon coordinates are difficult to plot on a map, because they represent a grid system for a sphere (the earth) transferred to a flat surface (the map). That's why 7 1/2" topo maps are rectangles and not squares: the map boundaries on the east and west sides are actual meridians of longitude 7 1/2 minutes apart and the north and south boundaries are parallels of latitude, also 7 1/2 minutes apart. 

UTM Universal Transverse Mercator

A special grid created for military use divided the world into 60 N-S zones.
Each covers a strip 6 ° longitude wide, each numbered beginning with Zone 1 (180 ° W to 174 ° W) to Zone 60 (between 174 °E to 180 °E)

y = northing which is latitude

x = easting which is longitude

 

ArcGIS terminology

A map project (.mxd) is comprised of two parts, a shapefile and data. Different versions of ArcGIS read different data. The meta or geodatabase associated with ArcGIS 8+ cannot be read by ArcGIS

 
application alternatives

ArcGIS 9 (ArcGIS 3 old)

ArcExplorer Java for Education

ArcVoyager - old

MyWorld - Pasco

online GIS viewers

NASA's World Wide

Google Earth

Arc Explorer Web
GPS integration

Geocaching / Wayfaring / Benchmark Hunting / Earthcaching

Geotagging photos- Using Flickr to geotag to Google Earth or TripperMap

map resources

Types of Maps

Sources of GIS content

Sites to explore

Terraserver, USGS wildfires, National Earthquake Information Center

implementation plan
  1. Start with an online viewer e.g. The Nation Map by the USGS to develop familiarity with tools and resources
  2. Investigate ArcGIS 9, MyWorld, and ArcExplorer Java for Education to find an installable GIS to suit your needs
  3. Start with exercises from Mapping Our World for great lessons prepackaged with all necessary maps and geodatabases
  4. The GIS Tutorial Workbook is helpful for developing specific skills
  5. Work through the ArcGIS tutorial included with ArcGIS 9 to learn how to build original projects and utilitze ArcCatalog
vocabulary orthophoto = orthoquadrangle (from space; orthogonal to the earth's axis)
lesson resources

Mapping Our World: GIS Lessons for Educators (ISBN 1-58948-121-6 $50.37 discounted)
requires Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT

Includes a CD of all Module data necessary to complete the lessons and another trial CD of ArcGIS 9. Visit the accompanying website: http://www.esri/mappingyourworld for:

  • Seven teaching modules with online PDFs of each chapter as well as FrontMatter and BackMatter (answers)
  • Links to supporting reference works

Tips:

  • Everyone should do Module One as it provides necessary background in tools training.
  • Set up a projects folder for each student into which they may save work-in-progress. Include for each student their own copy of the Module materials.
  • Work through each lesson completing the student's answer sheet. The teacher's answer sheet in the backmatter of the online book PDFs is slightly different from the student's copy.
  • On shared computers, as each student works through a module, the interface (screen view) changes even if the work is not saved, resulting in the next user opening the lesson to a view which is different from the text. While none of module work really needs to be saved as it may be recreated, to avoid each student opening to a layout which may not correspond to the text, on shared computers it is prudent to have a separate folder for each student with duplicated Module data.
  • Read the Copyright Disclaimer. One copy of this book is all you need. You may duplicate all the lessons.

GIS Tutorial: Workbook for ArcView 9 (ISBN-13: 978-1-58948-127-5 $69.95)
Includes a 180-day trial of ArcView9 - Windows 2000 or XP. Visit the accompanying website: http://www.esri.com/esripress/gistutorial

Step by step guide to creating maps, collecting data and using geoprocessing tools

GIS Tutorial 1   Introduction
  • Exercise Assignment 1-1 Statistics on U.S. housing
  • Exercise Assignment 1-2 Erin Street Crime Watch
GIS Tutorial 2   Map Design
  • Exercise Assignment 2-1 Map showing schools in the city of Pittsburgh by enrollment
  • Exercise Assignment 2-2 Map showing K–12 population vs. school enrollment
GIS Tutorial 3   GIS Outputs
  • Exercise Assignment 3-1 Layout comparing males, females, and young population in Orange County, California
  • Exercise Assignment 3-2 Walking map of historic districts in downtown Pittsburgh
GIS Tutorial 4   Geodatabases
  • Exercise Assignment 4-1 Compare county financial information in a map
  • Exercise Assignment 4-2 Map a count of schools and the number of K–12 students enrolled in schools by census tract
GIS Tutorial 5   Importing Spatial and Attribute Data
  • Exercise Assignment 5-1 Maps showing population changes for Florida counties
  • Exercise Assignment 5-2 Create a voting district map for a local election
GIS Tutorial 6   Digitizing
  • Exercise Assignment 6-1 Digitizing police beats
  • Exercise Assignment 6-2 Using GIS to track campus information
GIS Tutorial 7   Geocoding
  • Exercise Assignment 7-1 Geocode household hazardous wastes participants to zip codes
  • Exercise Assignment 7-2 Geocode ethnic businesses to Pittsburgh streets
GIS Tutorial 8   Spatial Data Processing
  • Exercise Assignment 8-1 Build a study region for Colorado counties
  • Exercise Assignment 8-2 Dissolve property parcels to create a zoning map
    GIS Tutorial 9   Spatial Analysis
  • Exercise Assignment 9-1 Analyze population in California cities at risk for earthquakes
  • Exercise Assignment 9-2 Neighborhood walking distances and urban grocery store site selection
 
projects

 
presenter

Karolyne Lucero, EdD
Instructional Technologist

Technology Coordinator
Saint Edward's School
1895 Saint Edward's Drive
Vero Beach, FL 32963
772-492-2334

my web: http://www.empoweringtech.net

my email: karolyne@empoweringtech.net

my grant: Bridging the Map

 


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This page was last modified 2/6/07 .  Comments and suggestions to: karolyne@empoweringtech.net