A new concept in teaching geography and related subjects such as social studies is being unveiled today
The Geoliteracy Project is designed to make the subjects more interactive and as such much more interesting for young students. The made-in-Canada 3-D Digital Earth platform is the first to give users the ability to search, combine, analyze and share the world’s geographic information on-demand.
This is an introduction to the new discipline of Geomatics, also known as geospatial technology or geomatics engineering, which is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information
Lynn Moorman (PhD) is the force behind the project. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Mount Royal University in Calgary Alberta.
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It seems that some students and schools are not putting much emphasis on geography and many in Canada are arriving with sketchy knowledge about the world in terms of locations, and how so many other things from politics to economics to culture and language are related to geography. In fact currently about 80% of all data has some reference or relation to geography.
University students fail simple geography (with interview)
This new programme has been developed as a collaborative effort among teachers, young students and industry including Canadian Geographic Education (CGEd) geospatial data sets and the PYXIS Innovation™ WorldView™ Studio
Professor Moorman points out that we can’t keep using textbooks only and ignoring the technological advancements available to inform and prepare students for the type of skills and knowledge already being sought and which will only increase in the future.
By involving students from pre-teens up to engage more actively in understanding the importance of geographic knowledge and its correlation with a wide variety of other fields, the programme seeks to better prepare young students for the future.
In Canada there are about 2,500 Geomatics firms in operation, and although Canada is not lagging behind, other countries are already investing heavily in this discipline.
The United States for example is set to pump billions of dollars into upgrading their geography curriculum to get American children trained for these knowledge-based-economy jobs.
The beta version is available for download and it’s hoped that the thousands of geography teachers across Canada will soon be onboard with this new technology.
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