PE&RS May 2018 Public - page 239

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING May 2018 239
SECTORINSIGHT:.edu
Education and Professional D evelopment in the G eospatial Information Science and Technology Community
By Anita Simic Milas, PhD
Paradigm Shift in Education: Spatial Literacy
Remote sensing and geographic information system
(GIS) technologies proliferate our mental capabil-
ities of processing and combining spatial and tex-
tual information about various static or dynamic
events and their interactions. An enormous amount of con-
stantly accumulating remote sensing data evokes an urgent
need for more remote sensing experts and for adding another
dimension to the educational system in the U.S.A. and world-
wide - Spatial literacy. The ability to process and analyze
spatial data while addressing pressing environmental issues,
is the fundamental form of literacy for experts in geoscience.
The ultimate goal should be to promote the discipline of pho-
togrammetry, remote sensing and geographic information
systems (GIS) to enhance the understanding of the geospatial
concepts, and to promote growing interest in the application
of remote sensing by government, academia, and industry.
What are the Educational Gaps?
Integrating spatial literacy into the existing educational sys-
tem is challenging. Remote sensing and GIS are subject to
the existing obstacles of attracting students to the Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disci-
plines. High school students and their parents commonly
perceive STEM fields as difficult and unrewarding.
The robust effort of the U.S. government to transfer remote
sensing knowledge to K-12 students can be achieved only
through the focused effort of experts, parents, teachers, grad-
uate students and society. No simple solution answers the
question “How to attract and keep students in Remote Sens-
ing?” However, educational strategies that directly engage
learners in the educational processes and techniques can in-
crease the “STEM momentum”.
The Cascade Education Model
While it is essential to engage high school students in STEM,
children need to be even younger than high school age when
they start learning about remote sensing. Thus, parental ex-
pectation plays a critical role in early learning. K-12 teach-
ers further encourage students’ curiosity and nurture their
interest for STEM activity, like that of remote sensing. The
knowledge transfer has to be envisioned in a cascading fash-
ion where experts and university professors together with
their university students educate both pre-service and in-ser-
vice K-12 teachers who, in turn, emerge enthusiastic, knowl-
edgeble and prepared to educate their students and other
teachers. Some of the important components of the cascade
model are:
• Readiness of the teachers to impart fundamentals of an
academic discipline lays the foundation of success.
• Peer learning is a well-established concept where stu-
dents learn from their peers while developing stron-
ger self-esteem and better social skills through an ac-
tive-learning.
• Stimulating curiosity about a student’s spatial environ-
ment encourages the “what”, “why”, and “how” questions.
• Interaction with industry and government experts such
as those from NASA/USGS/NOAA inspires students’ in-
terest and involvement in Earth and space science and
provides them with an impressive depiction of possible
achievements.
• The ‘learning by doing’ concept is the key component
of active learning. To expose young students to prob-
lem-based learning at an early stage will improve their
critical thinking and understanding.
• Outreach and awareness about remote sensing, through
webinars and videos, inform and educate students,
teachers, parents, young professionals and the public.
Recognizing some of the challenges and incorporating the
components of the cascade model characterized was the fo-
cus of a recently accomplished project at Bowling Green State
University (BGSU), in Ohio. The “SPatial LITeracy - SPLIT
Remote Sensing integrated research-educational approach
to support surface water quality monitoring” offered high
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Vol. 84, No. 5, May 2018, pp. 239–240.
0099-1112/18/239–240
© 2018 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
doi: 10.14358/PERS.84.5.239