Educators & GIS Ambassadors, I know you are not probably bored of summer yet, but on those rainy days how about giving some thought to GIS in your teaching or how you can be helping out an educator. Summer’s the perfect time to try out new resources for the upcoming school year.

One of the most exciting updates in the ESRI suite is the new ArcGIS StoryMaps Builder. If you set aside 30 minutes a day for 3 days, and work through the Getting to Know the New ArcGIS StoryMaps path https://learn.arcgis.com/en/paths/getting-to-know-the-new-storymaps/ this interactive tutorial will provide you with the skills to create your own dynamic story map, and prepare you for introducing story maps to your students.

Why not grab your GPS and make a “What I did on my summer vacation” StoryMap?

If you don’t have ArcGIS Online, you can sign up for your free education account here: https://k12.esri.ca/.

You can explore ESRI Canada’s K-12 Resource Finder https://resources.esri.ca/education-and-research/esri-canada-s-k-12-resource-finder-discover-free-resources-tied-to-curriculum to search for ArcGIS Online resources beyond geography. Find out what’s available for math, science and history from a Canadian perspective!

Looking for some global resources/lessons? Try these
• GeoInquiry Collection – GeoInquiries are short, standards-based inquiry activities for teaching map-based content found in common subjects https://www.esri.com/en-us/industries/education/schools/geoinquiries-collections
• “Mapping Our World” – a collection of world geography classroom instructional materials http://education.maps.arcgis.com/home/group.html?id=7279a08d0b544d43b66c23ce59eaa19a#overview .

Steven Hills, GISpatialist Educator &
MGUG Education Director