GIS Made easy

The aim of this book is to develop teachers' knowledge and confidence in utilising and integrating online GIS into geography lessons to promote engagement and enjoyment. A Geographical Information System (GIS) allows students to visualise, explore, question, analyse and make sense of the world around them. GIS is mentioned specifically in the KS3 geography programmes of study, and most GCSE and A level specifications. It is still an area that many geography teachers struggle to incorporate into their teaching. There are expensive GIS software packages available to buy, but this book uses free web-based software which is easy to use. This book is a toolkit that will allow you to first get an understanding of what GIS is and then how using online GIS can be easily incorporated into a range of topics without the need to be a GIS specialist, ICT specialist or having a specialised GIS software package. The range of GIS skills covered in these lessons will provide students with a skill set that they may find themselves using in their life and future work place. The nine lessons in this book can be incorporated into exciting key stage 3 schemes of work. Each lesson is framed in an enquiry question. It also gives ideas of how the lesson ideas can be taken further. The topics covered in the book are: migration, shopping, crime, health, coastal erosion, flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanoes. This toolkit contains: - nine fully worked lesson plans - all the resources needed to teach each lesson, including PowerPoints, task sheets and activity sheets. These are available to download from a password-protected area of the GA website - guidance and information about GIS, GIS skills, and advice and guidance about how to incorporate GIS into your geography curriculum - further teaching ideas and advice on purchasing GIS software.