GeoMentors Blog - Page 3

The December 2018 GeoMentors newsletter is out (and has been for a little bit, but we were on holiday....)!  View the full issue here..

A GeoMentors Campaign for 2018 Geography Awareness Week and Beyond

Is there a book that inspires you as a geographer? A book that made you more interested and intrigued by geography? Perhaps a go-to text that you refer others to when they want to know more about being a geographer or about your area of research or teaching? If you had to give elementary, middle, or high school students a book to spark their interest in geography, (besides an atlas...) what would it be?

Adding geography to US K-12 schools isn’t just about finding ways to teach more geography directly in classrooms. It’s also about ways, big and small, to encourage students, or even just one student, to explore what geography has to offer and how it can help them understand their world. It can be about simply making more geography resources available for students to discover.

For GAW 2018, we encourage and challenge GeoMentors and geographers across the country to donate 1 geography book to a school or public library in your community.

Think outside the box, or perhaps we should say...outside the atlas. These don’t have to just be geography textbooks or even books that are overtly about the discipline of geography (geography doesn’t have to be in the title). Our discipline is diverse and many books are geographic in different ways - so be creative in thinking of books that excite you and ones that may also excite students!

Yes, I’m in! Now, how should I go about this?

1. Learn about local library donation policies. Check the school or public library websites for donation information or contact the librarian to find out about their donation policy and process, letting them know what you would like to do. Policies (and needs) may vary from one library to the next, so find out the process beforehand.

1. Think of a few different books you are interested in donating and determine which, if any, the library may already have. You don’t want to duplicate their offerings!

1. Donate the text of your choosing (or the cost of the text if the library wants to handle ordering it). Consider asking the librarian if you could provide a brief write-up of why you like this book and why you encourage students or anyone in general to read it (here’s a good chance to plug geography again!). They may be able to post or display your thoughts on the book  or in the library.

1. Finally (if you want to, no requirement...), tell us about it!  Let the GeoMentors program know what book you have donated and why. Email geomentors@aag.org or tweet us @AAGGeoMentors (and use #GeoReads & #GAW2018). We’d love to hear your donations/recommendations and we’d love to share them! Not only may it inspire others to donate, your suggestions may inspire others to pick up a new geographic read as well!

New to book donations? Here are some tips from the American Library Association.

Just want to recommend a book?

Yes! As another way to participate in this campaign, you can donate your idea for a suggested good geography read! Share it with us via email (geomentors@aag.org) or tweet us @AAGGeoMentors (use #GeoReads & #GAW2018). If you have room, tell us why you recommend it too! We would love to share everyone’s suggestions and compile a list!

GeoMentor Case Study:

Nettie Ginocchetti& Daniel Yelito

City/State of School, School District, or Group: The SHINE After School Program is home to 8 schools within 5 school districts located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

Grade level of students you or your educator collaborator work/worked with: K-8

Subject/topic of class/group you assisted your collaborator with: The SHINE program, geared to grades K-8, focuses on a project-based STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) curriculum. SHINE links schools to homes to help children build a stronger academic and social foundation. The topics of discussion were Groundtruthing, Mobile Mapping, GIS, Drones, Esri Story Maps, Careers in GeoTechnologies and various disciplines within Geography.

Approximately how many students were engaged in GIS activities through this collaboration: Approximately 25 students were engaged in GIS activities across 8 different schools located in 5 school districts were visited by NEPA GeoMentors as we introduced over 150 students to ArcGIS mapping technology.

How did you connect with your collaborator? This collaboration is an ongoing effort. We are in our second year of GeoMentoring with the SHINE Program. We met in the summer of 2016 through a PennDOT Transportation Improvement Program Public Outreach Meeting where a representative for Senator John Yudichak was present. When I explained that I was a GeoMentor and we were in search of schools, students and teachers to partner with. The representative asked that I contact to Carol Nicholas Executive Director of the SHINE Program and since 2016 our collaboration has been monumental.

Describe your collaboration process. Throughout the 2017-2018 we communicated with SHINE representatives primarily through email on a monthly basis setting up dates and schools to visit in the SHINE Program. Depending on the time of year, technology available to us, the age of students and the school we planned to visit were factors in deciding which story maps we would review.

This collaboration was ongoing throughout the 2017 - 2018 school year beginning in the fall and wrapping up in the spring.

In addition to reviewing story maps, as we visited each SHINE location we printed out an aerial wall map of the campus which was studied by the students in order for them to gain a spatial understanding of their surroundings. Student's also received an 8.x11 map of their campus or them to take home as a souvenir.

Describe the tasks you assisted your collaborator with. Our situation is a bit unique where we have the opportunity to visit schools in the SHINE After School Program as guest speakers. Our collaboration with the after school teachers happens on the set and we essentially freestyle our GeMentoring tasks depending on the age of the class, technology that is available to us and the time of year.

What available resources, if any, did you use or help your collaborator use to implement GIS in K-12 education? We printed out the GeoMentor flyers an handed them to the students and teachers at each SHINE location we visited. We refereed to the Amazon HQ2 US Finalists story map on a number of occasions for students to review http://mediamaps.esri.com/AmazonHQ2_USFinalists/index.html

Did you develop any new educational material or GIS activities through your collaboration? We developed a SHINE GIS Gallery that is home to some of the maps we demo in class. We review these maps with students to teach them basic mapping tools.

SHINE GIS Gallery: https://wbctcshine.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html

SHINE Centers Locator: https://arcg.is/0fnGea
Find A Food Pantry: https://arcg.is/vXKbS
Adventures in GeoMentoring: https://arcg.is/0XKyrP
National Donut Day Dunkin Donuts in NEPA: https://arcg.is/0841Dz
Lights On After School: https://arcg.is/bW80u

Crowdsource map examples include:
NEPA Pizza Review https://arcg.is/1LD5OD
Doodle Dogs Around the World: https://arcg.is/1e1rKL

What did you gain from the experience? What do you think your educator collaborator and/or the students gained? NEPA GeoMentors gained a new understanding to the the challenges we face in the education industry when it comes to Geography as priority. In Northeastern Pennsylvania it seems the Geography curriculum is becoming extinct. We feel that as GeoMentors it is our mission to shed light on the GIS industry by introducing students and teachers with next gen mapping tools that will be prepare a workforce of the future.

There is always something to gain when instructing, teaching or coaching children. We have always taken tons of knowledge with us when engaged with any student. One thing we’ve taken away, as all teachers do, is how difficult teaching really is. We always mention and talk about how exhausted we are after instructing young students. The students and educators gained the knowledge and the many uses of the GIS tool. The ESRI GIS software has endless educational applications and all the students and faculty have gained that understanding.

We hope the teachers and students have found a new way to learn and a new way to teach by means of Esri story maps.

If your GeoMentoring engagement activities were documented through a classroom blog, school website, group’s social media post, newspaper or other media, please provide the websites of those posts.
2017-2018 NEPA SHINE Story Map https://arcg.is/iyPK8 that documents each school visit with a description and picture gallery link.
2017 - 2018 SHINE Photo Gallery www.nettiequette.com/folder/24714k

Any additional comments about your experience? We are thankful for the opportunity to be GeoMentors and pray that one day we will make a difference in the lives of these students giving them a career option they didn't know existed.

Check out more case studies here!

If you're interested in submitting your GeoMentor experience for a case study, we would appreciate you doing so through this survey. The collected information will only be accessible to and used by AAG and Esri program staff and will not be further distributed or posted  unless you indicate your permission to do so.

GeoMentor Case Study:

Patrick J. Phillips, GISP

In conjunction with National Surveyors Week, Southeastern Surveying & Mapping Corp., Inc. (SSMC) participated in presenting Surveying & Mapping as a career to Lockhart Middle School on March 27th & Rock Lake Middle school on March 28th. James Mazurak and Patrick Phillips from the Orlando office of SSMC along with Lenora Spence, Outreach Coordinator from Florida Department of Agriculture visited the two schools.

At Lockhart Middle school the presentations were made to about 50 students (30 6th graders, and 20 7th graders). At Rock Lake Middle school, three or four classes of mixed grades and ages met in the schools media center as one big group of about 60 students. James explained about Surveying & Mapping using videos, slides and personal experiences, while Patrick physically demonstrated his drone skills in the school yards. This was part of the ongoing community involvement & education that SSMC is involved with throughout the year with students ranging from Elementary School to College.

Beyond the math, science and technology involved; James explained that what draws him to the surveying profession is the time spent in the field. Most geographers, regardless of specialty, are drawn to the outdoors and all that nature has to offer. Much of surveying & mapping is following in the footsteps of those who came before us. Consequently; many practitioners are also historians and conservationists.

I have to admit, though, the technology is pretty cool and that is what drew me to the profession. I studied computer science in college but like many mappers, followed my family into the profession. So I am now applying my computer skills to surveying and mapping. The UAS portion of SSMC’s presentation primarily explained the technology behind the aerodynamic capabilities of the UAS; GPS, IMUs, accelerometers and counter rotating propellers. The students asked questions like “how high can it go?” And “can you make it flip?” Far fewer students were interested in the photogrammetry and math required to process the data.

Check out more case studies here!

The August 2018 GeoMentors newsletter is out!  View the full issue here.