The data often required considerable modification by a GIS specialist before it could be incorporated into the available software. Even when data, software, and training were available, there was little or no curriculum for middle or high school classrooms. Nor were there materials for science teachers that helped them use GIS technologies for student learning of the content and skills mandated by curricular standards and science frameworks. In addition to these obstacles there are also schoolhouse realities that software designers need to acknowledge. Time for classroom instruction.
Most students have only about three hours per week of science education.
This makes it very difficult for busy teachers to allocate time for students to learn complicated software packages and search the Web and other sources for data. Time for teacher learning. Most of today's classroom teachers were trained before computer technology was widely available so the demand for technology-related professional development is great. Resources, including time, are limited. Our review of the available GIS and visualization software convinced us that these technologies require more time to learn than the typical classroom teacher is willing to invest.