1. CCMSCCMS My World GIS: Data Access Tools for Curriculum Developers and Educators Daniel C. Edelson Geographic Data in Education (GEODE) Initiative Northwestern University

2. CCMSCCMS The Big Disconnects in Education Current methods do not match our goals Current education emphasizes Memorization of facts Passive reception of information (listening, reading) Practicing simple skills out of context We want citizens that can Perform complex tasks Gather and synthesize information Communicate with others

3. CCMSCCMS The Big Disconnects in Education (2) Current methods do not match what people do in the real world: For example, science is... Asking questions. Constructing explanations. Collecting evidence. Engaging in a dialogue (arguing, listening, asking). Applying knowledge to meaningful problems.

4. CCMSCCMS The Big Disconnects in Education (3) Current methods do not match what we know about learning: Students must be engaged. Content (facts) and Process (skills) learning must be integrated. Students are not blank slates. Prior knowledge and outside influences must be accounted for. Things learned divorced from meaningful context does not transfer to contexts where they are useful.

5. CCMSCCMS So, why do we want students to work with data? Provide an authentic experience of science Build skills (representative, quantitative, analytical) Allow them to explore content phenomena in ways that… Supplement other experiences of those phenomena Allow them to explore phenomena on scales too large or too small to be experienced directly

6. CCMSCCMS The challenges of enabling students to work with data… Availability of data Accessibility for students and teachers of tools of data Design of effective learning activities 2:00

7. CCMSCCMS Tool design: My World GIS Goal: Combine the power of scientists’ tools with the support required by novice teachers and students. Strategic selection of high-leverage functionality (tradeoff between power and complexity) Scaffolds for learners (learn through use, rather than learn before use) Usability (manage complexity) Ease of administration

8. CCMSCCMS My World GIS

9. CCMSCCMS Support for authors (teachers & curriculum developers) Data library construction Data importing Projection Display defaults Data information Saving/distribution

10. CCMSCCMS My World GIS My World team: Principal Investigator: Daniel Edelson Programmer: Eric Russell Undergraduate research assistants: Greg Allen, Erin Orawski Information and free trial download: http://myworld.worldwatcher.org This work has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grants no. 9720687, and 0085946.