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Students and teachers go on-line for geomatics lessons
Students learn better when classroom lessons relate to real-world issues. That's why Claude Brun del Re, a geography teacher at Woodroffe high school in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, helped develop the Geomatics for High School Curriculum website with representatives from GeoInsight Corp. and ESRI Canada.
Geomatics is a family of disciplines related to acquiring and managing geographical information, and the Geomatics for High School Curriculum website tackles the subject in two sections. The first section, partially funded by private industry and GeoConnections, enables teachers to assign grade nine students on-line geography lessons. The second section, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, private industry, and non-government organizations such as World Inter-Action Mondiale, encourages Canadian youth to explore international-cooperation issues.
Adhering to the grade nine Ontario curriculum, the first section's lessons cover such topics as parks and conservation areas, population trends, climate, land use, wildlife richness and endangered species, and terrestrial and marine ecozones. Students go to the website, click on a topic, and get a wealth of resource and background information, including a geographic information systems (GIS) exercise and data. The lessons also provide links to other data and information sites that students can access through the Internet.
"We couldn't have created the website without GeoConnections," says Ms. Brun del Re. "As it was, we needed a year and a half to finish the project. Were it not for GeoConnections, we'd still be developing the website today."
Students and teachers both gain
On-line since 2002, the Geomatics for High School Curriculum website offers plenty of benefits. For one, the website exposes students to the GIS world, an introduction that has encouraged some students to pursue geomatics careers. "Some of our former students are now studying geomatics at university," says Ms. Brun del Re. "Their experiences at Woodroffe opened their eyes to the job opportunities that a growing field like geomatics offers."
Moreover, if students study geomatics throughout high school, they can earn post-secondary course exemptions.
Students also learn how to use two popular geomatics software programs, ArcView and MFWorks. ArcView allows students to easily create maps from various data sources. And students use MFWorks to generate maps, store and analyze geographic data, and model environmental changes.
But students aren't the only winners. Teachers also gain by using the website. For one, pre-designed lesson plans simplify the teachers' jobs. As well, teachers can obtain the criteria to evaluate the students' performance, which makes marking easier. And all of the content is available in both official languages.
Although designed for Ontario teachers, the site appeals to educators beyond that province as well. Richard Katz is an applied geography teacher at Washington Middle School in Seattle, Washington. Hailing originally from Montreal, Mr. Katz discovered the Geomatics for High School Curriculum while searching for on-line geographic resources, and quickly integrated the website into his lessons.
"I like it because it helps link real-world challenges into the classroom," says Mr. Katz. "The website also gets students to work together to solve problems. It lets them look at renewable resource issues or sustainable development issues around the world, and come to conclusions themselves. Getting the students to think critically is important because they're going to be the ones solving the problems in the future."
Hands-on learning
Each of the grade nine lesson plans outlines expectations for students, and describes the skills they need to complete their assignments successfully. For instance, the lesson plan on terrestrial and marine ecozones requires that students know about certain Canadian ecozones; understand research methods; and read, analyze, and interpret graphs and maps. Students also have to use a variety of research tools.
Students complete the lesson by creating a tourism brochure that promotes what they consider to be Canada's most attractive ecozone. Students must use maps, graphs, charts, diagrams, or pictures to support their choices.
"GeoConnections gave us the footing we needed to bring geomatics into the classroom," says Ms. Brun del Re. "Our next goal is to introduce geomatics into courses other than geography."
You can visit the Geomatics for High School Curriculum website at www.ocdsb.edu.on.ca/woodsweb/geoindex.
Note: GeoConnections also funds a GeoSkills program that provides scholarships and educational materials to high school, college, and university students across Canada. As well, by increasing awareness of geomatics career opportunities, GeoSkills attracts students to post-secondary geomatics programs. This enrolment produces a greater supply of geomatics professionals and, in turn, fuels industry growth.
| GeoConnections is a national partnership initiative led by Natural Resources Canada to build the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) and make Canada's geospatial databases, tools, and services readily accessible on-line. |