The power of geographic information systems: bringing data to life with maps

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 geography.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource introduces the work of GIS (geographic information system) experts in Chicago, USA. Each team member explains how they use GIS to display data through maps, and how this allows them to address local environmental and social issues.

• It also offers an insight into careers in GIS and includes an activity sheet, which contains ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on the team’s work and challenges them to use GIS to explore the power of maps for visualising data and initiating social change.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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