2Sleepwalking into the Future –The Case for Spatial Analysis Throughout Education
Joseph J. KERSKI

Abstract
The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in education around the world is a relatively recent phenomenon. Settled almost entirely since 1990, the landscape is marked bypedagogical and technological trailblazing by enterprising educators who have overcome
numerous challenges to teach about GIS and teach with GIS. They do so to promote spatial
thinking throughout education. They have done so in a wide variety of settings, to students
of all ages, in lecture rooms, computer laboratories, on mobile devices, and in the field. Yetfor all of this variety, a remarkably small number of themes are common. In this paper andkeynote presentation, those themes that have helped to create a small but growing international GIS education community are identified. These include a focus on problem-solving,inquiry-driven pedagogical techniques that use real-world data and geotechnologies toanalyze spatial patterns on a local to global scale. They focus on classroom, community,and careers, and promote scholarship, citizenship, and artisanship.
Yet despite progress made since 1990, not only do challenges remain, but forces are actingthat could confine spatial thinking in education to a relatively small part of educational
practice and research through 2020. These forces include an overreliance upon standardized
assessments, budgetary constraints that curtail necessary components such as fieldwork andIT support, a lack of a curricular fit or home for GI (Geographic Information), and an overemphasis on science and mathematics to the exclusion of other key disciplines critical tonurturing spatial analysis. This paper makes recommendations about what needs to happen
to advance the use of GIS in education at all levels. This includes establishing a disciplinary
home for GIS throughout education, an increased emphasis on portfolios and other authentic assessment instruments, and the funding and establishment of a center that promotes
research in the implementation and effectiveness of GIS in education.
The future of GIS in education will also be impacted by citizen science initiatives, volunteered geographic information, the cloud computing environment, mobile computing, open
data portals, and open application programming interfaces (APIs). Spatial analysis with GIS
addresses the essential issues of the 21st Century. Natural and human-caused hazards, urban
sprawl, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, public safety, water quality and availability, biodiversity loss, healthy economies, and other key and complex issues of our time
can be better understood through the spatial framework. Spatial thinking and analysis musttake place throughout education, not only to have a positive impact on teaching and learning, but also on society as a whole, which would benefit people and the planet. If this does
not occur, we will be on uncertain footing in education, and we will be on precarious
ground as a global society. We will essentially be sleepwalking into the future.

Jekel, T, Koller, A., Donert, K. & Vogler, R. (Eds.) (2011): Learning with GI 2011.
© Herbert Wichmann Verlag, VDE VERLAG GMBH, Berlin/Offenbach. ISBN 978-3-87907-510-2.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Sleepwalking into the Future

1

3

The Case for Spatial Analysis Using GIS in Education

People have always been fascinated with investigating their home – the Earth. To understand our planet, ancient scholars in Rome, Greece, and China founded the study of geography over 2,500 years ago. Today, geography is more relevant than ever, as issues of climatechange, economic globalization, urban sprawl, biodiversity loss, sustainable agriculture,
water quality and quantity, crime, cultural diversity, energy, tourism, political instability,and natural hazards grow in importance on a global scale but also increasingly affect our
everyday lives. To grapple with these issues requires a populace that has a firm foundationin geography, a populace that can see the “big picture” but also that understands how different patterns and trends are related from a global scale down to the local community.
Geography is concerned with all of the relevant issues of our time, because all of theseissues have a geographic component.
For centuries, maps have stirred imaginations and inspired explorations of the unknown.
Today, maps are used to help understand relationships across areas and regions. These
spatial relationships are analyzed using maps in digital form within a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) framework. In a GIS framework, rather than as static documents, thesemaps are dynamic. They can be grappled with and combined with other maps and data sets,
as well as charts, databases, and multimedia. GIS, together with Remote Sensing and
Global Positioning Systems (GPS), make up the geotechnologies, which help people makeeveryday decisions and plans more effectively and efficiently. With the complex issues
confronting societies, paper maps simply won’t do – their content, symbology, or scalecannot be changed and they cannot be analyzed quantitatively as a GIS allows on digitalspatial data.
In education, GIS offers a powerful decision-making toolkit that can be used in educational
administration, educational policy, and in instruction. GIS offers administrators a way tovisualize and manage everything from monitoring campus safety, mapping campus buildings, cables, and other infrastructure, routing school buses, planning where and when to
close schools and open new ones, and strategizing recruitment efforts. GIS provides educational policymakers with tools to see patterns in educational achievement and where totarget new programs. In instruction, GIS in the hands of students helps them to understandcontent in a variety of disciplines, not only in geography, but in history, mathematics, language arts, environmental studies, chemistry, biology, civics, and many more. GIS is used
as an inquiry-driven, problem-solving, standards-based set of tasks that incorporates fieldwork and provides career pathways that are increasingly in demand. It helps students thinkcritically, use real data, and connects them to their own community. It does so in informal,
primary, secondary, and university settings and appeals to today’s visual learners. Geotechnologies, along with biotechnologies and nanotechnologies, are the three key skills and job
markets identified by the United States Department of Labor for the 21st Century (GEWIN
2004). It therefore is taught in the context of promoting spatial thinking.
What is the relationship between birth rate and life expectancy? Why does this relationshipexist? How will climate change affect global food production? How did the toxic spill in
Hungary affect water quality and villages downstream (KERSKI 2010)? Students using GIS
explore the relationships between people, climate, land use, vegetation, river systems, aquifers, landforms, soils, natural hazards, and much more. With the flood of information available to students today, they need to be able to deal with uncertainty about data, to under-

4

J. J. Kerski

stand its limitations with regards to error and omissions, and to effectively manage it. GIS
is a tool that provides holistic computer and management skills for students, a part of ageospatial technology competency model recognized by the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENTOF LABOR (2010). The model not only includes computer competencies, but equally as
important, personal and organizational competencies (DIBIASE et al. 2010).
Using GIS provides a way of exploring not only a body of content knowledge, but provides
a way of thinking about the world (BEDNARZ 2004; KERSKI 2008). These skills were identified as essential to K-12 education by the United States NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES(2006). The geographic perspective informs other disciplines. When epidemiologists study
the spread of diseases, scientists study climate change, or businesspersons determine where
to locate a new retail establishment, they use spatial analysis. In each case, GIS provides
critical tools for studying these issues and for solving very real problems on a daily basis.
Spatial thinking in instruction also incorporates and depends upon fieldwork, which is critically needed for understanding and appreciating our world (SOBEL 1999; LOUV 2006).
Students can gather locations with GPS and attribute information about tree species, historical buildings, water quality, and other variables on a field trip or even on their own
school or university campus. GIS-based questions begin with the “whys of where” – whyare cities, ecoregions, and earthquakes located where they are, and how are they affected bytheir proximity to nearby things and by invisible global interconnections and networks?
After asking geographic questions, students acquire geographic resources and collect data.
They analyze geographic data and discover relationships across time and space.
Geographic investigations are often value-laden and involve critical thinking skills. For
example, students investigate the relationship between altitude, latitude, climate, and cotton
production. After discovering where cotton is grown, and that much is grown in dry regions
requiring irrigation, they can ask “Should cotton be grown in these areas? Is this the bestuse of water and other natural resources?” GIS helps students to act on their investigations,to put their recommendations in place, to improve the quality of lives of people and thehealth of the planet. Students present the results of their investigations using GIS and multimedia. Their investigations usually spark additional questions, and the resulting cycle isthe essence of geographic inquiry (Fig. 1).
Our world is constantly changing. These changes include those brought about by physicalforces such as erupting volcanoes, meandering rivers, and shifting plates, but also thosebrought about by human forces, such as urbanization and agriculture. Students use GIS tounderstand that the Earth is changing, think scientifically and analytically about why it ischanging, and then dig deeper: Should the Earth be changing in these ways? Is there anything that I should be doing or could be doing about it? This captures the heart of spatial
thinking, inquiry and problem-based learning. It empowers students as they become decision-makers to make a difference in this changing world of ours.

Sleepwalking into the Future

Fig. 1:

2

5

The geographic inquiry process

Common Challenges and Benefits

Challenges and benefits in the landscape of GIS in secondary education have been the subject of many studies (KERSKI 2003, BAKER & BEDNARZ 2003). Challenges may be classified as technological and societal. Technological challenges include not only access tocomputers that have enough internal and graphics memory, hard disk space, and the proper
software to be able to handle spatial analysis, but also access to those computers in theschool and support from the school’s information technology staff. It is tempting to relegate
these challenges to the early days of GIS in education, but they remain challenges in many
regions of the world today, even in many developed countries. Societal issues cast thegreatest constraint on GIS becoming an embedded, required tool throughout education.
These include the lack of awareness of spatial thinking and analysis and their importance ineducation and society. Coupled with the segmentation of education into discrete subjects,
this translates into a lack of a “home” for GIS in the curriculum, and consequently a lack offunding and support for professional and curriculum development, and for research to examine the best methods of curricular implementation and assessment. In some countries, alack of awareness exists at the educational policy level of what geography is and what it isnot. Geography is frequently buried in the social studies and faces continued funding curtailments, particularly in the wake of renewed emphasis on Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in some countries. An over-reliance on standardized tests that
do not assess critical thinking skills constrain use of inquiry-based methods such as GIS

6

J. J. Kerski(BAKER et al. 2009). Even at the university level, geography has not fared as well as otherdisciplines (DOBSON 2007).
Despite challenges, educators around the world, through formal and informal educationalsettings, and in primary, secondary, and university levels, find great value in using GIS andspatial analysis effectively in teaching and learning. An international examination of GIS
use in secondary schools (MILSON et al., in press) features success stories in 33 countries of
the transformational power of spatial analysis with GIS. These and other case studies andresearch projects show that GIS in education links students to their communities, to citizenship education, and to meaningful careers. It provides benefits in scholarship (developing
skills in thinking and communicating), artisanship (gaining key skills), and citizenship(becoming thoughtful citizens) (KERSKI 2004). Students using geotechnologies exemplify
the geographic inquiry process of asking geographic questions, gathering geographic data,assessing geographic information, analyzing geographic information, and acting on thedecisions that they make with their new-found knowledge. Educators and students using
these tools and methods are engaging in deep and meaningful inquiry, problem-based learning, peer mentoring, and working with real-world problems, tools, and data. They reportenhanced student interest (CREWS 2008) and improved performance on some standardized
tests (GOLDSTEIN 2010). They use geotechnologies as tools to grapple with relevant, current
issues, rather than using technology for technology’s sake.
The landscape of GIS in education is rapidly modified by trends and forces in technology,society, and educational policy. Technological trends having a positive impact on the use of
GIS in education include increased internet bandwidth to move large spatial data files,
faster and less expensive computers, and more powerful, easier-to-use geotechnologies.
While energy shortages and consequential electrical outages could have a negative effect on
GIS in education, longer-lasting batteries and solar-powered computers could reduce thepotential negative effect. Still, concerns about the “digital divide” remain and GIS will bean option only for those with a decent internet connection and some sort of computer device, laptop or mobile. However, initiatives such as the worldwide “One Laptop Per Child,”
school programs that enable each student to have a computer, and bandwidth improvement
initiatives occurring in many countries will ensure that at least the technological infrastructure is present in many more parts of the world (BARTOSCHEK 2011). In addition, one now
only needs a smart phone to take GPS-tagged photographs and videos to build rich fieldbased GIS projects, rather than a separate GPS receiver and a digital camera. Voice-enabled
GIS could be of particular help when the students’ native language is not the same as that of
the software, as well as for disabled or special needs students. Even more importantly, therise of web-based GIS avoids software installation and local data storage while offering aneasy-to-use interface. While web GIS does not offer all of the analytical capabilities at thepresent time that desktop GIS software offers, it could enable those educators and students
move to the first level of spatial analysis (Fig. 2).
GIS in education benefits from an increased emphasis at the policy level that focuses on
preparing students for the workforce. GeoMentor (http://www.geomentor.org) and local
initiatives partner GIS professionals with educators. The trend toward open data will increase the number of schools and universities that can use that data and hence make it easier to teach with it. Distance education could increase the amount of GIS taught, the standardization of GIS curricula worldwide, and the number of students exposed to GIS. Even
more importantly, the rise of geo-enabled devices and technologies, beginning with GPS

Sleepwalking into the Future

7

receivers, and spreading to smart phones, web maps, and electronic sensors, enable volunteered geographic information and citizen science. This in turn has given rise to citizen
demand for government transparency and accountability. As people use geographic information in their everyday lives, they more fully realize the value of geographic information,and may begin demanding educational reform that makes heavy use of inquiry and criticalthinking such as GIS can provide.

Fig. 2:Analyzing the October 2010 toxic spill in Hungary using ArcGIS Explorer

Another positive development that is only beginning to bear fruit is the recent call for the
return of outdoor education (Figure 3). Yet funding shortfalls and high energy costs could
curtail its potential. Increased demand for citizenship education, environmental education,and global education could hasten the growth of GIS in schools and universities.

8

J. J. Kerski

Fig. 3:

3

Educators and students using GPS receivers in the field at a professional development institute in Costa Rica

Sleepwalking or Moving Confidently Toward the Future?

What could advance the use of spatial thinking in education beyond the innovators andearly adopters that ROGERS (1995) identified in his diffusion of innovations theory? Higher
education needs to take an active role in promoting and supporting GIS in education at thesecondary level. This partnership must include professional development, curriculum development (as exemplified by JOHANSSON 2008), and the use of secondary classrooms in
research projects by university professors and graduate students. Partnerships between
educational institutions with industry and nonprofit organizations are essential. Educational
reform efforts that support inquiry-based methods throughout primary, secondary, anduniversity institutions need to be promoted by those in education and by the general public.
In a similar manner in which Geographic Information Systems evolved into Geographic
Information Sciences 20 years ago, GIS in education now has its own research base, developers, and educators who advance its theory and practice through research, curriculum, andteaching (KERSKI 2008). The research is anchored in geographic education but incorporates
elements of experiential learning, problem-based learning, and some cognitive science.
A GIS in education bibliography (on http://edcommunity.esri.com) reached 1,600 entries by
2011 with an increasing number of dissertations and other major studies produced annually.
However, the GIS educational landscape remains small. Educational policymakers andSleepwalking into the Future9

administrators demand additional evidence that clearly shows how and why the use of any
technology and method makes a difference in student learning. I recommend that an international GIS in education virtual research center be established to promote and support
research that is desperately needed in this field. A five-year funded international GIS in
education center would accomplish what the establishment of the National Center for Geographic Information Systems did in 1990 for GIScience – an established research base thatdevelops and coordinates GIS-based curricular efforts, teacher training programs, and policy advocacy documents that are well grounded in learning theory. In Austria, a program
exists where teachers are paid to conduct research (JEKEL, et al., in press). Could this model
be a valuable component in such a GIS education research center?
Those who advocate the use of GIS in education tend to focus on its benefits for analyzing
data and solving problems. While this has great value, GIS advocates must take steps toillustrate how GIS can help teach content to advance GIS at the educational policy level.
PIAGET’S (1929) words that “the trouble with education…is that the best teaching methods
are in fact the most difficult” are relevant here. Teaching with any inquiry-based method ismore difficult because it is fraught with pedagogical uncertainties and inconsistencies in thedata used and in the results that could be discovered. We need to instill the kind of educational culture where instructors are comfortable with this approach, and they are supportedby their administrators for doing so.
As a community, we need to get past the perception of maps as mere reference documents
and geography as memorization of facts. If GIS is “just” maps, then we are “just” using it toteach about climate, biodiversity, population, energy, water, and other key issues of ourtime. Rather than reducing possibilities, teaching with GIS enables students and educators,
expands their horizons, and invites interdisciplinary education. In a decade where theamount of data will dwarf even the advances of the past decade, GIS will be absolutely
essential for helping students sort through the plethora of information, helping them tothink critically about data, but also about the issues that the data are describing. To advanceGIS in education, we must get beyond promoting maps, which resonate with geography
educators but with few other educators. We must not focus only on geography, which will
likely remain constrained around the world given budgetary, educational policy, and curriculum pressures from other disciplines. We also must not focus simply on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, which only resonates in somecountries and varies depending on shifting educational policies and political slogans.
Rather, we need to focus on something that nearly every educator, standard, and policy
document state that they want to see more of – critical thinking. Positioning GIS in its rightful place as a critical thinking tool will advance it throughout secondary education andbeyond.
A concentrated effort needs to be made toward preservice teachers. An increased emphasis
must also be placed on portfolios and other authentic assessment instruments, for which
GIS is especially suited (LINN et al. 2005). We must also point out that the teacher’s role iscritical to the geospatial learning process. Students may become more adept than the instructor at the technical tools, but it is the instructor who provides and frames the inquirybased questions and issues. Hence, using GIS frees educators to do what they love to do
best – engage students in meaningful issues. Teaching with GIS and even teaching about
GIS is never just about the software; indeed, “button-pushing” is only a means to the end.
Even the final map is only a means to the end. The end goal is the understanding brought

10

J. J. Kerski

about by spatially analyzing an issue, and the action it may lead the student to take to makea positive difference.
We must also promote the fact that GIS is an amazing unifier. Students and citizens worldwide bemoan the segmentation of education into discrete subjects and time periods, but GIS
brings together content, skills, faculty, and students from different disciplines and levels.
Spatial analysis, since it relies so much on visual learning, seems to be something that caneffectively help students learn content and skills to become effective citizens and findmeaningful employment. Most students want a career, not just a job, and one that makes adifference. Look around! It is plain that our 21st Century world is in dire need of those who
can address the complex issues we face using the spatial perspective. As ORR (1994) betterput it, “Now more than ever, we need people who think broadly and who understand systems, connections, patterns, and root causes…how to think in whole systems, how to findconnections, how to ask big questions, and how to separate the trivial from the important.
GIS is not simply a “nice to have” component of education, and it does much more thanprovide a meaningful a career path. It is essential for the future of our planet and its people.

References
AUDET, R. & LUDWIG, G. (2000), GIS in Schools. Redlands, CA: Esri Press.
BAKER, T. & BEDNARZ, S. (2003), Lessons learned: Reviewing research on GIS in education. Journal of Geography, 102 (6).
BAKER, T., PALMER, A. & KERSKI, J. (2009), A national survey to examine teacher professional development and implementation of desktop GIS. Journal of Geography, 108:
174-185.
BARTOSCHEK, T. (2011), Using one laptop per child computers to enhance spatial literacy
in Germany and Rwanda. http://52north.org/GeospatialLearning/?p=856#more-856(accessed 25 March 2011).
BEDNARZ, S. (2004), GIS: A tool to support geography and environmental education? GeoJournal, 60 (2): 191-199.
CREWS, J. (2008), Impacts of a teacher geospatial technologies professional development
project on student spatial literacy skills and interests in science and technology in grades
5 - 12 classrooms across Montana. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Montana.
DIBIASE, D., CORBIN, T., FOX, T., FRANCICA, J., GREEN, K., JACKSON, J., JEFFRESS, G.,
JONES, B., JONES, B., MENNIS, J., SCHUCKMAN, K., SMITH, C. & VAN SICKLE, J. (2010),
The new geospatial technology competency model: Bringing workforce needs into focus. URISA Journal, 22 (2): 55-72.
DOBSON, J. (2007), Bring back geography! ArcNews. Spring. Esri: Redlands, CA.
http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/spring07articles/bring-back-geography-1of2.html.
GEWIN, V. (2004), Mapping opportunities. Nature, 427: 376-377.
GOLDSTEIN, D. (2010), Integration of geospatial technologies into K-12 curriculum: An
investigation of teacher and student perceptions and student academic achievement.
Ph.D. Dissertation, Florida Atlantic University.

Sleepwalking into the Future

11

JEKEL, T., KOLLER, A. & STROBL, J. (in press), Research institutions linking to schools:
Collaboration for geoinformation in secondary education in Austria. In: MILSON, A.,
DEMIRCI, A. & KERSKI, J. (Eds.), International Perspectives on Teaching and Learningwith GIS in Schools. Springer.
JOHANSSON, T. (2008), Survival of the GISSEST. Teachers’ opinions on the incorporationof GI-based learning in upper secondary schools in Finland. In: JEKEL, T., KOLLER, A.
& DONERT, K. (Eds.), Lernen mit Geoinformation III. Heidelberg: Wichmann, pp. 2-7.
KERSKI, J. (2003), The implementation and effectiveness of geographic information systems technology and methods in secondary education. Journal of Geography, 102: 128137.
KERSKI, J. (2004), GIS for citizenship education. In: KENT, A. & POWELL, A. (Eds.), Geography and Citizenship Education. IGU Committee on Geographic Education and University of London.
KERSKI, J. (2008), The role of GIS in digital earth education. International Journal of Digital Earth, 1(4): 326-346.
KERSKI, J. (2010), Using ArcGIS Online to analyze the toxic spill in Hungary.
http://blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/gisedcom/archive/2010/12/17/using-arcgis-online-toanalyze-the-toxic-spill-in-hungary.aspx.
LINN, S., KERSKI, J. & WITHER, S. (2005), Development of evaluation tools for GIS: How
does GIS affect student learning? International Research in Geographic and Environmental Education, 14 (3): 217-224.
LOUV, R. (2005), Last Child In the Woods. Algonquin Books.
MILSON, A., DEMIRCI, A. & KERSKI, J. (in press), International Perspectives on Teachingand Learning with GIS in Schools. Springer.
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (2006), Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a DecisionSupport System in the K-12 Curriculum. National Academies Press.
ORR, D. (1994), Earth In Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect.
Island Press.
PIAGET, J. (1929), The Child’s Conception of the world. London: Routledge.
ROGERS, E. (1995), The Diffusion of innovations. Free Press.
SOBEL, D. (1999), Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education. Orion
Society.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (2010), Geospatial technology competency model.
http://www.careeronestop.org/competencymodel/pyramid.aspx?GEO=Y.