What is Remote Sensing?

This Kids Geography website puts remote sensing into easy to understand terms:

check it out

GIS Day is TODAY!

Happy GIS Day 2008 to Hawaii Educators!

We hope you are finding ways to celebrate GIS Day with your students today - November 19, 2008. For more ideas, the official GIS Day website is: http://www.gisday.com/.

Geography Awareness Week on Molokai

On Monday November 17, 2008, several Molokai classrooms celebrated Geography Awareness Week with an emphasis on "GeoTech". Students learned through presentations and hands-on activities. Kaunakakai Elementary School 2nd, 3rd, & 4th graders, Kualapu'u Elementary Kindergarteners, Molokai Middle Hawaiian Immersion, and Molokai High School EAST students all participated in events coordinated by MEDB Women in Technology. Students engaged in GPS treasure hunts on school campus after learning how the technology works (See photo). And, in celebration of GIS Day, a GIS using professional from Molokai presented at the High School and students at the Middle School used some online mapping tools.

Free Online Map Tools

Free Online Map Tools -- If you are interested in getting your kids to visit free, online map tools just to get their feet wet with GIS, here are a couple of fun websites to try:

GeoGreetings
http://www.geogreetings.com
Idea: Have students spell their names or write a "GeoGreeting" message and learn where each letter comes from!

GoogleMaps
http://maps.google.com
Idea: Have students find the street where they live! Then check out one of the new additions from the left side menu, such as 'real-time' earthquakes around the world!

ArcLessons from ESRI

The fabulous education team at ESRI develops lessons for educators that work with AEJEE and other ESRI GIS software. ArcLessons are available for download AND they come with all necessary AEJEE axl files, data layers, and lesson plans in a 'zip' file.

Try out this beginner level social studies lesson as an example:
2008 Presidential Election
http://gis.esri.com/industries/education/arclessons/search_results.cfm?id=388

Presidential Election ArcLesson by ESRI

The fabulous education team at ESRI develops lessons for educators that work with AEJEE and other ESRI GIS software. ArcLessons are available for download AND they come with all necessary AEJEE axl files, data layers, and lesson plans in a 'zip' file.



Try out this beginner level social studies lesson as an example:
2008 Presidential Election
http://gis.esri.com/industries/education/arclessons/search_results.cfm?id=388

New AEJEE lessons available

James Madison University Center for STEM Education and Outreach have announced the publication of the Rural STEM GIS activity collection for AEJEE and ArcGIS.  This collection of 12 activities (authored by Barbaree Ash Duke, edited by me and classroom tested by teachers around the country) focuses on middle school science and social studies.  Each activity comes with student instructions and worksheet, teacher notes, an answer key and all relevant data.  The activities are referenced to relevant national standards.  Each activity can also be easily modified for younger or older students.  Each activity can be used by itself or in conjunction with one or more of the other activities.  We hope teachers in a variety of settings will find these activities of use.

All the activities can be accessed at http://www.isat.jmu.edu/stem/curriculum.html

We've categorized the activities into three groups by GIS experience:

Level 1 – suitable as a first-time GIS experience

Bats in the Neighborhood: Friend or Foe?

Hunting for the Best Cabela's Location

Invasive Species: Attack of the Animals

Invasive Species: Attack of the Plants

Level 2 – best after a prior introduction to GIS

We are the World: A Look at Demographics

Production and Consumption: The Give and Take of Energy

Disaster Strikes

Should You Drink the Water?

Watersheds: Why bother?

Level 3 – best after more than one experience with GIS

What’s Your Carbon Footprint?

Can You Grow Money?

Survivor: The Agricultural Challenge

This work is supported the Center for Rural STEM Education at James Madison University and funded by the U.S. Department of Education.