By George A. Seielstad, Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium and Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, University of North Dakota

Students and teachers in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho have a new tool for learning about the Earth. Under the leadership of Prof. Patricia McClurg, Director of the Natural Science Program at the University of Wyoming, pilot teachers in each of the 5 states have compiled a Geographical Information System (GIS), called Prairie-to-Mountain Explorer. The GIS contains baseline data sets on regional and county scales (ranging in scale from 1:2,000,000 to 1:100,000).

The 31 pilot teachers worked with scientists and teacher educators from the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium on the educational projects related to many of the National Assessment topics. The result is a set of 4 CD-ROMs containing layers with demographic and economic information, climate histories, highways, rivers, land ownership, political boundaries, and vegetation indices. Accompanying the CDs are a User's Guide and sample lesson plans for grades 5-12. The lessons were built around the organizing principles of Earth system science. Connections were woven among geography, science, mathematics, and art.

The pilot teachers received training in GIS programming and data acquisition and manipulation. ESRI Corporation provided instruction in ArcView software and consulted as the teachers prepared lesson plans. By now, 100 copies of Prairie-to-Mountain Explorer have been distributed and are being used by over 1,000 students. In the next phase of the project, the pilot teachers have conducted, or will conduct, statewide workshops for a second group of teachers. As time passes, this expanding pyramid of trainers training trainers will ripple through many schools.

Each statewide workshop provides lessons in ArcView, in use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit, and in teaching GIS lessons and devising ones own. The attending teachers also become part of an electronic network of peers who continue to support and learn from each other. Two case studies were initiated in 1997-98. One focuses on precision farming. Students and teachers work with scientists in the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium and with farmers in their community to compile site-specific data about soil types, nutrients, topography, weeds and pests, crop yield, and satellite imagery. The other project engages students with university and Forest Service scientists in a study of controlled burns. The students are measuring equivalent water content of snow on an identified burn site.

Student skills emerging from these new educational tools include an introduction to interdisciplinary science, an ability to work in teams, appreciation for science as beneficial to their communities, direct connections between science and its use in the real world, and environmental sensitivity.

For more information, contact:

Patricia McClurg, Director, Natural Science Program; University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071-3992; phone: (307) 766-3617; email: patmc@uwyo.edu; or George Seielstad, Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences; University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202-9007; phone: (701) 777-4755; email: gseielst@aero.und.edu.