Effective use of GIS provides integrated training in the process of research, including data gathering and preparation, storage, analysis, and presentation. GIS activities provide actual training for many careers. GIS is a tool for the 21st century. GIS relies on and fosters a mindset of exploration Effective users have a disposition for discovery learning. Effective users look for new possibilities.
Effective users explore multiple views of a single issue or set of information.
In effective situations, the teacher is a facilitator who models lifelong learning, rather than simply being a deliverer of information. Students and teachers can collaborate in their explorations. GIS relies on and promotes finding information and knowing what to do with it Effective users are able to identify appropriate types and sources of information needed to solve a problem. Effective users integrate information from multiple sources and of multiple types. Effective users recognize that appropriate use of any given data includes understanding the nature and quality of the data.