"GIS Day is part of the National Geographic Society's Geography Action, a year-long initiative encompassing key educational achievements such as GIS Day and Geography Awareness Week... The National Geographic Society has sponsored Geography Awareness Week since 1987 to promote geographic literacy in schools, communities, and organizations, with a focus on the education of children..." GIS Day website

Here in Honolulu, HIGICC volunteers from federal, state, county and private sectors have hosted a GIS Day event at McCoy Pavilion each year for hundreds of 4th and 5th graders from a number of public and private schools on Oahu. The event included presentations, as well as hands-on and computer-based activities. On Maui a day-long, youth focused event is held at the mall featuring 10-15 groups providing booth activities.

This year HIGICC is re-evaluating the form and content of the local GIS Day events in an effort to reach more students and to provide teachers with effective and useful tools that support classroom instruction. Our volunteers are developing fun and educational activities with geography components to bolster existing 4th and 5th grade curricula in a variety of subjects including, of course, geography. Our goals are to reinforce:

1. map reading skills and comprehension;
2. an understanding of coordinate systems (in GIS and GPS);
3. the ability to link geographic features with data; and
4. the ability to recognize spatial patterns and relationships between data and features.

Some aspects of this development will be classroom-based, others will be hands-on, suitable for field trips or discovery-based activities. We are working with a number of teachers, administrators and activity coordinators to ensure that the result is a flexibile and meaningful resource for teachers, as well as a memorable educational experience for the kids.

If you are interested in either volunteering or having HIGICC visit your classroom, please contact Brian Loomis at Brian at hitushawaii dotcom.