Abstract
Students Understanding Community Energy Use through GIS and STEM Learning
Track: Teaching with GIS Across the Curriculum
Authors: Hope Rowan
As part of Energy for ME, 6-12th grade students and teachers from ten island and coastal schools are learning how to better understand their communities' energy-consumption habits, and how to develop strategies to increase energy efficiency, through the integration of GIS and other STEM technologies in the classroom.
Project participants receive training in GIS, ethnography, data analysis, and energy efficiency. They receive the tools needed to grapple with critical decisions about increased efficiency, future energy generation and use, and how to take part in broader debates at the local, state, and national level.
This presentation will outline of the goals and strategies of the project, centered around technology integration, place-based learning, and non-hierarchical learning communities. The role of GIS in the project will be discussed, including how geospatial tools can be applied in the classroom to study energy concepts and issues, and successful strategies for integrating GIS into the curriculum.