What an interesting day of class! Stephan was "cool under fire" and full of knowledge on the subject of teaching with GPS/GIS tools. We should have had two days with him!
I've always liked maps and had some built in ideas about how they were constructed, what GPS satellites are, what a GIS system is and some of the general concepts that pull such things together. However, I've rarely put them together for use in a classroom. I've played with Google Earth a bit for personal stuff and thought about some class applications but never put it together. This day of work has me fired up to do some class activities when the chance arises.
The actual walk around town was really neat on several levels. We were attempting to work on a real project, we used data collected when we got back, the process wasn't simple but not terrifying, and I could see that what was done could be valuable. A student could possibly get the same idea!
I may reserve the GIS software for another time. It looked difficult beyond a simple bit of tinkering with the software. What I did get from Stephan was an appreciation for how that work is done and a bit more information on how those systems work. Maybe some more "user friendly" work with Google Maps and Google Earth will be sufficient for now. Students seem to like the mapping and especially the satellite perspective when viewing history or geography. These tools will of course make the materials accessible outside the classroom but possibly interest a few students who would normally glaze over when you point to the normal wall maps.
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