PROJECT-BASED TEACHING APPROACH TO ASSIST STUDENTS UTILIZING GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) TECHNOLOGIES TO SOLVE LOCAL PROBLEMS

Geospatial Information Sciences are increasingly relevant and used in various industries. Considering this, GIS-based STEM education is well developed in higher education and workforce training programs. GIS educators have shown that teaching GIS through projects in a cross-disciplinary environment helps students retain more information about the subject matter and develops a greater interest in STEM and GIS-related fields. Yet GIS-based education is not fully exploited in K-12 settings. To address this gap, we developed project-based GIS course balancing theory with pre-defined lab activities to enhance the students' critical spatial thinking. We incorporated various teaching approaches that encouraged graduate students to supervise undergraduate students and work as a team to complete project-based activities. These approaches extended during the summer of 2022, and our undergraduate students showed exceptional fluency in teaching mapping and other aspects of GIS to the high school students from Maize South and Wichita East.

Additionally, integrating Project Based Learning (PBL) in the class increased awareness about local community issues. Renewable energy and access to healthy foods were among the topics that arose in our students' interest. For example, our students have implemented a multi-criteria spatial analysis on various selected parameters to select a Wind Farm suitable site for the State of Kansas. The students also build a native app to increase acceptance of public assistance programs at farmers' markets, considering food deserts, nearby food retailers, and a driving time distance. In conclusion, acknowledging that students are facing the rapidly changing employment outlook, the PBL course provides actual data so that the material is more natural and tangible to the students. Furthermore, this approach maintains, on the one hand, a balance between theory and practice; on the other hand, students become more attentive when they know that a problem solved in class could help them in their future careers.