Abstract

GIS education in Finnish schools
Track: Teaching with GIS in Schools
Author(s): Simo Tolvanen

GIS education in Finnish schools is based on the National Curriculum of Upper Secondary Schools (grades 10-12) from 2005. The curriculum includes a geography course on area study and it is taught nationwide. The students get a general introduction to GIS and GIS is used to make maps of the study areas. There are 2 Finnish geography books including ArcExplorer software and data to use on this course. GIS is also applied by some teachers on the compulsory courses to teach map projections, earthquakes etc.

I have been involved in a project funded by the Finnish National Board of Education promoting GIS education for 4 years. In this project we have established a Finnish GIS web portal with web links and teaching tips for teachers. We also have given practical GIS training to teachers around Finland and developed virtual web courses to teach GIS on different learning platforms.

Simo Tolvanen
Kauhajoki Upper Secondary School
Rinta-Yrjänäinen 243
Kauhajoki , Länsi-Suomi 61800
Finland
Phone: +358505475676
E-mail: simo.tolvanen@kauhajoki.fi