Space Grant Consortium - University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

Results and Observations of the Session
The high s chool c lass t hat pa rticipated i n t he s ession he ld a t U W-Whitewater’s g eography
laboratory, numbered 13 students and one teacher. These students were concurrently enrolled in
their s chool’s e arth s cience course a nd h ad p reviously don e a va riety of geological a nd
geographical exercises created by their teacher. None of the work they had done previously had
included any use or discussion of aerial photography or satellite imagery.
An informal v erbal poll indicated that non e of the students had previously used Google Earth
imagery for any coursework, and only a few had ever heard of it prior to that da y. Since the
exercises were designed from the perspective of no pr ior knowledge, the comprehension level
was appropriate. After a brief introduction, the students were paired with undergrad geography
students e xperienced in b oth G oogle E arth and s atellite ima ge a nalysis. W hile th e w ritten
exercises were provided as stepwise instruction, it soon became clear that the interaction with the
undergraduate as sistants was a v aluable resource. A ll of the high school students soon began
relying on their college colleagues for additional insight into not only the exercise, but also other
features on the imagery that commanded their attention.
Throughout all of t he exercises i t w as r eadily apparent t hat the hi gh school s tudents w ere
fascinated b y t he i magery and c ould of ten b e f ound de viating f rom t he e xercise que stions i n
order to follow their own curiosity concerning features all around the globe. This was certainly
the type of response that an educator relishes, however it was necessary to curb the exploration
in order to maintain the limited time frame.
Conclusions
The goal of this project was to provide high school students with an introduction to a palette of
tools and data that they will be able to draw upon both in future education opportunities as well
as i n t heir ow n pe rsonal a nd pr ofessional e xperiences i n l ife. N ot onl y i s i magery n early
ubiquitous in the private and public sectors, with the public release of Google Earth in 2005 it
has become mainstream for anyone with an internet connection. F or these reasons it is vitally
important th at in terpreting and u nderstanding earth imagery is regarded equally t o other ba sic
tenets of education.
Based on the response by the high school students who participated in the outreach session, the
experience would have to be judged a success. With no real prior experience at the beginning of
the da y, t he s tudents c ommented t hat the a ctivities w ere very i nformative a nd t hat t hey w ere
looking f orward t o further exploration of t he i magery. G iven t hese f actors i t a ppears t hat a
single day session is a valid and effective method of extending an introduction to earth imaging.
It would also be advised that a single session does not provide a complete and comprehensive
education i n e arth i maging. A s s uch, i t w ould be advisable to pr ovide t he pa rticipating hi gh
school teachers with data, software, and exercises that would enable them to offer more imaging
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