Area students play geography games at GVSU

More than 200 middle school students from Grand Rapids Public Schools were invited to spend the day on the Allendale Campus November 19 to play a variety of geography games. It was all part of the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day 2008: Our Shrinking World conference.

The students, from three different schools, learned Geocaching, played capture the flag using GPS, conducted GPS mapping and used GPS cameras and photolinks, among other activities.

Grand Valley senior Johnathan Foote was one of the student volunteers who helped the visitors use GPS cameras to take pictures of campus to upload on the Internet and map through GPS systems. "The goal of this exercise is to show the students how GPS can be a tool for important tasks," Foote said. "We want them to see the benefit of historical mapping or the mapping of facilities and utilities."

Edwin Joseph, associate professor of geography and planning, said this was the seventh year Grand Valley has hosted the conference. "Geographic Information Systems is predicted to play a major role in geographic education in today's global economy," said Joseph. "Learning to solve problems using GIS, GPS, and Internet technology can increase the amount of information available to students, and provide new ways to incorporate this information into learning activities." 

Colleen Heyboer, an eighth-grade teacher from Crossroads Middle School, has been bringing her students to this event for six years. "My students loved 'hot linking,'" said Heyboer. "By using Google Earth they learned how to find their home online; even get a street view. Another favorite was having the opportunity to create 3D shapes on computers."

GIS Day conference presentations featured experts and students discussing the use of GIS in rural Michigan, as a tool for wind turbine assessment, and as a way to trace personal histories or design lesson plans.

Participating schools were CA Frost Environmental Science Academy, Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Academy, and Crossroads Middle School.

The event was sponsored by Geography and Planning, College of Education, University Bookstore, Regional Math and Science Center, and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, along with the Michigan Space Consortium and Environmental Systems Research Institute.

A GIS Day participant takes a group photo using a GPS camera during the event November 19 on the Allendale Campus / Photo by Bernadine Carey-Tucker