Workshop Information

Mapping the Journey with GIS: Place-based, Experiential, Environmental Education Workshop

The ‘Mapping the Journey’ workshop will inspire and train you to use spatial thinking and ArcGIS Online to support experiential, place-based, environmental education in the K-12 environment. As participants, you should finish the workshop with inspiration, skills, confidence, and materials to integrate spatial thinking and ArcGIS Online into your experiential, place-based work with your students—both in the field and in the classroom. To maximize the relevance to teaching, technical and GIS-specific knowledge will be taught in the context of its application to this particular educational approach, although the skills are transferable to other approaches. Participants do not need any prior GIS experience and can play any role related to K-12 audiences such as regular classroom teacher, pre-service teachers, media center staff, IT staff, parent volunteer, nature centers that serve K-12 audiences, and so forth.

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The workshops will build on a recent successful project (completed by facilitators on this proposal) where GIS was used in an experiential, place-based, environmental education unit, implemented over the course of a year at River’s Edge Academy (REA). The project, “River Journey: Exploring the Value of the Mississippi” was a year-long exploration of water as it connects the students’ school to the larger environment. Students study the flow of water through their school, tracing the pipes to the Mississippi River, both upstream and downstream. Students used online mapping software (ArcGIS online) to share their learning about the water cycle and increase public awareness. Community contributors included the National Park Service, St. Paul Regional Water Services, Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, and the Lower Mississippi River Watershed Management Organization.

Learning Objectives

• The workshop will provide a foundation of skills in ArcGIS Online, setting up school ESRI ConnectEd accounts, and information about careers in GIS.
• Participants will learn many of the roles GIS mapping technology can play in place-based, experiential, environmental education including: Mapping as a unifying stage set and call to adventure, Mapping as orientation and tool of reflection, Mapping as a record of experience and a story-sharing device, Mapping as a way to see one’s place in the world, Mapping as a tool for enhanced field experience, and Mapping as a tool for systems thinking and complex problem solving.
• We will also discuss the general benefits of integrating GIS into learning: Using a professional communication tool and publishing the results on line can inspire students to do their best work and elevate the value of their public service. The students gain a marketable skill that enhances their school/college portfolio of work. Students better understand the language of maps and become more critical readers of maps and spatial data.

Workshop Schedule

The workshop will be held June 29 – July 2nd, 2015* for six hours each day. After 8:30 check in Monday morning, the workshop will be 9:00 – 4:00 pm each day, with lunch provided. Participants will need to bring their own laptop computer. The workshop is packed with hands-on learning supported by lectures. The first day will set the stage for the workshop by introducing ArcGIS Online and experiential learning. The second and third days will give participants some of the same field work and Story Map experience the students had in the case study to understand the process and skills involved. Throughout the workshop participants will be encouraged to think about how they will apply the concepts and skills in their own teaching. On the final day, participants working individually or in groups, will create a lesson plan incorporating the skills from the workshop as part of experiential, place-based, environmental education. The workshop will conclude with presentations where participants share their lessons.

*This is a blended course (using Moodle) requiring some participation before and after the workshop. There will be a small amount of reading before the workshop. Post-workshop instructor and peer contact will continue to support teachers as they apply what they’ve learned; this includes technical support of the mapping tools.