The Finger Lakes GIT Ahead Project: Creating Career Paths for Geospatial Technology Professionals Through Teacher Enhancement and Student Engagement

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This project focuses on workforce preparation in Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) fields through teacher professional development, educational software development, and provision of internships, job shadowing, and career preparation experiences for high school students in urban and rural schools.The GIT Ahead Project is a collaborative effort among the Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Cayuga Community College, Cornell University, the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology, and New York State Geographical Information Systems Association. The goal is to help rural and urban high school students see geospatial technology as pathways to careers and to create higher education pathways for students who might not otherwise pursue such goals. GIT Ahead is accomplishing these goals through teacher professional development, the development of the Internet-based Finger Lakes GIS Explorer software, and a series of classroom and job-focused GIT opportunities for students. Interdisciplinary teams of teachers attend a two-week summer institute that provides training in relevant technologies along with time and support for development of inquiry-based curriculum projects tailored for use in their own classes.Participating students have opportunities to experience GIT-enhanced units in their high school classes, enter the GIS Associate's Degree program at Cayuga Community College, and participate in summer internships at the Finger Lakes Institute, the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology, and regional businesses.Interdisciplinary teams of high school teachers are developing inquiry-based units that meet existing curricular needs through GIT-based projects focused on Finger Lakes watersheds and regional planning issues. The GIT Ahead project is developing models for the use of GIT in addressing environmental issues and is providing students with the analytic and technical skills necessary to successfully address local and regional environmental concerns.This project benefits public schools, the participating institutions, science and technology education, and the Finger Lakes Region. Participating teachers are using GIT in ways that reach traditionally under-represented or disadvantaged students. Participating students are experiencing college life, motivating them to not only graduate from high school, but also to pursue either a two-year or four-year college degree. Concurrently, the participating institutions are augmenting their capacities to offer GIT training and experiences to educators, college students and public school students throughout the region. These approaches are increasing the number of individuals capable of using GIT in a variety of work settings.