Grand Valley hosts area middle school students for GIS Day

More than 200 middle school students from Grand Rapids Public Schools will take part in a variety of activities as part of Grand Valley State University's GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day 2008: Our Shrinking World conference.

Students from five middle schools will have the opportunity to play geography games and capture the flag using GPS, conduct GPS mapping, and use GPS cameras and photolinks, among other activities.

GIS Day conference presentations include experts and students talking about GIS in rural Michigan, as a tool for wind turbine assessment, as a way to trace personal histories or design lesson plans, and more.

GIS Day is Wednesday, November 19, on Grand Valley’s Allendale Campus. Student activities run from 9:15 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in Henry Hall. The conference runs from 1:15 p.m.-4:15 p.m. in the Alumni House.

The event is sponsored by Grand Valley’s Department of Geography and Planning, College of Education, University Bookstore, Regional Math and Science Center, and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, along with Michigan Space Consortium and Environmental Systems Research Institute.

For a full list of activities, conference presentations and participating schools, visit http://sdrc.gpy.gvsu.edu/gisday08. For more information contact Edwin Joseph, associate professor of Geography and Planning, at (616) 331-2990.