Cayuga Community College students Gary Stell and Eric Strahley recently made a visit to Kenney Middle School's technology education program. The guest speakers were there to share their insights into an exciting new field of study called Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Garmin Corporation, a large company that manufactures navigation and communications equipment, says “GIS technology is one of the hottest new tools in education and research and is one of the fastest growing high-tech careers for students today.”

Both students provided an overview of CCC's program, providing insights of what the college courses are about, possible career opportunities and internships available. Strahley is currently an intern with The Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology, which is associated with NASA's Regional Application Center for the northeast. One project Strahley is involved in is looking at the Owasco watershed's environmental concerns.

Stell displayed his research project that he is conducting using GIS to help organize and sort data. The project's focus is looking at milkweed habits around the world for Monarch butterflies. For part of the presentation, students used a popular software package used around the world from ESRI, called ArcGIS-ArcMap, to sort data of milkweed species found just in Oswego County.

Technology teacher, Robert Jones was inspired to bring this new technology to his classroom through a training this past summer at the James Madison University in Virginia. As part of this project, the Hannibal School District received a site license for a software package that is the current industry standard for GIS. The focus of the two-week workshop was how to use technology to solve problems in our world and to develop activities for rural middle schools students.

Upon returning, Jones received two supporting grants to begin his work in developing a program. The two organizations that helped him are the New York State Technology Education Association and Energy Corporation. CCC also provided additional training for other teachers interested in GIS technology to support their curriculum.

The following three goals have been set for his technology students.

The first is to teach students how to use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

The second is to have students work in teams to use the GPS and GIS to help create waypoints, tracks and possible geocache locations on the school grounds or public areas within the community. Students will use ESRI ArcGIS software to interface waypoints with orthoimagary to help make the final selection of possible site locations. Students will also explore geocaching Web sites to determine possible hiding locations, how geocaching works and to gain a better understanding of this adventurous activity.

Lastly, the third goal will be to design three geocach containers and maintain them. The geocaches will contain items that will be made by students in a mass production setting. This will hopefully reflect and communicate current technology education to the general public and the community.

Global Positioning Systems, Geographic Information Systems and geocaching are new activities that will enable students at the Kenney Middle School to develop spatial thinking, computer skills, teamwork, problem solving and design skills related to real-world applications. These new technologies and possible career opportunities provide students with insights into the ever-changing technological world.