Sustainability – Integrating Visual Arts with Technology using GIS

by Allen Davidson, Assistant Superintendent of Employee Services

Barb Boerchers, Middle Years Consultant, River East Transcona School Division presented an overview of a learning opportunity that brought students and teachers together as co-learners to engage in a multidisciplinary project. Teachers and students researched Canadian artists, current environmental issues, connecting them to past landscapes and creating an action plan for the future. Information was then integrated (synthesized) and mapped through a Geographic Information System (GIS) from ESRI ArcGIS online which mapped student writing, artwork, and action plans to an interactive map of Canada.

Here are a few of the great links to resources used to both front load and support learning through this work at the Grades 6-9 level.

·      Chris Jordan - Running The Numbers: Portraits of Mass Consumption

·      How wolves change rivers

·      The Life of a Plastic Bag

·      Group of Seven Art

·      Trash Island

·      Sign Up for Free with ESRI to get your students mapping their learning and developing Geographic Literacy. http://esri.ca/en/content/gis-classroom