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Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

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Remote Sens<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>Geography</strong> <strong>Education</strong>,illustrated by a vegetation dynamics study(Kikwit region, Democratic Republic of Congo)Lieselot VandenhouteKATHO department RENOS<strong>in</strong>t-Jozefstraat 1, 8820 Torhout, Belgium.e-mail: Lieselot.Vandenhoute@katho.beAbstractAs <strong>in</strong> many other sciences, the evolution <strong>in</strong> geography goes fast. New technologies take overold ones, new <strong>in</strong>sights has to be implemented <strong>in</strong> the exist<strong>in</strong>g theories. Therefore geographyeducation has to evolve. One of those new technologies is Remote Sens<strong>in</strong>g. More and more,satellite imagery is used for all k<strong>in</strong>ds of applications and many different sciences use this newtechnology. But there has to be a science which is occupied with the basics of Remote Sens<strong>in</strong>g,and not only his applications. S<strong>in</strong>ce geography is always been the science occupied with alk<strong>in</strong>ds of maps and map mak<strong>in</strong>g, why not <strong>in</strong>tegrate the images and image maps as a study objectof <strong>Geography</strong>. In the scientific Geographical milieu, the study of Remote Sens<strong>in</strong>g has alreadybeen implemented. In schools nevertheless, it has not yet become a habit to <strong>in</strong>struct the basicsof Remote Sens<strong>in</strong>g. The education field is dropp<strong>in</strong>g beh<strong>in</strong>d on the work field.This paper handles the implementation of Remote Sens<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> geography education. Abouthow we can reduce the gap with the work<strong>in</strong>g field and make our pupils aware of the importanceand relevance of Remote Sens<strong>in</strong>g. This is illustrated with a practical case, which will showhow the vegetation dynamics of a certa<strong>in</strong> area <strong>in</strong> the Democratic Republic <strong>in</strong> Congo, nearKikwit, can be studied without field work and, of course, us<strong>in</strong>g satellite imagery. Based on thiscase, and given the practical <strong>in</strong>formation about useful software and imagery many different(simplified) studies can be done, to teach the youth about satellite images and their use.Key words: Remote Sens<strong>in</strong>g, vegetation dynamics, satellite imageryIntroductionRemote Sens<strong>in</strong>g is a quite recent science that deals with the study of vertical imagesof the world. This paper will focus only on satellites’ imagery, s<strong>in</strong>ce the accuracyhas recently become almost as good as imagery derived from air photography.Neither is the wide world of GIS mentioned <strong>in</strong> this paper. Satellite images are usedfor many different applications: the study of the consequences of earthquakes,volcano eruption, forest fires; natural enquiries as study of dis<strong>in</strong>tegration of coralreefs, erosion, pollution effects, global warm<strong>in</strong>g, vegetation degradation; militarypurposes, espionage, study of historical changes, landscape changes; all k<strong>in</strong>ds ofmapp<strong>in</strong>g applications; and many more. Therefore our education should <strong>in</strong>clude thebasics of this ‘new’ technology to anticipate on future developments and make ourpupils aware of the technological applications of geography.89

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