AbstractUsing Geospatial Technology to Connect School and Community Track: Community Projects and Partnerships Author(s): Shey Conover, Ruth Kermish-Allen This presentation highlights the ways in which the Island Institute's Communities for Rural Education, Stewardship and Technology (CREST) program helps connect schools and communities through geospatial and other innovative technologies. Through a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation, CREST gets students and teachers excited about technology-related careers by engaging them in hands-on GIS, web-design and digital ethnography projects that answer local community questions and tell unique place-based stories. Using Esri software, and providing hardware and data, CREST complements the Maine Laptop Initiative, the Maine 4-H Community Atlas Mapping Project, the Maine Office of GIS and other innovative technology programs. With the knowledge and tools to investigate the closure of their local clamming industry, implement nature trail networks, or study community planning efforts, students learn what issues threaten their communities and how to provide viable solutions, whetting their interest in pursuing careers in technology fields. Shey Conover Island Institute PO Box 648 Rockland , ME 04841 US Phone: (207) 594-9209 E-mail: sconover@islandinstitute.org Ruth Kermish-Allen Island Institute PO Box 648 Rockland , ME 04841 US Phone: (207) 594-9209 E-mail: rallen@islandinstitute.org |