Abstract

GIS and Teacher Education: Field notes from middle schools
Track: Educational Research and Teacher Education
Author(s): Marsha Alibrandi

Recent research in focus groups with middle school teachers indicates that web authoring and internet tools such as Webquests and PBS.org are used by Social Studies teachers. As efforts to bridge the gap between GIS and GST (geospatial technology) products and educational users are further constructed, investigating classroom utilization and school and district partnerships must continue.

Protocols for web-authoring, GIS and GSTs, integration of digital archives and media (animations, audio, etc.) can yield fully-developed thematic units for middle school curricula. As teachers, teacher educators and researchers collaborate, the remaining distance across the gap may be built from both shores toward a durable connection.

Using models of successful NGO-based curricula, data from existing tests and measurements in combination with developing spatial thinking skills-based learning products and protocols can assist teachers and learners in constructivist GIS and GST applications.

This presentation resumes 'notes from the field' on research in middle school classrooms.

Marsha Alibrandi
Fairfield University
PO Box 396
Cummaquid , Massachusetts 02637-0396
United States
Phone: 508-362-4993
E-mail: marsh@cape.com