{"id":9198,"date":"2016-03-31T08:42:26","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T12:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/?p=9198"},"modified":"2024-08-20T08:23:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T12:23:15","slug":"tools-creating-deeper-place-based-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/tools-creating-deeper-place-based-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Interactive map tools for creating deeper place-based learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revisiting the possibilities of student-created geographies<\/h1>\n

\"TarrantThe rate at which technology changes has reached a dizzying speed, with new tools and platforms emerging constantly. But what hasn’t changed is students’ curiosity about the world and their need to explore their own place in it. Young adolescents in particular, burn with the urge to make and personalize. So what does it look like to tap into that urge as it pertains to physical landscapes?<\/p>\n

Yes indeedy, folks, it’s time once again to talk place-based learning and edtech.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Why “place-based learning + edtech”? Why not just place-based learning on its own?<\/h2>\n

Because technology allows us to create stunning visual representations of data. UVM professor Brian Tokar<\/a> recently visited Hazen Union School <\/a>to share map-based data relating to the possibilities inherent in renewable energy nationwide. Hazen educator Sean M reported that the map below struck a particular chord with students:<\/p>\n

\"interactive<\/a>Technology can be powerful in explaining how to build maps: check out this Flash-based tool that unpacks what goes into reading and making maps<\/a>, made by the National Park Service:<\/p>\n

\"interactive<\/a>
(Show of hands, who spent more than 30 seconds making boinging noises during this “What is a legend?” section. Where my people at?)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Web 2.0 tools give us unprecedented access to large amounts of data that can add specific meaning to a geographical area. And the expanded access of\u00a01:1 programs give students access to the tools to obtain and explain both the data and its relationship to the landscape. Even better, they can use these tools to explain their own relationship to both, and capture their thinking in a piece that can be added to their personal online portfolio or shared out with a larger online community to create an authentic impact.<\/p>\n

DIY maps: get out there and plot, people<\/h2>\n

Google Maps is a wonderful tool that lets you mark up a complete landscape with very little training, but don’t feel limited to using other people’s maps. Plot your own map of your school or community and digitize it: draw it in Google Sketch-Up, or even on a piece of paper you scan in and promptly Thinglink all over.<\/p>\n

Students at The Cabot School used Thinglink with Google Docs and iMovie in teams to mark up a various regions of a map of the United States:<\/p>\n