the first ESRI GIS state license. Subsequently, Georgia, Utah, South Dakota, and Texas obtained state licenses and Washington, D.C., obtained a district site license. Negotiations between ESRI and other states are under way. The agreements allow schools to acquire GIS software for instructional use at much reduced prices.

2001

California State University, San Bernardino, held the second Education Applications of GIS conference.

2001

ESRI held the first annual Education Conference, a preconference to the ESRI User Conference, in San Diego, California. The Education Conference was attended by nearly 500 educators interested in sharing ideas, attending workshops and paper sessions, and exploring ways to integrate GIS in K–12 curricula.

2001

NSF’s program, Extending Scientific Inquiry through Collaborative GIS (ESIC) (http://gis.kuscied.org), was launched at the University of Kansas. A key goal of this three-year program is to develop instructional materials for training K–12 science educators in GIS technologies within the context of problem-based learning. Using both on-line and face-to-face instruction, the program facilitates a cohort of teachers through training, implementation, and evaluation of geotechnologies in the classroom.

2002

ESRI held the second annual Education Conference in San Diego, California.

2002

U.S. State Department and the Association of American Geographers sponsored an international competition called My Community, Our Earth (MyCOE) (http://www.geography.org/sustainable). One aim of MyCOE is to focus student attention on GIS and sustainable development.

2003

ESRI held the third annual Education Conference in San Diego, California.