Abstract
GIS in Diverse College Courses: Case Studies and Learning Theory
Track: Teaching with GIS in Higher Education
Author(s): Jennifer J. Lund, Diana Sinton
A GIS map provides a powerful learning environment for higher education. The interactive nature of GIS invites students’ deep engagement with the course material. The visual user interface transforms quantitative data into accessible images that appeal to a broad cross section of the student body, from musicians to science majors. This session describes how GIS has been used to teach critical thinking skills, spatial thinking skills, and quantitative reasoning skills. It reviews examples of how students learn to use visual evidence as a tool for reasoning in the context of their studies. It describes how instructors are teaching with GIS and how students are learning with GIS. Drawing on theories from a wide range of sources, this session describes how GIS supports the educational process at the perceptual, logical, and applied levels of learning. The presentation provides a précis of a book of case studies published by Esri Press in 2006.
Jennifer J. Lund
Wheaton College
Academic Computing
26 East Main Street
Norton, MA 02766
US
Phone: 508-286-5441
E-mail: jlund@wheatonma.edu
Diana Sinton
National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education
152 Maple Street
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT 05753
US
Phone: 734-661-1012
Fax: 802-388-8091
E-mail: diana.sinton@nitle.org