One of our community asked:
As I continue to attempt to convince one of my local
school Districts to work with me on implementing a comprehensive plan to
incorporate GST as an instructional tool, I have been asked another question I
do not have an answer for. Is there any research based studies/evidence
which demonstrate that GST improves academic achievement and
understanding.
I wrote:
We have been for years maintaining a GIS Education research
bibliography:
http://education.library.esri.com/
You might want to look at the works of these authors – Donna
Goldstein, Sarah Bednarz, for starters.
Joseph Kerski
And some of the results of the SPLINT project in the UK:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/splint/
One of my colleagues wrote:
Hi Marc,
I am not aware of any direct links to show GST itself improves
understanding/achievement but I usually look at it from the spatial thinking
perspective (it’s not the GST itself – it’s the thinking behind it and how the
material is presented to students), and there is research that shows that
spatial thinking can improve academic achievement. This is an oldy but a goodie
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11019/learning-to-think-spatially-gis-as-a-support-system-in
though there may be some newer research out there that others know about.
Sarah Bednarz just gave a great webinar for NCGE on this
concept. Maybe you can check out the archive.
See also - http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9853/how-people-learn-brain-mind-experience-and-school-expanded-edition
Lori
Another colleague wrote:
I actually did my Master’s research on this topic, and here are
2 references for you - an article co-written with Dr. Dawn Wright (for conference
presentations)
https://www.academia.edu/2912772/Using_Geovisualizations_in_the_Curriculum_Do_Multimedia_Tools_Enhan...
and a longer version – research paper
Using Educational Tools and Integrative Experiences via
Geovisualizations that Incorporate Spatial Thinking, Real World Science and
Ocean Literacy Standards in the Classroom: A Case Study Examined
http://marinecoastalgis.net/michelle09
Enjoy!
Michelle
Michelle Kinzel, M.S., GISP
kinzelm@cox.net
