Growing up in the country, my three older brothers introduced me to two mind-blowing tools: binoculars and a magnifying glass. From first grasp of each, the world was never the same. Distant birds were intricately detailed, and even the tiniest of ants were marvelously sculpted. Size and scale became essential concepts for comprehending the world, and tools facilitated this.
A steady progression of wood block puzzles, globes, solar system mobiles, paper maps, atlases, and other books helped me slowly assemble a framework of places and spaces, regions of crisp or hazy nature, features on the land and their characteristics. Again, a bank of tools facilitated this, right through college.
It was not until the arrival of digital tools midway into my teaching career that the means by which to explore any given topic or place exploded. But after just one titanic evolution of my digital tools over a two-year span, I realized that, while knowing the specifics of any one tool was important, the essential elements for my students would be (a) learning to recognize the inherent capacities of any given tool, (b) understanding that mixing and matching tools yields logarithmic options, and (c) since tools evolve faster than mastery, persistence and attending to task matter.
Tools help us accomplish tasks, great and small. The sooner we work with tools that provide a different but fathomable view of our world, the more we can cope with its galactic and fractal complexity. Parents and teachers ask me “What tools do my kids need? When should they start?” I reply “They need tools which help them grasp their world, one tool after another, as soon as they start asking questions.” And they need to build over time those three concepts above — design, compounding, and evolution.
ArcGIS Online can be as simple as an aerial image of the school yard viewed on a smartphone held by a first grader … and there is no upper limit. With the challenges facing us individually, as a community, and as a planet, we need students to build their grasp of the world, learn to identify and analyze problems, and generate and present ideas. Anyone can start with one click at ArcGIS.com, and any US K12 school can have a powerful and flexible school account for free at esri.com/connected.
Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Education Manager
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A steady progression of wood block puzzles, globes, solar system mobiles, paper maps, atlases, and other books helped me slowly assemble a framework of places and spaces, regions of crisp or hazy nature, features on the land and their characteristics. Again, a bank of tools facilitated this, right through college.
It was not until the arrival of digital tools midway into my teaching career that the means by which to explore any given topic or place exploded. But after just one titanic evolution of my digital tools over a two-year span, I realized that, while knowing the specifics of any one tool was important, the essential elements for my students would be (a) learning to recognize the inherent capacities of any given tool, (b) understanding that mixing and matching tools yields logarithmic options, and (c) since tools evolve faster than mastery, persistence and attending to task matter.
Tools help us accomplish tasks, great and small. The sooner we work with tools that provide a different but fathomable view of our world, the more we can cope with its galactic and fractal complexity. Parents and teachers ask me “What tools do my kids need? When should they start?” I reply “They need tools which help them grasp their world, one tool after another, as soon as they start asking questions.” And they need to build over time those three concepts above — design, compounding, and evolution.
ArcGIS Online can be as simple as an aerial image of the school yard viewed on a smartphone held by a first grader … and there is no upper limit. With the challenges facing us individually, as a community, and as a planet, we need students to build their grasp of the world, learn to identify and analyze problems, and generate and present ideas. Anyone can start with one click at ArcGIS.com, and any US K12 school can have a powerful and flexible school account for free at esri.com/connected.
Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Education Manager
أكثر...