Bringing Geospatial Technology into Classrooms

04 May 2009, 9:22am

Redlands, California — May 4, 2009 — Teachers with access to ArcGIS Desktop software (ArcInfo, ArcEditor, or ArcView) will be able to use Thinking Spatially Using GIS and newly created educational materials to integrate geospatial technology into primary-level classrooms. The new materials are available for download from the Web at no cost and complement the lessons that are currently available in the Thinking Spatially Using GIS book.

"The materials include ArcGIS software-based student workbook pages, teacher notes, map documents, and a few revised data layers," says Laura Bowden, ESRI K–16 program coordinator.

Thinking Spatially Using GIS is level 1 in the award-winning Our World GIS Education book series, which was created to enhance geospatial learning for students of all levels—grade school through college—and provide teachers with comprehensive and easy-to-use resources for the classroom. Lessons in Thinking Spatially Using GIS align with National Geography Standards and introduce students to basic concepts in spatial inquiry through conventional third-through-sixth-grade topics. Students practice map reading and pattern recognition skills by exploring, for example, Ferdinand Magellan's trip around the world, where tornados occur in the United States and why, and early settlement patterns in the United States. Within the new ArcGIS Desktop teaching materials, there is an activity that has been added for lesson 2, "Touring the Zoo," that gives students the opportunity to use ArcGIS to draw their zoo tour route.

To use the additional resources that are available online, educators will need access to ArcGIS Desktop 9.2 or 9.3 software, such as through an ESRI site license, as well as a copy of Thinking Spatially Using GIS and the accompanying data CD.

To download the new no-cost materials for Thinking Spatially Using GIS, visit the link below. Thinking Spatially Using GIS (ISBN: 9781589481800, 292 pages, $49.95) is available at online retailers worldwide, or by calling 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, visit the link below for complete ordering options or contact your local ESRI distributor. For a current distributor list, visit the link below. Interested retailers can contact ESRI Press book distributor Ingram Publisher Services.

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