Esri is committed to supporting students and educators amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) college and university closures. As part of our continued efforts, Esri announced on March 30, 2020, that we will provide student software licensing at no cost until August 31, 2020, through Learn ArcGIS. Student software licensing through Learn ArcGIS includes access to ArcGIS Online and over 20 apps such as ArcGIS Pro, along with a library of lessons that are available in seven languages. To get started, have your students visit the Learn ArcGIS website and fill out the form to become a member and request software.

For more complete information view PDF

Classroom Resources:

National Geographic Education Resource Library contains thousands of items like photographs, lessons, units, videos, articles, and much more that can be filtered by keyword, grade level, content type, or subject.  You can also create a free account so that you can save your searches.

We have curated a special collection to support educators, parents, and caregivers called Learn at Home as we all navigate this unprecedented time. There are seven collections and new ones will be added weekly.  These materials are categorized by age group as well as topic areas. Some of these experiences also encourage students to get offline and safely explore the outside world, such as in their backyard, their own home, or a city block. Not all students will have the ability to go outside right now, due to stay-at-home orders, so we’re trying to provide a range of materials, including those that are tech-focused and those that are low- or no-tech to give educators and families the freedom to teach and explore in multiple ways.

One of our Education Fellows, Asheley Lamb-Sinclair, launched a new resource  for educators called The Real Time Curriculum Project.    This new and really unique platform consists of a series of “minute projects,” each focused on real-time, relevant current events. The first piece is focused on the coronavirus.

#TeacherStrong:  Educators have been organizing themselves into a #TeacherStrong movement to help them find support and resources they need.  NatGeo Education fellow, Dwayne Reed is now hosting a weekly Twitter chat under #TeacherStrong each Sunday evening at 8:00pmEDT.  There are also lots of online conversations happening under this hashtag so check it out on social channels. 3/30 Twitter chat focused on the topic:   Learning at home with low-tech/no-tech.

Student Experiences

We have launched a DAILY Explorer Classroom event on YouTube. This will appear every weekday for the foreseeable future.  Anyone can register here. Explore Classroom is an opportunity to connect young people with scientists, researchers, storytellers and other real-world role models/problem-solvers as they go out in the field, and helps students develop an explorer’s mindset. You will find parent guides to support each event with an educator guide coming soon.

The VGA GIS team shared a series of webinars this week to support remote teaching and learning of history and geography via ArcGIS Online:

• Teaching VA Studies with ArcGIS online: VA Studies 

• Teaching US History (the Cold War) with ArcGIS online: Teaching the Cold War

• Teaching the Cold War with ArcGIS online, Primary Sources / LOC: Library of Congress: Placing Primary Sources 

Mapping Hour is a free set of 20 informal one-hour instructional videos about ArcGIS Online for parents and teachers, with chunks that scaffold concepts and skills for using ArcGIS Online in K12 instruction. The videos take users from an initial experience with GIS to integrating tools for an involved project. The website will present the full series of 20 videos. It is now open with the trailer and first five videos in the series.

https://esriurl.com/mappinghour

Reuters has published several maps, graphs and charts tracing the growth in number of coronavirus cases in the US and across the globe. Go to: https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-HEALTH-MAP/0100B59S39E/index.html

The 2020 Delegation of APHG teachers will depart for South Korea on June 24 on the trans-Pacific flight in the afternoon or evening for a late afternoon or evening arrival on June 25 in Seoul-Inchon International Airport. The return departure to the U.S. will be on July 2 or earlier. We are working on funding for a field study extension, but a lack of funding will move the departure closer to June 30. The dates will be confirmed prior to ticketing. It is possible to arrive early or remain in South Korea longer at the delegate’s own expense. Airfare, hotel, most meals, and most local transportation is provided by the South Korean hosts during the program of activities. APHG teachers are given priority to participate in the U.S. Delegation. Other high school geography teachers may also apply. The program is designed to provide an international experience that will expand your world view, and especially your knowledge of the Korean Peninsula. If you are an APHG teacher and interested, please contact Joseph Stoltman (stoltman@wmich.edu) to receive an application.

Four $3000 Scholarships for Virginia teachers are available. Please consult the NCGE site for details and an on-line application. VGA will coordinate the acceptance process with GeoCamp 2020 co-leader Professor Ellen Foster.

 Applications due February 15, 2020

Applications and program description at: https://ncge.org/programs/geocamp-iceland/

VGA  contact person: Bob Morrill at morrill@vt.edu

The following webinars will be offered in November and early December:

Judith Painter and colleague Sarah Gerrol (engineering and Tech teacher at Andrew Lewis Middle School in Salem) received a Nat Geo Explorer Grant in August. The goal is to expose students to the outdoors through hiking, canoeing, fishing, collecting data and ending with either service learning or a Geo inquiry project.

Judith reports “We have started on our field trips and guest speakers with the NGS grant this week [Nov 4]. Over the last two days we took the students on a 4.5 mile hike and a 5.5 mile hike. You can follow along on Twitter and Instagram at @jpaintergeog   We found on these trips that we were right that many of our students do not go outside and really notice nature.  We had students asking about what types of trees we found, even pine, maple, and oak with acorns.  Students were mesmerized by spiders, caterpillars, insects, and even scat that we found.  Just taking the time to get the students to look has been amazing!

“Feel free to ask questions if you have any interest in replicating or writing a NGS Grant!!!”