Children without a sense of place do not see themselves as part of the global community and likewise have no stake in the biosphere.

Assumptions:

• Developing a sense of place is a natural processes that grows with broadening experiences.

• Creating maps can help children develop their spatial orientation and concept of a global ecosystem.

• GIS is a useful tool for teaching students about their world and how to understand it.

• ArcView is a technological tool that teachers and children can utilize to implement a GIS approach to environmental studies.

• trains teachers in environmental science core institutes train teachers 1997-2001 through a grant from the National Science Foundation

• second tier institutes, TORCH (teacher outreach), train hundreds of others across the country 1998-2001

• establishes schools and libraries program
• selected teachers offered free copies of ArcView
• supports training programs for geography and science teachers

1998 Teacher Outreach Results--What K-12 Teachers Can Learn Given the Opportunity

GIS & Environmental Science Institute 1998, 1999, 2000
A TORCH Institute co-sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation,
the National Science Foundation, the University of the Pacific,  and ESRI

Target: teachers of 3-12 and post secondary educators involved in environmental science education.

Content: software training in ArcView, web publishing, hydrology, and plate tectonics.

Goals:

• methods of GIS for use as a teaching strategy
• principles of plate tectonics relevant to seismic phenomena
• the workings of California's water system and its implications for Californians
• how to use GIS softwaret o produce relational maps of vector and raster data.
• how to access the internet, communicate by e-mail
• how create inquiry project based activities for teaching environmental science
• how to locate community resources to augment environmental education
• develop an inquiry based project to be published on the internet

Viewer Notes:

The following projects include maps prepared using ArcView. When using ArcView, the maps are interactive and for some of the activities, interaction is a feature of the lesson. What you will see in these lessons are static maps, that is, they are snapshots from ArcView and are not interactive with your browser. These products are intended to stimulate ideas on how you can teach GIS concepts. The 1999 summer institute produced a number on "how to's," project models, and GIS resource links and applications for converting digital data into files useable by ArcView.

Many of the web pages from 1999 utilize PowerPoint format but do not require PowerPoint on your machine. However, most of these PowerPoint web pages are large files and may take awhile to download into your machine if you are using a modem. Be patient, there is nothing wrong with your equipment. Also, there is an option for downloading the actual PowerPoint presentation. There are bugs in this feature that needs to be worked out. We will be working on this in the near future. (7-26-99)

Summer 1999:

Models of Actual School Projects using GIS in studying the environment

Lassen High School Susan River Study: James Reichle presents is on-going river study project of the Susan River in Susanville, California that runs adjacent to the school grounds. Jim models a method for using GIS to map out, collect and analyze data with his classes. Jim discusses the good and the bad of using raster data with vector data. He summarizes the problems with non-georeferenced images.

Dickman Mill Restoration Project: Cheryl Greengrove's project illustrates how to use GIS to map a restoration project in Tacoma, Washington. Cheryl includes some thorough "how to" explanations with examples of combining raster and vector data as well as how to overlay DEM (digital elevation models) and a primer for getting DRG's (digital raster graphics) online for use with ArcView.

English River Watershed Project, project based learning: Christopher Soldat models the use of GIS with middle schoolers involved in monitoring water quality as part of the English River Watershed Project in Iowa. This model illustrates the "project based learning" model.

LaSalle County, Illinois Watershed Study Model:    Joseph Jakupcak creates a series of ArcView maps using a variety of themes to illustrate watershed study.

Understanding Campus Ecology With GIS: Scott Johnson of Nevada City, California has created a model of campus ecology study utilizing GIS.  Scott generated a variety maps of this Sierra foothill campus using themes such as vegetation, fire protection, campus landmarks, streams and ponds, nest boxes, and watershed distribution.

Using GIS to Organize the Stream Watchers Program: Landon Neustadt provides an insightful look at uses public data to create a series of maps that organize and document the Stream Watchers Program in Santa Barbara, California. Landon's 7th grade classes collects data at specified points on the map on a periodic basis. Landon also illustrates the process of winowing the mass of map data down to a useful level. (large file)

Resource Management Partnership In Ishii Country: Beth Pilger presents a model for her school's involvement in the management of the Mill Creek watershed in northern California. GIS has played an important role in management decisions and Beth's students were the gatherers of the essential data on water quality.

Baltimore Zoo Box Turtle Project: Judy Brown introduces us to the box turtle study that will be conducted in the future under the auspices of the Baltimore Zoo. GIS is used to illustrate where all of this taking place in the real world.

Using GIS to Sense the History of a River: David Tinker of Corning, California uses ArcView to create a spectrum of maps of the Sacramento River and his school's study area. A series of his map impressively depicts the wandering history of the stream bed during the passed century.

Tutorial Activities for learning ArcView and/or GIS

Disaggregating Census Data from Tiger Files: Greg Lockett presents a step by step tutorial using ArcView to create meaning ful maps using data from the US Census Bureau (Tiger/Line files) readily available on the Internet. Users must have ArcView and for extension #2 there must be internet access to download zipped files. The lessons leads students to using their own local data the US Census Bureau.

Creating a Base Map for a Real World Project: This team project was created by Dee Ladd, Nellie Graham, Jeffry Steele, Carol Ekstrom, and Annie Holmes. The project revolves around the concept of collecting real time data using a GPS receiver to georeference objects (trees) in the real world. Illustrations and discussion consider the key aspects of the task.

Introducing ArcView Through a Nesting Study: Tom Van Wagner uses a simulated nesting study to introduce the graphic user interface of ArcView. The lesson also focuses on GIS can generate student questions.

Normalizing Data using ArcView: Michael Garcia has created a step by step visual tutorial for "normalizing" data, an important aspect to displaying data on maps in an effective manner. (large file)

Classroom/Computer Lab Lessons Using GIS

Teaching Plate Tectonics Using GIS: Cathy Summa presents a lesson that uses ArcView for teaching students about plate tectonics.

Urban Grow and Land Use: Steve Schweigerdt uses ArcView to create a lesson with a series of maps illustrating the expansion of the greater Sacramento area and its effect on land use patterns.

The Coal Mining Industry and the Environment: Beth Fisher presents a lesson in coal mining, uses GIS to illustrated its distribution, and potential environmental impacts primarily in the Pennsylvania region.

Forecasting an El Nino or a La Nina: Susan Digby has created a lesson to teach how short term climatic changes can be predicted using remote sensing data on the topography of the ocean's surface. ArcView maps display the regions of the world affected by these climatic changes.

Urban Growth and Land Use In Silicon Valley: Phyllis Nicholson presents a lesson for her high school students using GIS to make inferences from variety of maps generated by ArcView. At issue is the expansive population growth of Santa Clara county and its environmental impact on water quality.

Using ArcVoyager for Middle and High School: Jud Atwater presents a case for using ArcVoyager, a simplified program that shares much of ArcView's appear, feel, and operation. ArcVoyager is free for schools from ESRI.

ArcView and Cartography: Joyce Quinn has created an in depth lesson on using principles of good cartography while using ArcView. Amply illustrated, cartographic terms are explained as well as the methods of displaying data in the most truthful and effective manner. (large file)

Using ArcView to teach World Geography: Steve Smith creates a lesson on how geography analyzes the world. The lesson includes a series of world maps with different themes such as population distribution, density, vegetation, etc. to generate inferences from students.

Using GIS to Link Economics to Consumption and Environmental Impacts: Roberta Rosario applies GIS to economics to illustrate the connection of cost to supply and demand. Bobbi uses the Brazilian rain forest as an example of a locale with abundant resources that are diminishing at a pace that threatens the resource itself and how economics plays a role in that destruction. (large file)

RESOURCES

How To Create Hotlinks: Beth Pilger has developed this "how to" that explains how to insert web links into your web document.

GIS Resources: Started by Beth Pilger, various institute participants contributed to this page which features an annotated list with links of web sites that feature GIS data and other resources.
 

Summer 1998

AgPop --A GIS lesson on the impact of population shifts on agricultural lands
El Nino --A GIS lesson on analyzing crop losses associated with El Nino
GIS --A lesson on geographic information systems and their use
GIS/Faults/Water --Regional watershed projects using a GIS approach, Fault finding field trip, California Water System field trip.
Mother Lode --Using GIS to plan and report on a field trip
Mystery Mines --Integrating history and geology using GIS
Pesticides --Analyzing the use of malathion
Quakes --Using GIS to teach plate tectonics
River Pro --GIS for project based learning about rivers
Runoff --Analyzing community planning and effects on runoff
Tree Walk --creating an interactive virtual arboretum
Watersheds --watershed lessons the GIS way