Leading Pennsylvania Geographic Education

As William Penn watched on, our GeoDecisions team of volunteers was back in action at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg to help host a Home School Association learning event for approximately 200 students and educators on September 28.

In an ideal geographic setting, younger children enjoyed rousing rounds of geographic “Simon Says” on the Pennsylvania Alliance for Geographic Education Giant Map of PA as older students asked astute questions about Esri® story map portfolios and digital mapping possibilities. In addition to mapping the state, the event’s diverse agenda included NASA’s “Journey to Mars” Planetarium show and a storm view of Winter Storm Jonas from space; gallery talks with museum curators; and interactive activities to explore Pennsylvania’s history.

A Complete Picture

Discussions took off in the museum’s Memorial Hall with our team, sparked by digital depictions of engineering accolades and GIS accomplishments and an amazing National Park Service story map timeline approach. On the floor, students were encouraged to dip their feet in the Susquehanna River, then “follow the leader” to Happy Valley and Pennsylvania’s western-most boundaries.

Realizing that geospatial technology is part of everyday activities, mobile-savvy post-millennials also enjoyed talking about smartphone location intelligence and their favorite Pokemon GO Pennsylvania PokeStops.

As we continue our cycle of educational events, we look forward to extending story map conversations at several #GISDay destinations this Fall! #GeoDecisions30