Participatory Professional Development: Geospatially Enhanced Urban Ecological Field Studies

Bohr’s often quoted phrase “reduce experience to order” highlights that studying science is about collecting data through experiences, inferring patterns or relationships in those experiences, and then developing explanations that provide understanding into why certain patterns emerge and others do not. Geospatial technologies offer educators powerful learning resources to engage students in this scientific process. For 3 years, we have been using a range of geospatial technologies including online applications such as Google Earth to powerful desktop applications such as geographic information systems (GIS) to assist teachers who are introducing their students to the rapidly emerging field of urban ecology. Geospatial technologies along with computational modeling tools have proven to be a powerful way to support teachers and students as they critically examine their own neighborhoods.