Sunday, May 1, 2016

Presenting River Journey at GIS Conference



The River Journey Project will be presented at the ESRI Education GIS Conference this June. Each year, ESRI (the large geographic information system or GIS company), holds a user conference for those working with its products. One part of the conference is focused on the use of GIS in K-12 and higher education and is a chance for teachers and students and others that support GIS education to share project application experiences and new resources.

Title: River Journey: High School Story Maps for Art-led Environmental Education

Abstract: In River Journey, Minnesota high school students explored how their school’s kitchen sink is interconnected with their region by following their tap water along upstream and downstream water infrastructure to its source and destination at the Mississippi River. Over the year, and across the curriculum, they created online story maps about their journey and the river’s value.  This presentation considers how GIS complemented fieldwork, and enhanced narrative-aesthetic understandings of place.