Fun with GIS 337: Teaching Social Studies with ArcGIS Online
The life of an educator is hard, and it is understandable why some might adopt complex technologies slowly. And yet, day after day, I hear from teachers wanting to use GIS, especially if it helps them do their job more powerfully, more swiftly, perhaps even joyfully, with minimal additional effort. Some want only a little boost, some want eventually to do significant work, and some want to tackle major work immediately.
Esri hosts a teacher professional development group called Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS (or "T3G"). T3G holds a monthly webinar. For January 2024, we covered "Teaching Social Studies with ArcGIS Online," focusing on getting started, encouraging those "expecting to jump off the boat first" instead to pause and build critical background, using pre-existing content. Good choices and a ramped and scaffolded approach await, with plateaus where people can pause, explore, practice, and evaluate. The webinar video is publicly available online, as is a starting resource doc (Getting Started with GIS for Educators).
Teachers of social studies have banks of pre-existing content with which to begin, no login required. National Geographic MapMaker is an easy way to start using interactive maps, for teachers and students alike. GeoInquiries are pre-built activities plus maps, covering standard academic content, with quick lessons that teachers can use as is or modify. The subsequent pathway leads to signing in and opens more doors to analysis, projects, and beyond. But the hardest steps in building up to run a mile are the first intentional step out the door, and then the first steps forward. The links above can help educators you know.
