Geotechnology Experiences for Students and Teachers

该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)计划的努力，以更好地了解和促进实践，通过重点关注地球技术(也称为地理信息系统或地理空间信息系统)职业，提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)领域追求职业生涯的动机和能力。该项目的计划目标是让教师做好准备，让高需求和高潜力学区的初中生和高中生拥有尖端的网络地理信息系统知识和技能，以激励学生追求正式的校外和非正式的校外教育体验。项目研究将在社会认知职业发展理论和其他工作的指导下，调查哪些程序性经验有助于学生的动机和认知获得，以及哪些因素有助于教师将地理信息系统内容整合到学校课程中。在项目的三年时间里，该项目将提供暑期教师工作坊和每年的学生地理信息系统夏令营，夏令营将包括在这些组织的导师的支持下对与地理信息系统相关的行业和政府机构的实地考察。工作坊和夏令营将支持教师和学生学习地理信息系统的概念和技能。教师还将学习在STEM和社会研究课程中整合与地理信息系统和职业相关的方法。参加夏令营的学生将被支持组织一个地理信息系统课后俱乐部。本项目将研究ITEST计划的一个指导性问题：什么连贯的经验集有效和高效地支持学生在今天和未来与STEM相关的劳动力中有效参与的能力、动机和毅力？该项目将采用混合方法进行研究设计，包括准实验研究。本项目的研究成果将帮助教育工作者更好地理解和解决影响地理信息系统在初中和高中课程中整合的背景和因素。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by its focus on geotechnology (also called GIS or geospatial information systems) careers. The programmatic goal of this project is to prepare teachers to engage middle and high schools students in high-needs and high-potential school districts with cutting-edge web GIS knowledge and skills in order to motivate students to pursue formal school-based and informal out-of-school educational experiences. Project research, guided by social-cognitive career development theory and other work, will investigate what programmatic experiences contribute to student motivation and cognitive gains and what factors contribute to teacher integration of GIS content into the school curriculum.During three years of the project, the project will offer a summer teacher workshop and a student GIS summer camp each year, The camp will include field trips to GIS-related industry and government agencies, supported by mentors from these organizations. The workshop and camp will support teachers and students in learning GIS concepts and skills. Teachers will also learn approaches to integrate GIS- and career-related in STEM and social studies classes. Students who attended the summer camp will be supported in organizing a GIS after-school club. This project will research one of the guiding questions of the ITEST program: What coherent sets of experiences effectively and efficiently support student competency, motivation and persistence for productive participation in the STEM-related workforce of today and the future? The project will use mixed methods research design including a quasi-experimental study. Research findings from this project will help educators better understand and address the context and factors that influence integration of GIS in middle and high school curricula.