The SAGUARO (pronounced “sah-wah-roh”) project (Science and GIS: Unlocking Analysis and Research Opportunities) grew out of our belief that it was easier and more engaging to learn GIS skills while investigating a scientific problem than mastering GIS skills and then tackling a scientific investigation. This Teach with GIS rather than Teach about GIS approach has been very successful in getting novice GIS users (both the instructors and their students) to explore current problems and issues in Earth system science using real data and powerful analysis tools. As an outcome, most students develop sufficient GIS skills to pursue their own investigations within or as an extension of the prepared curriculum.
Our original project, funded under National Science Foundation grants 9553841, 9809704, 9980958, 9986613 and 0442136 resulted in four Earth system modules covering topics in oceanography, plate tectonics, the hydrologic cycle and water resources, and tropical cyclones. These were developed simultaneously for both introductory college science courses and high school science courses.
Ea
rth Science Investigations using GIS: College version
The college level modules are available through
Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning and use
ESRI ArcView 3.2 and ArcGIS 9.x.
Earth Science Investigations using GIS: High school version
The high school modules are available through
Delmar Cengage Learning for ArcView 3.x or Arc 9.x.
RESEARCH RELATED TO SAGUARO CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
We have written about our curriculum development process and our evaluation of student learning and impact on spatial visualization in the following articles.
- Design, Implementation, & Evaluation of GIS-Based Learning Materials in an Introductory Geoscience Course
Michelle K. Hall-Wallace and Carla M. McAuliffe, Journal of Geoscience Education, v.50, n. 1, January 2002, pp 5-14
- Lessons Learned While Teaching Earth Science With GIS
Michelle Hall and C. Scott Walker, in Invention and Impact: Building Excellence in Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education, AAAS, 2006, pp 135-140
- Teaching introductory Earth science with a GIS
Hall-Wallace, M.K., Walker, C.S., Wallace, T.C., and Butler, R.F., EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 83(31), 333, 339, and 340, 2002.