EYES IN THE SKY: USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY TO INVESTIGATE ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Eyes in the Sky is a professional development program created by TERC with funding from the National Science Foundation’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Teachers and Students (ITEST) program and with support from ESRI, which donated site-licenses for GIS software. Eyes in the Sky equips teachers, and in turn the students they teach, with the tools and knowledge necessary to access and analyze freely available satellite imagery and data to investigate local or regional issues, such as water use, urban growth, and resource management. High school science students use geospatial technology (e.g. geographic information systems (GIS), image analysis, and global positioning systems (GPS)) during inquiry activities that highlight the work that geospatial professionals do in their careers, such as investigating well water level, plotting the spread of invasive species, and examining changes in land use over time. In addition, students use geospatial technology to carry out community-based research projects, pursuing research questions of interest to them. The original Eyes in the Sky program was a regional one, reaching forty-eight teachers from rural and urban underserved populations in Arizona plus one teacher from New Mexico. With funding from NASA’s K-12 Competitive Grants program, Eyes in the Sky has expanded to become a national program that will work with 100 teachers and their students from all over the United States beginning in the spring of 2010. This session will highlight Eyes in the Sky curricular activities and instructional approaches.