GeoMentor Case Study: Jack Nessen
City/State of School, School District, or Group: Salem Public School District, Salem, Massachusetts.
Grade level of students you or your educator collaborator work/worked with: High School, freshman to senior
Subject/topic of class/group you assisted your collaborator with: Coastal marine debris tracking, marine debris mitigation, marine debris education and prevention
Approximately how many students were engaged in GIS activities through this collaboration: 8
How did you connect with your collaborator? Collaborator (Katie Wilkins) is not only a fantastic mentor and community partner, but also my girlfriend. We strive to develop and implement spatially based science opportunities for low-income high school students that address relevant urban issues.
Describe your collaboration process. We have been successfully collaborating on various programs for over 5 years.
Describe the tasks you assisted your collaborator with. I did not assist my collaborator, but rather provided GIS education, opportunities and resources to high school students while my collaborator oversaw HR related issues, student recruitment and the marketing of the program among the student body of Salem High School
What available resources, if any, did you use or help your collaborator use to implement GIS in K-12 education? ESRI GeoInquiries and specific curriculum and activities designed by myself while employed at Salem Sound Coastwatch which is not, unfortunately, publicly available.
What did you gain from the experience? What do you think your educator collaborator and/or the students gained? Gained wonderful experiences with thoughtful, passionate and caring high school students. I also gained great experience as an educator and specific experience in geo-spatial education.
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