Citizen Science GIS & GeoBus Teacher Academy on April 2: Teachers apply by March 23

The Citizen Science GIS Teacher Academy: An Interactive Workshop for Florida Teachers (2nd through 8th grades) With an Emphasis on GeoBus and Our Coasts & Community Engagement will be held on Saturday April 2, 2022 from 9:00 am-12:30 pm @ University of Central Florida.

Teachers receive a free mini-drone for their classroom and a preview of GeoBus at UCF, our mobile learning lab on a retrofitted city bus! Participating teachers will also have scheduling priority for GeoBus.

Maps, apps, and drones for teachers! Geospatial technologies (geographic information systems, mapping, GPS, location-based services on phones and tablets, and drones) are powerful tools for youth, teachers and community engagement. In this free teacher workshop, we will provide an overview of some of the ways student learning and engagement can occur with these technologies, and we will challenge teachers to brainstorm creative uses of these technologies in their own classrooms. This is not your standard teacher workshop. And it will involve a preview tour of the nation’s 1st GeoBus at UCF.

GeoBus at UCF, will be available at the workshop to tour and explore!

“The Citizen Science GIS Teacher Academy should be an incredible day to learn and collaborate with other teachers as we work together to showcase the power of geospatial technologies in society and along the coast of Florida as well,” said Dr. Timothy L. Hawthorne, 2022 National Geographic Explorer, associate professor of GIS at UCF, and workshop facilitator.

“We’ll keep the lecturing to a minimum and focus on interactive activities teachers can do with their students.  This will include working with online and mobile mapping applications and flying mini-drones!!!“

We are thrilled to host this interactive, hands-on teacher workshop.  Teachers can expect to have fun while engaging with technologies their students probably already use on a daily basis, but don’t even realize they are using!  GIS, mobile mapping apps, and location-based services play a huge role in our daily lives –from traffic apps like Waze or Google Maps to finding nearby restaurants on Google or Tripadvisor.  And drones are everywhere right now. We’ll fly them in this workshop.” said Hawthorne.

Participating teachers will take home a series of lesson plans to share in their classrooms. And if they agree to support a future school visit with GeoBus and the Citizen Science GIS team, they will receive a free mini-drone to keep for their classroom and scheduling priority for a GeoBus visit. Participating teachers will also brainstorm ideas and lessons for the GeoBus at UCF program.

Apply now to this free workshop by filling out the Google Form at: https://forms.gle/SRMbQhJVy2epUeSy9.

Priority Application Deadline: March 23, 2022. Share with your fellow teachers on social media with #citizensciencegis and #geobusUCF.

Questions: Contact Dr. Timothy Hawthorne, Associate Professor of GIS, University of Central Florida at timothy.hawthorne@ucf.edu.