INCORPORATING GEOSPATIAL PERSPECTIVES INTO ENERGY EDUCATION
Energy in Earth systems needs to be considered on scales ranging from local through regional to global. Maps, references to place names, and electronic geospatial tools provide various means of fostering an appreciation of how people in communities, regions, nations, and the world utilize and are impacted by energy. On a local scale, students can learn and observe how energy relates directly to their own lives and communities. They can make these observations through informal field trips, media, attending public meetings, and formal use of instrumentation in field studies.
Many free or inexpensive tools are available that can be used to study energy geographically. With Google Earth, its standard layers, and other data, students can assemble a great deal of information on energy, such as map and photographic views of energy facilities, natural features, and weather phenomena related to energy in Earth systems. Using GPS devices, they can collect their own data on sunlight, microclimates, and other energy phenomena in the field and place it on Google Earth or other electronic maps. Students and educators also have access to a wealth of third-party geographic data online, such as insolation, temporal variations in ice extents in the Arctic, or locations of oil refineries, power plants, and wind farms, that can be mapped for making comparisons or other analyses. Maps can also present views of where and how microorganisms became incorporated into sediments and created fossil fuel deposits in the geologic past, and how subsequent tectonic plate movements resulted in the current distribution of oil, coal, and gas reserves.