Gis/Arcview Map and Problem-Based Learning

¶ … Gis/Arcview Map and Problem-Based Learning in Education

GIS/ARC VIEW MAP

Geographical Information

GIS: Geographical Information Systems

NCGE: The National Council for Geographic Education

PBL: Problem-based Learning (PBL)

IMPORTANCE/BENEFITS of USING

GIS/ARCVIEW MAP and PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING in EDUCATION

You may have a map in which every feature that can be named, every hill, brook, crossroads, is crowded in; in the effort to show the reader the lay of the land, the shape of the mountain systems, the relations of drainage, relief, communications, and so on.

Both kinds are useful, depending on the needs of the user.

Crane Brinton (1898-1968), U.S. historian, educator (Columbia)

Depending on the Needs

What students need in the educational realm, according to Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education, who testified April 6, 2006 before the House Education, is to become "creative problem-solvers with strong math and science backgrounds." Spellings cited mounting evidence that warns American students are falling behind a number of other countries in education. During 2006, America's 15-year-olds ranked "24th out of 29 developed nations in math literacy and problem solving.... We saw this coming in the early 1980s, when the National Commission on Excellence in Education released the Nation at Risk report. It warned our educational system was being eroded by a 'tide of mediocrity' and called for 3 years of math and science in every American high school. Today, more than 20 years later, we're not even close to meeting that goal. And we've run out of time to wait." ("Secretary Spellings'") Along with her warning regarding education in the U.S., Spellings points out that today's leaders, policymakers, parents, and educators need to ensure kids are prepared for the future. President Bush's comment in the State of the Union, Spellings pointed out, makes a valid point: "If we ensure that America's children succeed in life, they will ensure that America succeeds in the world." ("Secretary Spellings'")

This paper explores two specific contemporary learning methods: a GIS/Arcview Map and Problem-Based Learning, currently being utilized in schools to help ensure children in the U.S. succeed in life. The point Brinton (Columbia) makes in the introductory quote for this paper; that more than one kind of map proves useful, "depending on the needs of the user," aptly applies to the contention purported by this researcher in this paper, which relates the importance and benefits of using a GIS/ArcView map and problem-based learning in education. Both kinds of learning explored in this study, a GIS/Arcview Map and Problem-Based Learning prove useful - "depending on the needs of the user [student]." post by Gerard Florentine March 11, 2008 on the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) Website portrays concerns regarding the educational needs children in the U.S. Although the graduation rate reflects a basically good guide for success, Florentine states, "[this] is not really what we should be looking at. What a student actually knows - real world usable knowledge - is what is important. Every year there are multiple stories about incoming college students who are unable to find their home state on an unlabeled map. Knowledge of where we are and what we are doing here is so important; the study of Geography should be made a graduation requirement." (National Geography Standards)

The following map, figure (1), relates high school graduation rates for the 11,000 school districts across the U.S., noted by Florentine.

A www.ncge.org/resources/mapoftheweek/images/edweekstategrad.gif"

Figure 1: 2002-2003 High School Graduation Rates (National Geography Standards)

New Way of GIS introduces students to a new way of seeing, thinking, and interacting with the world around them. Using GIS, students explore course content in a way that enhances logical, mathematical, linguistic, spatial, and interpersonal intelligences. Developing GIS projects improves critical thinking skills such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating. Learning about GIS in a structured setting is beneficial not only in developing computer literacy but also provides training in the process of research including gathering, preparing, storing, and analyzing data and presenting the results of analysis using a variety of methods. These GIS provides a framework for learning other academic disciplines. In addition to interacting with data in a new way, students learn teamwork because GIS projects typically require a high level of cooperation. (Learning with GIS)

Problem-based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) "has almost as many forms as places where it is used," Macdonald (2001, 1, cited by Pawson) suggests. In problem-based learning, which constitutes one of a number of innovations in educational practice in recent years, a range of positive outcomes for students is claimed. An editorial in the Journal of Geography in Higher Education purports that problem-based learning:

promotes greater understanding of concepts, develops skills, fosters active participation and motivates and enthuses classes. (Agnew 2001, cited by Pawson)

Supporters of PBL argue that it fosters benefits for assignments and/or for courses, and also for part or all of a disciplinary curriculum, as well as, for lifelong learning. Proponents of PBL deem it to be an instructional strategy, or method, along with a curricular philosophy. (Maudsley 1999, cited by Pawson)

Problem-solving learning is a traditional method in which staff set the problems, and students attempt to resolve them from bounded curricula content (Savin-Baden 2001). The focus is on preparatory learning prior to exposure to the problem. In contrast, problem-based learning is 'problem first learning' (Spencer and Jordan 1999). It is usually portrayed as a student-centred method, in which curricula content is organised around problem scenarios, rather than subjects or topics (Dahlgren and Oberg 2001). Students, usually working in groups, must then engage with the problem scenarios to decide what information and skills they need to resolve the situation effectively. The onus is on students determining their own learning needs and on independence of enquiry. This may involve collaboration between disciplines. Such experiences are said to enhance means of managing, or integrating, knowledge, or of learning how to learn, rather than attempting to assimilate content before entering employment. Jenkins (1985) drew attention to this distinction as the difference between 'drawing out' and 'filling up'. However, the first major survey of good teaching practice in geography (Gold et al. 1993) indexed 'problem solving' but not problem-based learning. (Pawson)

Because doctors' and engineers' professional lives regularly revolve around problem scenarios, initially, PBL was developed for learning in the applied disciplines of medicine and engineering. "PBL grew from research in the 1960s into the reasoning abilities of medical students and a desire to improve their ability to relate knowledge learned to the problems with which patients presented." (Schwartz et al., 2001, cited by Pawson)

Basically, medical students need knowledge, along with the ability to integrate it, and these needs are exacerbated by the speed with which knowledge changes. Medical students, in fact, are regularly told that half of the information they learn will be obsolete in ten years. (Hornblow, 2004, cited by Pawson) a similar scenario applies to the education of geography students. Many of these individuals will begin careers not related to their first degree expertise.

For these students, the ability to learn as self-starters in new situations is clearly vital, and they have 'little need for content-driven instruction' in geography (Wu and Fournier, 2000, 112). Even those who do make careers drawing directly on their degrees, such as in Geographic Information Systems and in environmental management, face a similar pace of knowledge renewal to those in medicine. (Pawson)

CONSIDERATIONS

GIS

Data' stems from the Latin verb dare, which means 'those which are given.'

What is "given," albeit may not present the complete picture, as no data are complete.

In a similar sense, no map provides the total truth, nor is any single historical document the entire story or history."

Alibrandi, and Sarnoff)

New Way to Learn

Data" from the official GIS site explains concepts relating to GIS and defines GIS as: "A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information." (GIS) Most of the time, a GIS is associated with a map. A map, albeit, only constitutes one way an individual can work with geographic data in a GIS; a map depicts only one category of product a GIS generates. A GIS can proffer many more problem-solving capabilities than its use as a simple mapping program or a means for adding data to an online mapping tool (creating a "mash-up"). (GIS) Basically, a GIS, based on a structured database, describes the world in geographic terms.

GIS may be viewed in three ways. Together, the following three views constitute critical parts of an intelligent GIS, used at various levels in all GIS applications. (GIS) Map and graph interpretation skills, tested in content-based tests frequently prove troublesome for students. When using GIS, students work with actuall data to produce a map representation, which builds critical map reading skills. As students construct maps and begin to understand and solve problems, they further develop their map and graph interpretation skills. (Alibrandi, and Sarnoff)

The Database View:

Students can utilize this unique kind of database of the world, a geographic database (geodatabase) as an "Information System for Geography," (GIS) as pictured by the following figure (2).

Figure 2: "Information System for Geography" (GIS)

2. The Map View: A GIS consists of a set of intelligent maps and other views depicting features and feature relationships on the earth's surface. Students can use GIS to support their queries, make analyses, and edit information. With GIS, they can create maps of underlying geographic information and utilize the maps as "windows into the database," as noted by figures (3 & 4).

Figure 3 & 4: Intelligent Maps (GIS)

3. The Model View:

GIS is "a set of information transformation tools that derive new geographic datasets from existing datasets." (GIS) Students can use these geoprocessing functions to retrieve information from existing datasets. The GIS then applies analytic functions, and writes results into new derived datasets.

Figure 5: Example of a Derived Dataset (GIS)

When students combine data and apply some analytic rules, they can create a model that helps answer questions they pose. "In the example below, GPS and GIS were used to accurately model the expected location and distribution of debris for the Space Shuttle Columbia, which broke up upon re-entry over eastern Texas on February 1, 2003." (GIS)

Figure 6: Model of Expected Location and Distribution of Debris for the Space Shuttle Columbia (GIS)

The National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) purports that the geographically informed person knows and understands t www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee1/index.html" he world in spatial terms. The following standards constitute "The Eighteen National Geography Standards." (National Geography Standards)

The Eighteen National Geography Standards www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee1/standard1.html" STANDARD 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee1/standard2.html" STANDARD 2:

How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee1/standard3.html" STANDARD 3: How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee2/"PLACES and REGIONS:

www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee2/standard4.html" STANDARD 4: The physical and human characteristics of places.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee2/standard5.html" STANDARD 5: That people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee2/standard6.html" STANDARD 6: How culture and experience influence people's perception of places and regions.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee3/"PHYSICAL SYSTEMS:

www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee3/standard7.html" STANDARD 7: The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee3/standard8.html" STANDARD 8: The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee4/"HUMAN SYSTEMS:

www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee4/standard9.html" STANDARD 9: The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth's surface.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee4/standard10.html" STANDARD 10: The characteristics, distributions, and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee4/standard11.html" STANDARD 11: The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee4/standard12.html" STANDARD 12: The process, patterns, and functions of human settlement....

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee4/standard13.html" STANDARD 13: How forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth's surface.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee5/"ENVIRONMENT and SOCIETY:

www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee5/standard14.html" STANDARD 14: How human actions modify the physical environment.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee5/standard15.html" STANDARD 15: How physical systems affect human systems.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee5/standard16.html" STANDARD 16: The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee6/"THE USES of GEOGRAPHY:

www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee6/standard17.html" STANDARD 17: How to apply geography to interpret the past.

A www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ee6/standard18.html" STANDARD 18:

To apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future. (National Geography Standards)

GIS Progress

During 1995, the UK did not give much consideration to teaching of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in the school curriculum. "In the United States (U.S.)," however, Green reports, "things were generally a little more successful and progress was more rapid with respect to GIS in schools." Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Green notes, went from primarily being primarily "a research and analysis tool to a practical desktop application. Once only part of the higher education curriculum, they have now spread into secondary education providing a valuable tool for both presentation and geospatial analysis."

Among the GIS benefits, it reportedly:

Introduces students to a fresh way of seeing, thinking, and interacting with their environment

Helps students strengthen their computer literacy skills

Trains students in research process, using a variety of methods:

gathering, preparing, storing, and analyzing data and presenting the results of analysis

Provides a framework for student to learn teamwork. (Learning with GIS)

Zhang, and Li note that a number of commercial desktop GIS software systems currently dominate the geographical information (GI) industry and include: "ESRI Arclnfo and ArcView, Smallworld GIS, Intergraph GeoMedia, MapInfo Professional, Clark Lab's Idrisi, etc." As various vendors have their own proprietary software designs, data models, and database storage structures, it is unlikely all GIS applications will utilize the same software. (Tarnoff 1998, cited by Zhang, and Li) Because different geographical databases cannot communicate without data conversion, to exchange information and transfer data from one format into another to share computational geo-database resources among heterogeneous systems, conversion tools have to be developed. (Zhang, and Li) "Two problems arise in sharing heterogeneous spatial data through data conversion:"

Data become inaccurate after data conversion. This is an important issue for time-critical applications because accurate and up-to-date information is the basic and essential requirement. Inaccurate information after data conversion may lead to poor decisions, and time-critical applications usually cannot correct the poor decisions.

Time has to be wasted on data conversion. Time and money also have to be spent on developing the data conversion tools. While time-critical applications require a rapid, effective, and efficient response, data conversion will delay the response. (Zhang, and Li)

2007 GIS Project

One project during 2007 in Townsend, Montana with the goal to control weeds that destroy natural vegetation and eliminate food sources for wildlife and livestock also served to train teachers and students in the use of GPS/GIS/ArcView mapping systems. From the systems and training, students were able to map weeds for organizations and the public. Organizations then utilized the students' maps to secure funds for weed treatment.

Through the business portion of the Bug and Weed Project, bio-control agents were raised, sold and used to limit troublesome weeds. ("Environmental Program Takes Aim" 12) the project also created a prominent weed and bug insectary, which established a crop of biological control agents and fostered a public forum for education. Through the insectary, displays, media and presentations, students help educate the public about the history of noxious weeds, the impact of these weeds, and control agents. From this project, a semester long class in electronic mapping techniques was established.

For the student's efforts in the Bug and Weed Project, Townsend K-12 School District 1 was named the Montana state winner in the 2007 National Civic Star Award competition. The National Civic Star organization provides leadership in educating students and the public. ("Environmental Program Takes Aim" 12) Reports of results from another school utilizing GIS in New York also proved to be positive. "Students learn how using GIS can be important for town planning and studying ecology," Korniczky (cited by Sommer), an eighth-grade accelerated life science and biology teacher at Sweet Home Middle School in Buffalo, New York, states. "The towns of Amherst (pop. 116,500) and Clarence (pop. 26,000) and the four school districts that serve them partnered with the department of geography and planning at Buffalo State College to develop the program, which relied heavily on GIS mapping. The maps, which helped promote and foster interactive youth involvement, were accessible to students through a project website." (Sommer) Before the GIS project, Korniczky (cited by Sommer) states she never realized how connected teachers could be with their town planning department; that they could work together. She stressed the project which spanned the school years from 2001 to 2003, proved to be a great experience. Although the project ended in 2003, lesson plans and software continue are still used in some classrooms. "More important," the program's organizers contend, "the students' interest in planning grew as they became more aware of how it affects the world around them." (Sommer) "It made me think about the community in ways I would not normally view it -- about history, ecological issues, about building construction," Lindsay Bronnenkant, an Amherst high school senior who participated in the project while in middle school, states. (Sommer) PBL Problem-based learning (PBL) "has almost as many forms as places where it is used," Macdonald suggests. (2001, 1, cited by Pawson) PBL, promoted as a student-centered method of learning, ideally leads to "greater understanding and achievement of competencies, rather than retention of knowledge for its own sake." PBL generally occurs in group environments where the focus centers on attempting to resolve problems, or working through scenarios, developing skills that will ultimately transfer to career situations. (Pawson)

The following figure (7) reflects a number of ideal benefits students receive from PBL.

Figure 7: Ideal Benefits from PBL (GIS)

Pawson stresses the value of PBL, but argues that even though literature regularly cites examples of applications that allegedly achieve benefits from students using PBL, little has been revealed about circumstances in which PBL is or is not successful. The same proves true, Pawson stresses, of "costs" students, teachers, and sometimes administrators and parents, must pay to gain the benefits claimed for PBL. "The undoubted benefits that PBL can deliver to some learners in some situations is also bought at the price of the imposition of a new orthodoxy, which reifies certain aspects of learning experience over others." (Pawson) Most literature on PBL focuses on examples of practical applications instead of "the examination of the complexities and challenges involved in its application." (Savin-Baden 2001, 4, cited by Pawson) Pawson contends that few authors list disadvantages alongside gains of PBL. Among considerations, Pawson notes that the time commitments of staff and students (Agnew 2001, cited by Pawson), as well as, prior learning and teaching experiences impact PBL situations (Schwartz et al., 2001, cited by Pawson) Overall, Pawson stresses, consideration needs to be given to the question: "Do the gains match that of the PBL rhetoric?" According to claims for PBL, experiences prove overwhelmingly positive as the PBL method supposedly produces "creative, independent problem-solvers able to harness their creativity through organization and planning." (Casey and Howson 1993: 361, cited by Pawson) PBL, Pawson, notes, reportedly "orients learners towards meaning-making over information storage, fostering learning strategies and skills that are geared to rapid adaptation to new situations and problem domains. Through new arrays of knowledge forming skills, learners achieve higher levels of comprehension." (Rhem 1998, cited by Pawson)

Final results of PBL learners, even though they may feel they are learning less, according to Lieux's (1996, cited by Pawson) study, when measured through multiple choice test scores, PBL students' final results showed no significant difference to students learning through lectures. Other studies, albeit, emphasize that in PBL, less knowledge is compensated for with greater retention of what students learn. (Dochy et al. 2003, cited by Pawson) as many students consider PBL more enjoyable, nurturing, satisfying, and yet challenging (Albanese and Mitchell 1993; Bligh 1995, cited by Pawson), class attendance may be significantly higher in PBL environments than in conventional teaching settings. (Lieux 1996, cited by Pawson) Practical issues and questions that are not as favorable for PBL, Pawson purports, also need to be considered. For example: How are faculty, "who are often habituated to the lecture as the most efficient means of delivering information, to be persuaded that there are benefits from a less structured, potentially more time consuming process of PBL facilitation, in which the results may be less tangible?" (Prideaux et al. 2001, cited by Pawson). How can problems of group dynamics be resolved, when some students traditionally dominate and others withdraw? In this sort of scenario, Pawson contends, "Mature students can take over, demoralising those whose life experiences have so far yielded less opportunity to become articulate." (Benbow and McMahon 2001, cited by Pawson)

Switch to group work, Pawson argues, may in some instances, be anathema to some students.

Another consideration: in many countries, high school systems do not encourage or produce students experienced in co-operative learning styles. In addition, PBL may lead come students and parents to expect they will be "taught, rather than having to invest in the effort of learning." (Pawson) Despite challenges and potential negative consideration, PBL inevitably reifies problem solutions, emphasis the instrumental, "the doing, ahead of the thinking, reflection and accommodation." (Pawson) Still, some students do not favor the messiness of the real-world problems of PBL. Some students prefer the security of the structure more traditional learning situations (Beringer 2004, cited by Pawson) provides. Some also proclaim that because PBL basically perceives life as problem-governed (Fenwick 1998, cited by Pawson), PBL treats uncertainty and plurality as obstacles. Even where PBL learners engage strongly with the case, Pawson argues, it is ironic their reactions will be framed by the problem's abstractions more than real-life situation. This might be the case with action research, Fenwick (1998, 2, cited by Pawson) purports as he sees this type of approach as "consistent with 'the modernist pursuit of efficiency, predictability, productivity, measurable concrete outcomes, and unitary meaning subordinated to instrumentality'." As Pawson explores the question of how suitable PBL is for adoption in geography curricula, he states: "more recently it has been suggested that 'although it is relatively new in geography, one could argue that PBL is ideally suited to this discipline since, by its very nature, geography is already interdisciplinary, one of the main ingredients of PBL'." (Spronken-Smith 2004, cited by Pawson) Geography also traditionally includes group work, an underlying practice of much of PBL. Bradbeer (cited by Pawson) argues sufficient similarities exist between fieldwork traditions and PBL purposes to merit exploring the relationship between geography and PBL.

Bradbeer (cited by Pawson), points out, albeit, problems evolve in taking a PBL approach to fieldwork very far, as colleagues need to make commitments to changes. In this arena, Pawson considers PBL to be consistent with geography curricula. Some parts of PBL, however, are not consistent with geography curricula, as they are noted to be more in the mould of a traditional science-based or arts subject. Here, the instrumentality of PBL may be less suited. "Mapping opportunities," a recent article in the magazine Nature, cited the U.S. Department of Labor as identifying geotechnologies as "one of the three most important emerging and evolving fields, along with biotechnology and nanotechnology." (Gewin 2004, 376, cited by Pawson) the article emphasizes the need to strengthen and expand geography departments to help prepare students for the resulting job opportunities and stresses that in the future, to effectively work in growing geotechnologies fields, students will require a deep understanding of underlying geographical concepts. In regard to this contention, Pawson presents the following two possibilities:

Firstly, can GIS or environmental remote sensing be taught using PBL? Solem urges its use for a collaborative group applications activity once 'students have gained hands-on practice with GIS in the lab and are beginning to learn basic spatial analysis techniques' (2001, 23). In other words, he uses it as but a small component in a whole course.

Secondly: what of the need to learn and understand the basic geographical concepts? Are these best taught using PBL? There are undoubtedly ways in which such outcomes could be achieved, but for many departments, PBL is more likely to be part of a whole, rather than the means by which the curriculum in toto is delivered. PBL modules can be effectively integrated into a lecture-based course, and can help to resolve the time-content dilemma with something as wide ranging as 'world regional geography' (Fournier 2002). There is however little information available on the extent of use of PBL and PBL hybrids in geography courses and curricula, and about its track record with larger as well as smaller classes, or with younger as well as older students. (Pawson)