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SpatialNews.com Press Release
New ESRI Curricular Package Focuses on Community Issues
Two-Book Package Provides Ideas, Procedures, and Materials for Community GIS
Projects
Redlands, California-Community involvement and geographic inquiry are the
focus of a new curricular package released by ESRI Press. Community
Geography: GIS in Action and Community Geography: GIS in Action Teacher's
Guide contain educational materials for teachers, lesson plans, geographic
information system (GIS) exercises for students, the data required for those
exercises, ArcView 3.x projects for both Windows and Macintosh, and numerous
other GIS resources.
The books included in the package may be purchased separately,
although each complements the other with valuable information and GIS
materials. Community Geography: GIS in Action is a workbook designed to
inform individuals about successful community GIS projects and teach them
how to complete similar projects in their own communities.
"Our new Community Geography instruction package is really about
students, teachers, and community groups investigating the geography of home
and getting involved with it to make positive changes," says Jack
Dangermond, ESRI president. "Using the inspiration and tutoring of what
others have done, people will be better equipped to carry out real-world
geographic research of interest and concern to them and their communities."
Each module in the book contains a pioneering case study, an
intermediate-level GIS exercise, and a section with ideas and tips about how
to transfer the GIS and community problem solving skills to other locations.
The case studies describe innovative community GIS projects completed by
students, teachers, and community partners in the United States and Canada
including mapping point source pollution, creating citywide tree
inventories, monitoring criminal activity near schools, and other important
social and environmental topics.
The second book in the package, Community Geography: GIS in Action Teacher's
Guide, presents standards and problem-based learning opportunities tied to
the workbook's contents. Materials in the teacher's guide correlate the GIS
exercises to national geography, science, and technology standards and
include a lesson overview, estimated completion time, required materials,
and objectives. Upon completion of the lessons, standards-based rubrics and
answer keys enable teachers to effectively evaluate student work.
"In a successful community GIS project, everyone wins," says Laura Feaster,
coauthor. "The project takes the interdisciplinary nature of geography one
step further to create change in the real world. My hope is that the
stories, exercises, and suggestions in these books give people the
confidence to try a community GIS project, because even a small project can
have lasting benefits to the people and places involved."
The entire Community Geography package encourages and instructs
students and teachers to use the five step geographic inquiry method and GIS
to make a difference in their communities. People and organizations
interested in tackling geographically based community issues learn how to
follow through on geographic exploration and analysis by acting on their
findings. Educators and students, especially those focusing on environmental
science, biology, geography, and service learning programs, can use the
resources to acquire hands-on experience with community GIS projects.
Community Geography: GIS in Action (ISBN 1-58948-023-6) is presented by ESRI
Press at a list price of $24.95. Community Geography: GIS in Action
Teacher's Guide (ISBN 1-58948-051-1) has a list price of $9.95. Both books
are available online at www.esri.com/esripress
or by calling 1-800-447-9778. For
purchases outside the United States, contact your local ESRI distributor. A
current international distributor list is available at
www.esri.com/international. The books and training support opportunities are
also available from ESRI K-12 education business partners including GISetc
(www.gisetc.com) and Compass Educational
Technologies (www.compassedtech.com).
About ESRI
For more than 30 years, ESRI has been the leading developer of GIS software
with more than 300,000 clients worldwide. ESRI software is used in all 200
of the largest cities in the United States and in more than 60 percent of
counties and municipalities nationwide. Headquartered in California, ESRI
has regional offices throughout the United States, international
distributors in more than 90 countries, and more than 1,500 business
partners. ESRI's goal is to develop comprehensive tools that enable users to
efficiently manage, use, and serve geographic information to make a
difference in the world around them. ESRI also provides consulting,
implementation, and technical support services. ESRI can be found on the Web
at www.esri.com.
ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, ArcView, GIS by ESRI, www.esri.com, and @esri.com
are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the
United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other
companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective trademark owners.
Related Weblinks:
www.compassedtech.com
www.gisetc.com
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