Abstract

Impact of Long-Term Geospatial Professional Development on Teachers and Students
Track: Educational Research and Teacher Education
Authors: Michael Batek

Crossing Boundaries is a year-long professional development project that trains secondary science teachers to use geospatial and Web 2.0 technologies to explore environmental conservation issues in regional and international contexts. The Crossing Boundaries curriculum is designed to increase science knowledge, enhance technological skills, foster ecological stewardship and increase career awareness. Using a variety of geospatial technologies, students explore land and wildlife management in Kenya, land use and development issues in the Brazilian Amazon and watershed conservation in Mexico. Students then relate these international topics to similar issues in local and regional contexts. Forty teachers and approximately 2,000 students from the Finger Lakes region of New York State have participated in the project, now in the second of its three-year life-cycle. Based on pre- and post-project surveys, this paper presents our professional development model and then examines the impact of this project on teachers and students.