SpatialSci - Science Goes Spatial!

• Geography studies flying high in Montana schools
Students in Montana soon will have free access to the same space-based tools professional foresters, engineers, and mapmakers use to explore and study the world, thanks to a geography initiative called GIS-4-Montana.

• Google Maps inspire creativity
A new technology from internet search behemoth Google Inc. is making innovators out of some educators, who have begun envisioning practical uses for the company's new Google Maps feature to make previously unavailable graphic representations of everything from school district bus routes to geography lessons.

• Students create 'biomaps' using sophisticated GIS software
Students at Hopkinton High School in New Hampshire are taking a hands-on approach to learning about their local flora and fauna, with the help of very sophisticated mapping software.

• Students use computers to design real-world service projects
North Heights Junior High School's Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) lab. In the lab program, students work out concepts for service projects on their computer screens and then apply them to real-world situations and people, said Michael Vincent, EAST lab teacher at North Heights.

• Teachers take summer-school lessons in geography at NASA
Ask some teachers from across the country what they did this summer and they might tell you they were a "mission specialist" involved with a NASA project. But these teachers weren't exploring space. They were learning how to engage students in an exploration of the earth using tools provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

• NASA school could put 'geospatial technology' on the map
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) hopes to give a boost to an emerging technical specialty by launching a model high-tech school in rural Georgia.

Best School Managment Practices

• GIS technology aids school planning
Before administrators for the 8,300-student Fayetteville Public School District in Arkansas decided where to build their new K-7 school, they set out to find the perfect location--one that would benefit the greatest number of families while causing the least disruption in traffic patterns and other geographic variables. The decision proved to be an easy one, thanks to the aid of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology.

• Soaring fuel costs threaten school budgets
The fuel panic that ensued after Hurricane Katrina interrupted oil production and transportation in the Gulf Coast region has heightened concerns over rising fuel costs that already had existed before the storm. These soaring costs have put a serious strain on school budgets, prompting school leaders to examine ways they can save.

• Technology helps Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools comply with sweeping court order
When a federal judge ordered the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on Sept. 9 to stop using race as a criteria for student placement, he gave the district less than a year to comply with the landmark ruling. Thirty years of carefully planned desegregation had to be revised in just 11 months, which meant that new boundaries had to be drawn for the district's 140 schools.

• Technology: Charlotte-Mecklenburg uses technology to match schools with donors
Matching potential business partners with schools that need their help has always been a challenge for large school systems. Businesses want to contribute and schools need assistance, but plugging the right resource into the need often is difficult.

Geography & GIS Resources

• Chart the past--and present--of geographic exploration with this site commemorating Lewis and Clark
Commemorating 200 years since Meriwether Lewis and William Clark embarked on their pioneering expedition throughout North America, ESRI, a maker of geographic information systems (GIS) software, has developed a new web site called "Lewis and Clark 200."

• National Geographic hosts fun-filled explorations
The National Geographic site is an incredibly extensive and well-thought out site for kids and educators alike. The site features pull-down screens like "Online Adventures," in which kids can click through a series of pictures of the vanishing cultures of the Ariaal in Kenya, the Chipaya in Bolivia, and the Penan of Malaysia, and an online Congo trek with renowned conservationists.

• Chart a course for learning with this historical map collection
What did the United States look like before the Civil War? When did Texas secede from Mexico? What portion of the country was bought up through the Louisiana purchase? A new web site now gives teachers the ability to instill a love of maps—and the history they represent—in their students, while teaching them valuable geography and cartography skills.

• Royalty-free video: Geography
Discovery Education is offering its unitedstreaming video-on-demand service subscribers access to more than 1,000 video clips that have been copyright-cleared by their producers for editing or reproduction by teachers and students in class projects.