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Student Learning in an Introductory GIS Course: Using a Project‐Based Approach
Author(s) -
Bowlick Forrest J.,
Bednarz Sarah W.,
Goldberg Daniel W.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
transactions in gis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.721
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9671
pISSN - 1361-1682
DOI - 10.1111/tgis.12146
Subject(s) - coursework , presentation (obstetrics) , class (philosophy) , geographic information system , graduate students , mathematics education , computer science , work (physics) , medical education , psychology , engineering , pedagogy , geography , cartography , medicine , mechanical engineering , artificial intelligence , radiology
Introductory courses in Geographic Information Science (GIS) expose students to the concepts and practices necessary for future academic and professional use of GIS tools. Traditional GIS courses balance lectures in the theories of GIS with pre‐built and pre‐packaged lab activities to learn the practices of GIS. This article presents a case study of an experimental introductory course in which students conducted novel, independent project‐based group research under the supervision of graduate or advanced undergraduate students enrolled in the course, culminating in a class presentation and publication quality paper. Surveys and interviews indicated that students reacted more positively to project‐based group research than to traditional activities. Students felt the projects better prepared them for ‘real world’ applications of GIS, and recommend project‐based group research in other GIS coursework. Additionally, our findings indicate that students appreciate interactions with peers of varying skill levels and experiences, as these broaden their capabilities to work with other GIS users.