OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

Students use GIS online software to analyze local watersheds and draw conclusions about earth changes over time and connect local areas to a larger region.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Science, Technology
• Grade Level : 6-8
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Data Analysis, Impacts of Computing
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Recognizing and Defining Computational Problems, Creating Computational Artifacts, Testing and Refining Computational Artifacts
• Materials:
  • Website
• Considerations:
  • Your school will need a free ArcGIS school account and students will need accounts set up prior to beginning this lesson. It is advisable that the instructor run through the activity first.

Lesson Plan

Overview

Students use GIS online software to analyze local watersheds and draw conclusions about earth changes over time and connect local areas to a larger region.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

What is a GIS system? What can GIS be used for in everyday life? Approximately how large is our local watershed? How does a watershed change the surface of Earth over time?

OBJECTIVES

Use ArcGIS to analyze data and draw conclusions. Connect ArcGIS data to personal experiences to make meaningful connections Use local GIS data to ask questions about the change of Earth’s surface overtime

CATCH/HOOK

Let them explore Esri map viewer and have them generate questions about Earth’s surface.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

Follow the steps in this link. This is a good place for getting started with GIS. Students should work on this worksheet as they work through the steps listed on the initial PDF. This student worksheet was made to be place specific, it can be edited to students’ hometown.

Supplements

Any items in this section are the property & under the license of their respective owners.

REVIEW

Discuss what students noticed about cities and terrain along the way.

STANDARDS