Marsha Alibrandi

Integrating GIS in the Middle School Curriculum: Impacts on Diverse Students' Standardized Test Scores.

This case study conducted with 1,425 middle school students in Palm Beach County, Florida, included a treatment group receiving GIS instruction (256) and a control group without GIS instruction (1,169). Quantitative analyses on standardized test scores indicated that inclusion of GIS in middle school curriculum had a significant effect on student achievement on both high stakes Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) reading scores and on final course grades in science and social studies. The most significant increases were found among the English language learners (ELLs).

Integrating GIS and Other Geospatial Technologies in Middle Schools

This chapter describes theory, research and practice specific to middle school geospatial technology integration. From projects implemented in the late 1990s to the present, a variety of settings, project foci, and applications are reviewed. The unique pedagogical and curricular advantages and constraints on middle school geospatial technology integration situate geospatial thinking and learning in the young adolescent developmental context. The chapter presents evidence that middle school is an extremely age-appropriate opportunity for students to apply geospatial thinking and skills, generate new data, and develop a cognitive foundation for incorporating ever-expanding geospatial technologies and opportunities. From both reviewed and meta-analyses and specific applied research findings, we discuss successful projects from a variety of national settings and curricula. The adolescent developmental perspective is consistent with the theoretical statement that geographic practice is ontogenetic. This is congruent with the unique developmental advantages to introducing geospatial technologies across the middle school curriculum, beyond geography to integrated thematic settings. Integrating that practice with the developmentally appropriate activities of middle school students has yielded, in our findings and others’ far-reaching results.