PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
June 2015
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Landsat image-pairs generated by the USGS and NASA
can make great contributions to school curricula. Both the
USGS and NASA must continue to maintain and add more
Landsat images to their respective archives along with the
accompanying description. They must focus on adding im-
ages for geographic areas that are not well represented.
One of the teachers participated in this activity commented
that “our students’ knowledge and engagement with these
topics increased substantially” which summarizes the value
of these image-pairs as a teaching tool.
R
ecommendations
Working with teachers and selecting suitable
Landsat images or image-pairs that are related
to the topics being taught in class are essential
for the effectiveness of this educational activity. Additionally,
if the images are selected from the same geographic region
that the students are learning it further increases their ef-
fectiveness.
Landsat image-pairs, available in easy and ready to use
formats from USGS and NASA data archives are an invalu-
able resource to engage students in critical thinking activi-
ties. Though these archives have extensive collection, sever-
al geographic areas are not represented which necessitates
the teachers to work with remote sensing practitioners to
generate new image-pairs. The addition of more images or
image-pairs to the existing archives or the creation of new
archives by other agencies and organizations would provide
more impetus to teachers for integrating Landsat images in
their classrooms.
WyomingView updates can be found in the following websites:
Blog (wyomingview.blogspot.com)
Facebook (search WyomingView)
Google+ (search WyomingView) sites.
A
cknowledgements
My sincere thanks to sixth grade teachers Jar-
ed Long, Andy Pannell, Tim Blum (retired), and
Cady McClurg for inviting me into their class-
rooms, to Professor Tom Mueller (PAView) for his inspiration,
tireless support and encouragement (“
Every day is Earth
Observation Day
”), and to Phil Pholzer, WyGISC for his in-
valuable comments that vastly improved the quality of the
original manuscript.
The project described in this publication was supported
by Grant Number G14AP00002 from the Department of the
Interior, United States Geological Survey to AmericaView.
Its contents are solely the responsibility of the author; the
views and conclusions contained in this document are that
of the author and should not be interpreted as represent-
ing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention
of trade names or commercial products does not constitute
their endorsement by the U.S. Government. This manuscript
is submitted for publication with the understanding that the
United States Government is authorized to reproduce and
distribute reprints for Governmental purposes.
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A
uthor
Ramesh Sivanpillai, WyGISC & Department of Botany,
University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, sivan@uwyo.
edu.
