Wednesday, June 13, 2012

What new geographic tools can be used in the classroom?
 
We started working today in watersheds and studying the Chatahoochee and Tennessee Rivers.  Alan Jackson currently is singing in my head... I never knew how much that muddy water meant to me.  We spent a great deal of time today working on our independent projects (more details to come on mine). But we also worked on a project in GIS that allowed us to walk along the Tennessee River and plot points that we tracked using GPS units. GISetc has offered to lend us GPS units to use in our classrooms, and the fee will be paid by the Alabama Geographic Alliance. (THANK YOU!!!)

Our Summer Institute has a website that contains our schedule and some of the cool things that my peers are doing. We've been doing a lot of work this week! Check it out in the link below:
Summer Technology Institute: Alabama Geographic Alliance

But the highlight of the day was using the GPS units to collect points at McFarland Park along the Tennessee River. It was a beautiful afternoon to walk along (and in) the river finding examples of physical and human geography.  Indeed, I even saw an alligator!  And we saw a Native American settlement that was set up.

I walked into the river with the GPS in the middle of swimmers. Samantha and I thought that since people are swimming on the beach, it would count as one of our human geography examples. So I waded out in the river and called out the coordinates to her on the bank. The swimmers looked at me so confused, wondering what in the world I was measuring. I should have said, "These levels aren't too dangerous, but maybe we should still call the CDC anyways."  Would people have fled the river's beach?!

Lisa Keys-Matthews offered for us to use the GPS units from GISetc (run by Roger and Anita Palmer) that can be sent to you on loan for a week. The fee will be covered by the Alabama Geographic Alliance.  I think I want to try it with my kids in the Fall or late Spring. We could even do some GeoCaching around the school campus.

Highlights of the day:

1. Being outside in the beautiful Alabama summer. The weather was sunny, in the 80s, and not even all that humid (for the South).
2. Seeing the wildlife of herons and alligators ;-)  
3. Creating a GoogleEarth tour based on the coordinates that we collected this afternoon. 
4. We are headed to Dr. Bill Strong's house for a cookout tonight---that will likely be a highlight too!