Celebrating a decade of powerful learning: GeoInquiries

[TomBaker]

In May of 2014, shortly after Esri announced participation in the Whitehouse’s initiative for schools, connectEd, a new type of instructional material was released by the Esri Education Team. In collaboration with Esri partners, GISetc and Maps101.com (now Mapszu) and university collaborator, The University of Minnesota's U-Spatial, Esri released over 180 GeoInquiry™ activities in ten different subject areas – all aligned to US curriculum standards.

Over time, the use of the activities grew dramatically.  Today, it is not unusual to find a teacher using GIS that at least partially attributes their early work with GIS to GeoInquiries. GeoInquiries continue to hold a special place in Esri offerings.  They are intended first and foremost to help teachers teach the required content of their subject.  In other words, GeoInquiries were intended to help teachers teach better.  Secondarily, they were intended to help teachers and students learn GIS.  This “curriculum-first solution”  in contrast to previous work that might be described as a “software-first solution” lead to the growth in use of geospatial tools across schools.

In 2024, we expect to serve over 1.6 million GeoInquiry maps and instructional materials to the K12 community. 

As of today, we offer GeoInquiries supporting three different mapping tools::

1. Classic: GeoInquiries that use the classic map viewer.  (These activities will be sunsetting as the classic map viewer is retired.)
2. New: GeoInquiries that use the “new” map viewer (the default map viewer).
3. MapMaker/Atlas: This flavor of GeoInquiries includes AP Human Geography, Earth Science, and World Geography.

Moreover, other teams have created their own state-level GeoInquiries.  See if your state has a collection.

Explore or share the collections today to begin or extend your journey with GIS in the classroom.

[CharlieFitzpatrick]

GeoInquiries help teachers teach, help students learn academic content and basic GIS skills, and help teacher ed instructors have a way to approach pedagogy, subject knowledge, and tech skills all at once. I have watched a dozen teachers presenting classes using GeoInquiries (hewing more or less tightly to the provided steps), and students (of whatever age) have been active learners each time. These are also great activities when you need a sub for a day (if the sub talks with the teacher about what to emphasize).

— Charlie

[JasonSmolinski]

Congratulations on 10 years of GeoInquiries, Tom!  It was fun to review / modify a few of the Earth Science lessons back in 2018. 

Cheers!

-Jason

[BarbareeDuke]

I had the honor of creating the American Literature collection. I am so thrilled that these resources continue to make a difference in classrooms around the world. Seeing GIS used in the not-so-traditionally-geographic humanities makes me happy, and validates the flexible nature of geospatial technologies to enhance and illuminate instruction across disciplines.

Here's to another 10 years of making a difference, one map at a time!

[ChrisBunin]

Congratulations on 10 years of GeoInquiries!  Accessed 1.6 million times annually - I had no idea.,

It am grateful for the opportunity to help design activities for the Advanced Human Geography, US History, and World History collections.  With the support of Esri ConnectED funding I also had the opportunity to work with the Virginia Geographic Alliance and Cobb County Public Schools (GA) to help create state standards aligned GeoInquiries for Virginia and Georgia.

These activities transformed my use of webGIS with core subject instruction (World History, US History, AP Human Geography, and World Regional Geography).  I now use at least one GeoInquiry for each unit of study.  I also enjoy blending GeoInquiries together to make more robust inquiry based lessons.

I look forward to seeing these resources make impacts on classroom instruction worldwide!

Let's GeO!  

C. Bunin

[KyleTredinnick]

Congrats on 10 years of this fantastic resource! I bring them up to anyone teaching social studies (and really anything else!). I had the great opportunity to help put together the Government geoinquiries and then got to help lead a project putting together a series of geoinquiries for the state of Nebraska. They're a great tool to help introduce students (and teachers!) to using GIS in the classroom. Great work to a spectacular team and I can't wait to see what all is in store moving forward!

[MattWinbigler]

Wow - 10 years! Congrats to the GeoInquiries team and all of the teachers and students served through these fun and hands on activities. GeoInquiries are a perfect way to introduce students and teachers to global topics while engaging with real data and building new technical skills. I love using these data sets as the foundation for a lesson and building from there. It is hard to pick a favorite - Down to the Last Drop, Watershed Analysis, Cracked Plates. I wonder what is coming down the pipe?

[AnitaPalmer1]

10 Years! It seems like yesterday that you and Roger had a multitude of Earth Science textbooks spread out all over our office desks in Dallas. Watching you both figure out what GeoInquiries might look like and how they could be implemented in the classroom was amazing and something I will never forget. Ultimately, I was honored to work on the U.S. History, World History, and Elementary development teams and then also work to convert the "Mapping Our World: GIS Lessons for Educators" activities into the World Geography collection. Roger worked on the Earth Science and AP Environmental collections and GeoInquiries have become a key part of our training strategies. Thank you to Esri for supporting the GeoInquiry initiative and to Tom Baker for having the vision to create this critical instructional materials initiative. GeoInquiries will be here far into the future as geospatial technology makes its way into every classroom!

[MissyHolzer]

My goodness, has it been that long?!!  I LOVE using in my teaching for the mere reason Tom pointed out in his post - curriculum first solution.  They served as an entry point for students to engage with geospatial tools without being overwhelmed by an overabundance of keystrokes. A big thank you to Tom and the Esri team for maintaining and updating these wonderful instructional tools! 

[RebeccaTheobald1]

Following years of collaborating with Joseph Kerski to support educators where he traveled to the school district the day before a workshop, downloaded Esri software to machines in the computer lab - working through various technology challenges, joined the Colorado Geographic Alliance to provide instruction to teachers about how to use geospatial technology in their classrooms, explained how to access Esri software (progressing from requesting to CDs to downloading ArcGIS Online resources), and followed up to offer additional support, the appearance of GeoInquiries enabled us to introduce the skills and concepts efficiently and leave teachers with pages of information to access as needed. The sets of GeoInquiries not only offer an accessible introduction to mapping software, but also provide entry points for teachers to understand that they can use GIS without having to devote excessive time to learning new tools or to convert their entire curriculum to be based on technology.  In addition, I salute Anita Palmer who worked with me on GeoCivics to create GeoInquiry-inspired exercises for each state to facilitate exploration of the electoral redistricting process.  Thank you all for working on this project, for considering ways to deepen the curricula, and for disseminating this information.  When teachers understand how powerful these materials are, the response is always "wow!"