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PLSO Issue 5 2015 September October

TEACHING WITH SPECIAL TECHNOLOGY Teaching with Spatial Technology „ Timothy A. Kent, PLS During the last week of June, sixteen K–12 teachers were on the Clark College campus in Vancouver to immerse themselves in surveying, global positioning systems (GPS), and geographic information systems (GIS). The program, Teaching with Spatial Technology (TwiST), is sponsored by Oregon Technical Institute and is taught by three professors from that institution: Mason Marker, John Ritter, and Tim Kent. The impetus of the program is to have high school teachers become aware of and utilize knowledge in spatial technology so that they can expose their students to these somewhat unknown employment fields. This information can be used to help guide the students to look at post high school education and hopefully enroll in colleges that teach these technologies. These K–12 teachers were from most of the western states and teach math, history, and related sciences at their schools. They were provided a number of teaching tools including software and hardware that they could then incorporate into their curriculum. The teachers were in the classroom in the morning and roving around campus most afternoons, collecting data with their new GPS units, measuring their pace, and using their new hand compasses in a variety of exercises. It was great to watch them in their many “aha” moments as it all began to come together. The spatial data gathered with the GPS units was then downloaded into ArcGIS software for further analysis and use inlab sessions. A huge thank you is due to the efforts of the state surveying societies and the Board at NCEES in offering monetary support to the teachers. They provided funds for their registration fee along with most of their travel costs. Of course this training would not have been possible without the excellent support and instruction from my colleagues at Oregon Tech, Professors Marker and Ritter. I am indebted to them for their effort with TwiST. Be ready to recruit teachers to attend the 2016 event at Clark College in Vancouver. Support this effort by identifying teachers that you believe would benefit from attending this training. Remember, the students they teach can become the professional surveyors of tomorrow. ◉ Timothy A. Kent, PLS is the Surveying & Geomatics Program Director at Oregon Tech–Wilsonville. He can be reached at timothy.kent@oit.edu. The impetus of the program is to have high school teachers become aware of and utilize knowledge in spatial technology so that they can expose their students to these somewhat unknown employment fields. The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 38, No. 5 16


PLSO Issue 5 2015 September October
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