National Academies Press: OpenBook

Learning to Think Spatially (2006)

Chapter: Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education

« Previous: Appendix F What Is GIScience?
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education." National Research Council. 2006. Learning to Think Spatially. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11019.
×

Appendix G
The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education

A time line for the introduction of GIS in K–12 education between 1986 and 2003 contains many events, activities, and organizations. The contents of the time line, when taken together, reflect a typical pattern of development in that it is haphazard, uncoordinated, and therefore, disorganized. Equally well, the time line shows the impact of enthusiastic pioneers, struggling to influence a massive, fragmented, and inflexible education system. Thomas R. Baker of the University of Kansas prepared the basis for this time line.

1986

National Geographic Society Alliance network (http://www.nationalgeographic.com) started with 8 states and incorporated all 50 states and the District of Columbia in 1993. From the inception of the network, the state alliances, in varying degrees, provided some support for the infusion of GIS in schools and GIS training for teachers.

1989

National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) (http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu) was founded. It is a consortium of three universities (University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Maine; and State University of New York-Buffalo) and is funded primarily by the National Science Foundation. Its mission is to advance geographic information research. This mission includes cognition (examining how people conceptualize geographic concepts and how software systems can be made congruent with these concepts), education, and public outreach activities to help meet the demand for GIS professionals and geographically informed citizens.

1989

The JASON Project (http://www.jason.org) uses the Internet, printed curricula, video, and teleconferencing technologies to bring explorations in science, mathematics, technology, and social studies to K–12 students.

1990

NCGIA released the Core Curriculum, which was intended to provide a scope and sequence for GIS education at the undergraduate level. Thought was given to adapting this curriculum to the high school level. However, K–12 teachers considered the Core Curriculum to be unrelated to the curriculum teachers are tasked to teach.

1991

Association for Geographic Information (AGI) conference organized discussion on GIS in the K–12 environment.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education." National Research Council. 2006. Learning to Think Spatially. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11019.
×

1992

A few schools in North Carolina, Michigan, Kansas, Oregon, and Virginia adopted GIS.

1992

NCGIA launched the Secondary Education Project (SEP) (http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/education/projects/SEP/sep.html) with the purpose of identifying existing GIS activities for secondary schools and creating new ones.

1992

Center for Image Processing in Education (CIPE) (http://www.cipe.com) was founded. It trains teachers and students in the use of data visualization tools and produces training manuals and curricula. Since its founding, CIPE has trained more than 3,500 teachers in image processing or GIS.

1992

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) (http://www.esri.com) established a K–12 Schools and Libraries Division. The mission of the division is to help develop a spatially literate society using GIS.

1994

With the National Geographic Society (NGS), the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored the first Educational Applications of GIS conference, called EdGIS, on K–12 applications of GIS.

1994

Collaborative Visualization Project (CoVis) (http://www.covis.nwu.edu) was started by researchers in the Learning Sciences Center, School of Education, Northwestern University, to explore ways in which scientific understanding can be enhanced through visualization tools. Students and teachers met to use specialized software created by the project.

1994

World Watcher program (http://www.worldwatcher.northwestern.edu) was established. It grew out of CoVis and was directed by a senior researcher at CoVis. The program was designed to support student use of GIS in the science classroom. In 2003, it released a vector-based GIS software package for classroom use.

1994

NSF awarded a grant to the Technology in Education Research Consortium (TERC) (http://www.terc.edu) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a two-year project to assess the value of GIS in science classrooms. Project researchers concluded that GIS helps students discover relationships among variables, simpler GIS technology encourages open-ended explorations of data, and maps help students focus on the spatial nature of data.

1995

Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) (http://www2.eastproject.org/east), a collaborative of hundreds of U.S. high schools, was started. It uses problem-based learning strategies and technologies to stimulate student intellectual development. Using GIS, CAD, image analysis, programming, web development, and data visualization tools, EAST students focus on community issues and service learning. Annual student conferences in Arkansas and California highlight student products and provide teachers with time for training and collaboration.

1995

Visualizing Earth (VisEarth) (http://www.psu.edu) project, a collaboration between Pennsylvania State University’s Psychology and Geography Departments and TERC, involved middle school students in the analysis of remotely sensed and aerial photography data.

1996

NGS held the second EdGIS conference.

1996

The Berkeley Geo-Research Group (BGRG) (http://www.bgrg.com) created an ArcView GIS extension called Geodesy. The objective of Geodesy is to help students learn to interpret and analyze geographic information so they can answer questions about where they are, why they are there, and how they can enhance the quality of life in their community and the world. Designed for K–12 education, Geodesy is used in nearly 100 schools.

1997

Kansas Collaborative Research Network (KanCRN) (http://www.kancrn.org) was established. It is an Internet-based network of schools aimed to facilitate student research in the natural sciences through high-tech tools.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education." National Research Council. 2006. Learning to Think Spatially. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11019.
×

1997

NGS held the third EdGIS conference.

1998

University of Arizona began a three-year project SAGUARO (http://saguaro.geo.arizona.edu), which developed inquiry-based Earth sciences curricula for use in secondary schools.

1998

ESRI created its Virtual Campus (http://campus.esri.com) for learning about GIScience, GIS technology, and industry-specific applications of GIS. The campus now has more than 200,000 e-mail addresses of people from 185 countries signed into a course. K–12 teachers have found these courses less to their liking than other professional users partly because of course content and partly because of a lack of familiarity with the process of taking courses on-line. By contrast, K–12 students have demonstrated a facility for this style of learning.

1998

Education Division of the Missouri Botanical Garden (http://www.mobot.org/education/mapping/index.html), in partnership with the University of Missouri-St. Louis and St. Louis public schools, began efforts to incorporate GIS and related technologies in K–12 science and geography classrooms. The Missouri Botanical Garden offers summer classes on themes that use GIS for middle school students.

1999

World Resources Institute (WRI) (http://www.wri.org/enved/datascap.html) and ESRI published an ArcView GIS extension called DataScape, which enables secondary school students to explore WRI’s database of 450 variables for more than 160 countries. Its software allows inexperienced users to take advantage of the capabilities of GIS.

1999

ESRI, NGS, and the Association for Geographic Information initiated an annual GIS day (http://www.gisday.com/news.html). The purpose of GIS day is to educate students and the general public about GIS.

1999

ESRI K–12 Schools and Libraries Division established a core of K–12 educators skilled in GIS (http://www.esri.com/industries/k-12/index.html), and this group of teacher trainers in GIS for schools led to the establishment of the ESRI K–12 Authorized Teaching Program (ATP) (http://www.esri.com/industries/k-12/atp/index.html). ATP training is based on an inventory of what understanding is necessary for teachers to be able to help other teachers use ArcView and ArcVoyager in particular.

1999

Visualizations in Science and Mathematics (VISM) (http://www.isat.jmu.edu/common/projects/vism), a three-year NSF program started at the Integrated Science and Technology Center at James Madison University, holds summer workshops in the techniques and application of data visualization for math and science teachers. VISM is a summer program for middle and high school teachers interested in using data visualization technologies in the classroom.

1999

ESRI started the Community Atlas project (http://www.esri.com/industries/k-12/atlas/index.html). Using GIS, students work on community-related projects during the school year, culminating in a nationwide competition.

1999

Orton Family Foundation established the Community Mapping Program (http://www.communitymap.org), a place-based, project-based educational program bringing students, teachers, and community mentors together to address local needs and issues. The program works with GIS to enhance the discovery process.

2000

NSF’s three-year project, Virtual Immersion in Science Inquiry for Teachers (VISIT) (http://www.piedmontresearch.org/visit/index.html) started at Eastern Michigan University and the Piedmont Research Institute. VISIT was designed primarily to extend GIS teacher training into an on-line setting. By completing activities, teachers earned graduate credit.

2000

EdGIS conference, which was hosted by the California State University, San Bernardino, was held to address the growth in GIS industry, education, and on-line digital libraries.

2000

ESRI established GIS state site licenses for schools. In the United States, Montana obtained

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education." National Research Council. 2006. Learning to Think Spatially. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11019.
×

 

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.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education." National Research Council. 2006. Learning to Think Spatially. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11019.
×
Page 289
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education." National Research Council. 2006. Learning to Think Spatially. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11019.
×
Page 290
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education." National Research Council. 2006. Learning to Think Spatially. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11019.
×
Page 291
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K–12 Education." National Research Council. 2006. Learning to Think Spatially. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11019.
×
Page 292
Next: Appendix H Seasonal Differences: A Customized Eighth-Grade GIS Module »
Learning to Think Spatially Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $55.00 Buy Ebook | $43.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

Learning to Think Spatially examines how spatial thinking might be incorporated into existing standards-based instruction across the school curriculum. Spatial thinking must be recognized as a fundamental part of K–12 education and as an integrator and a facilitator for problem solving across the curriculum. With advances in computing technologies and the increasing availability of geospatial data, spatial thinking will play a significant role in the information-based economy of the twenty-first century. Using appropriately designed support systems tailored to the K–12 context, spatial thinking can be taught formally to all students. A geographic information system (GIS) offers one example of a high-technology support system that can enable students and teachers to practice and apply spatial thinking in many areas of the curriculum.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!