Making Community Connections

Description

“Focusing on geographic information systems (GIS) and the global positioning system (GPS), this book is designed to bring teams of teachers and students together with community members to study resources of interest and importance to the community, such as wildlife habitats, rivers, or ski resorts. Students are shown how to gather and examine existing information, discover new facts through field investigation, map the resource using GIS/GPS tools, and interact with the community by using local experts who participate in the classroom and help with the field studies. This unique program culminates in students holding a public forum to present their work in a variety of forms, such as oral narratives and hand-drawn and GIS maps, providing a body of research to the community that can be used in community planning. The materials provided have been constructed to provide a solid foundation and flexible framework for original projects created and developed by students, their teachers, and their communities, allowing explorations and investigations of places and problems of interest and concern to them.”