ESRI (UK) announces 100th sign up for its GIS....

13 January 2010, 11:26am

ESRI (UK) announces 100th sign up for its GIS for Schools Programme

Strong demand for teaching tool since GIS introduced to national curriculum

ESRI (UK) today announces the 100th school to sign up to its GIS for Schools Programme, which offers specially tailored GIS software and resources to enable teachers to integrate GIS (geographic information systems) into their lessons. Reading Girls Grammar School is the latest to sign up to this innovative programme.

Reading Girls Grammar joins the growing number of leading-edge schools embracing GIS to meet the requirements of the updated national curriculum. Finally introduced in September 2009, the new statutory GIS requirements for Geography at Key Stage 3, GCSE and A level require students to use new technologies including GIS.

GIS - which comprises a computer, GIS software and a database of geographic information - offers a complete range of classroom activity. Whether students are viewing maps streamed over the internet, creating their own maps to display fieldwork data, or visualising complex data sets, they can ask searching questions about locations using the powerful tools of a GIS: not only “where”, but “why”, “how” and “what if”.

In doing so, students acquire valuable skills which they can transfer to higher education and careers in a vibrant industry expanding at an annual rate of almost 35 per cent each year . GIS is rapidly developing into a mainstream technology in use across all the major industries, from the private to the public sector. Eighty per cent of all business data now has a location element, and by analysing this effectively with GIS, organisations can achieve significant efficiency and sustainability savings.

Richard Pole, ESRI (UK) commented:
“GIS is set to become an indispensable part of everyday life, and as the UK’s leading GIS software provider we are well placed to equip teachers and students with the skills they need to take advantage of these new opportunities. The software and resources we’ve assembled mean that teachers don’t need to be experts in the technology to introduce the power of GIS into their teaching; they can instead rely upon an easy to use GIS specifically developed for schools as well as tried and tested resources written by teachers for teachers.
“We believe that GIS brings a valuable new dimension to lessons. GIS is a powerful analytical tool that can be used not only in geography lessons but right across the curriculum to help students visualise and analyse information. Most importantly, GIS makes lessons fun!”
ESRI (UK) provides two core packages of GIS software to the UK education market.
• DigitalWorlds - an easy to use, entry level GIS, recommended for Key Stage 3 and GCSE.
• ArcView 9.3 - a more advanced GIS suitable for in-depth analysis at GCSE and A level and widely used in the workplace.
Both software packages come complete with comprehensive local, national and worldwide maps and data, from Ordnance Survey maps to 2001 census data. The packages also provide access to ESRI (UK)’s online resource centre where teachers have access to self-learning materials and lesson resources written by teachers for teachers and geared to the curriculum.

The two software products are totally compatible and schools can easily progress from DigitalWorlds to ArcView. This is ideal for schools as they develop their proficiency in GIS and introduce a wider range of tools and functionality across all subjects.

With 100 schools now signed up, ESRI (UK)’s GIS for Schools Programme is gaining real momentum. More resources are being developed and the company plans to encourage a community of teachers to come together to share their experience, enthusiasm and resources. GIS is fast becoming a core teaching resource and ESRI (UK) is committed to supporting teachers in its adoption.

www.esriuk.com/schools

EDUCATING THE FUTURE

GeoConnexion UK