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Education Blog

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Education Blog

National Geographic MapMaker Educator Interview with Harden Barker
Helping Middle School Students See the Why Behind Where Maps can show students where something happened. Interactive maps can help them begin to understand why. Harden Barker is the MTSS and Gifted Education Specialist at Phillips Middle School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. At the 2026 Esri Education Summit, we spoke…
Starting with Place: Why Geography Belongs at the Beginning of the School Year
Meet the Teacher Hi! I’m Natalie Teboul, better known to students, teachers, and park rangers across the country as Traveling Miss T. After years as a classroom teacher, I’ve learned something simple but powerful: the way we start the school year matters. The first few days set the tone for everything that follows, not…
Put minerals on the map – Earth Science Week 2026
What do smartphones, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and buildings have in common? They all depend on minerals extracted from the Earth. But where do these minerals come from, and why are they found in some places rather than others? Earth Science Week 2026, celebrated October 11–17, explores these questions through the…
Students building knowledge with blocks
What if your students' block creations could stand on the real Earth? GeoBlocks is a free, browser-based builder where students stack blocks on a baseplate, then see their build at a real place on a 3D globe. This is a custom ArcGIS Online JavaScript app that is open source and runs on GitHub. In the app, students choose…
National Geographic MapMaker Educator Interview with Dominque Evans-Bye and Shalini Singh
Giving Ninth Graders Their First Taste of GIS How do students know whether they might be interested in GIS if they have never had an opportunity to experience it? At Clark Magnet High School, teachers Dominique Evans-Bye and Shalini Singh are giving ninth graders that opportunity with National Geographic MapMaker. We spoke…
Get ready for Geography Awareness Week!
Each November, Geography Awareness Week gives teachers a timely opportunity to help students think more deeply about place, patterns, connections, and the ways people interact with the world around them. In 2026, Geography Awareness Week takes place November 16–20, with the theme “Mapping the Future.” The theme emphasizes…
Community College Students: Start Your GIS Journey with the Esri Student Assistantship Program
As a student enrolled in a community college, you’re likely in the process of mapping out what your professional career will be through taking various courses, projects, and programs. This is the ideal time to explore what disciplines you will be taking a deeper dive in and, as such, getting exposure to opportunities that…
Frightful Mapping Activities for the Classroom this Halloween
Halloween is a great opportunity to bring a little seasonal fun into geography, math, and social studies without giving up meaningful learning. These three Halloween classroom activities use maps, location, coordinates, and spatial decision-making to engage students while reinforcing important academic concepts. Whether…
Geography in the News: Teaching Current Events with National Geographic MapMaker
Students often hear about a hurricane, an earthquake or a wildfire before their teacher does. It turns up on their phone as a clip, a headline or a post, usually with little context and sometimes with things that aren’t true. These events, combined with student curiosity, can be a way into geography using MapMaker’s ‘Real…
Contribute to the Education Blog
Do you have a story to tell? If you're an educator, student, or GIS professional, you can share yours on the Education Blog hosted on Esri Community! The Education Blog is a collaborative space where members of the education community share: Classroom successes Career insights Research projects Teaching and learning…

Latest Activity

Discover the Power of GIS for Career and Technical Education at ACTE CareerTech VISION 2026!
Career and Technical Education (CTE) prepares students with the practical skills and knowledge needed to succeed in today's workforce. But what if one technology could strengthen data analysis, visualization, and problem-solving across nearly every CTE pathway? That technology is Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and…
Stay Updated: List of September 2026 - Technical highlights & Resources from Esri
Esri consistently releases new contents, updates, and resources related to their products, solutions, apps, and applications, as well as best practices, success stories, recorded webinars, and more. Although these resources are posted in various locations, they can be difficult to find. This blog provides a comprehensive…
Exploring Indigenous North America with National Geographic MapMaker
Monday 12 October is Indigenous Peoples' Day in many US states and school districts. If you're looking for a map-based way to mark it, or to fit it into a unit you're already teaching, this new MapMaker resource might be useful: Peoples in the Americas: Indigenous North America. It's built around one essential question:…
Mapping the Year with National Geographic MapMaker in AP Human Geography
AP Human Geography asks students to read maps, question data and explain patterns at different scales, from Unit 1 all the way to Unit 7. National Geographic MapMaker is a free digital atlas built for the classroom. Students can open it in a browser and start exploring without signing in. This post walks through the seven…
National Geographic MapMaker Educator Interview with Jess Winkelaar
Building Spatial Thinking with National Geographic MapMaker How do you help students understand not just where places are, but how places relate to one another? For seventh-grade global studies teacher Jess Winkelaar, National Geographic MapMaker has become a way for students to explore those relationships and build…
Sharing, Learning, and Planning through GIS for Conservation
Over the past several years, I have worked in Cambodia with students and conservation groups to address land cover and land use challenges in the country using GIS and remote sensing. My name is Benjamin T. Fraser, PhD, a Visiting Professor of GIS and Remote Sensing in the department of Natural Resources and the…
Teaching with National Geographic MapMaker when student screen time is limited
Schools are rethinking how much time students spend on devices. Iowa now limits digital instruction in kindergarten through fifth grade to 60 minutes a day. New York City, the largest school system in the US, allows no one-to-one screen time through second grade and recommends daily caps of 30 minutes in grades 3-5 and 45…
Using GIS to Play the Autumnal Equinox Game in Your Classroom
If you teach geography or earth science, mark your calendar: the September equinox falls this Tuesday, September 22, at 7:05 PM CDT — the exact moment the sun crosses the equator heading south and astronomical fall begins in the Northern Hemisphere. It's one of those concepts students nod along to but rarely feel, because…
On the UN resolution to encourage shifting to the Equal Earth Projection
The United Nations General Assembly recently adopted a non-binding resolution on September 4, 2026, to encourage shifting from the traditional Mercator map projection to the Equal Earth projection for a more accurate size comparison of continents. I have been asked by the community about my response to this, and I submit…
Esri Press Educator Feedback Survey
Esri Press is seeking feedback from educators who teach GIS and related subjects. The survey is 9 questions and takes approximately 5 minutes to complete. Share your perspective! Your responses are vital for shaping future GIS publications and enhancing their value for students and educators. Take the survey…
North America’s remarkable places in your class - A game for learners
What can students learn when they look closely at landscape? North America Uncovered asks middle and high school learners to explore that question through a geography game featuring 25 remarkable natural and human-made destinations. Using ArcGIS imagery and 3D terrain, students investigate places such as the Grand Canyon,…
Esri Tutorials Spotlight: 3D GIS & Visualization
As a GIS or geography student, you’re likely already familiar with using maps to understand patterns and relationships but what happens when you add another dimension? 3D GIS can help you gain deeper understanding and insights with realistic visualizations and advanced analytics. Many industries such as urban planning,…
Student Maps on the Move: Real-Time Feeds and Analytics with ArcGIS Velocity
Most maps show what happened—or what someone measured in the past. But life does not hold still. Buses move. Sensors report. Weather changes. Working with live data is an increasingly valuable GIS skill because it lets people observe change as it happens. It also raises important questions about database design, data…
The anatomy of a National Geographic MapMaker classroom resource
A look inside the new US History (America 250) and World Cultures and Geography resources, and why we built them with the Portfolio Instant App. If you have opened one of the new National Geographic MapMaker resources recently — the America 250 series on US history, or the World Cultures and Geography set — you will have…
How Can and Should AI be Taught within GIS Courses?
Joseph Kerski | Geographer | Joseph Kerski LLC and Tony Spicci | Executive Director | GIS Certification Institute Since it was first taught in high schools and in higher education in the late 1980s and early 1990s, GIS instruction has always been in a state of change. We would argue that given the evolution of expectations…
ArcGIS Governance workshops – Messages, Recourses and Next Offerings
During the Esri Education Summit in San Diego, we held a series of ArcGIS Governance workshops: * ArcGIS Governance I: Establishing Governance Practices for ArcGIS* Forming a governance team * Establishing governance policies * ArcGIS Governance II: Managing Your System - Content, Users, and Credits* Understanding usage…
Stay Updated: List of August 2026 - Technical highlights & Resources from Esri
Esri consistently releases new contents, updates, and resources related to their products, solutions, apps, and applications, as well as best practices, success stories, recorded webinars, and more. Although these resources are posted in various locations, they can be difficult to find. This blog provides a comprehensive…
Map Your Summer: A Simple Back-to-School StoryMap Activity
When students return to school, one of the easiest ways to get them talking, writing, and thinking geographically is to ask a familiar question: What did you do this summer? Instead of assigning a traditional “What I Did This Summer” essay, consider having students create an ArcGIS StoryMap. Their summer does not need to…
Back to School with National Geographic MapMaker: 16 Map-Based Resources for Earth Science
The new school year is here — and if earth science is on your timetable, National Geographic MapMaker has a collection built for exactly that course: sixteen map-based resources developed by the National Geographic Society, Esri, and National Geographic Learning. Each resource pairs an interactive MapMaker map with student…
Getting Started with AI Assistants
Artificial Intelligence is becoming an important part of the ArcGIS ecosystem, helping users learn new skills, streamline workflows, and work more efficiently and creatively. As AI assistants continue to expand across ArcGIS products, educators and students may be wondering where to begin. The four guides below provide…
Back to School with MapMaker: 21 Map-Based Resources for World Cultures and Geography
The new school year is here — and if world cultures and geography is on your timetable, National Geographic MapMaker has a collection built for exactly that course: twenty-one map-based resources developed by the National Geographic Society, Esri, and National Geographic Learning. Each resource pairs an interactive…
Teach the First Semester of US History with the Latest National Geographic MapMaker Resources.
The new school year is here, and this one is different: the 250th anniversary of American independence! To mark it, we've built something new in National Geographic MapMaker to help you teach early US History. The six new map-based resources are built around an essential question, with a MapMaker map, student activities,…
Join Esri Schools at NCGE
The Esri Schools team is headed to Richmond, Virginia, October 16–18, for the annual meeting of the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE). The conference will bring geography educators, researchers, and education leaders together for three days of learning, sharing, and exploring new approaches to geography…
Webinar: Introducing the GIS I Module for High School Classrooms
Bring GIS Into Your Classroom with the Free GIS I Module You may have missed the live webinar, but you can see the recording now! https://mediaspace.esri.com/media/t/1_j8tl6kg0 Watch this webinar introducing the GIS I Module, a no-cost, classroom-ready resource designed to help K–12 educators bring GIS into their…
Interactive “geo” tools for APHG teachers (first quarter)
We’ve been exploring some interactive tools and models for use in human geography and APHG classrooms. Take a look at this handful of apps and models to source for the first quarter of classroom instruction. * “Reprojector” (APHG Unit 1): lets students reshape the world with a click — choose from thirteen map projections,…

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