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6 Reasons Why You Should Get Involved in GIS Day, 2017

GIS Day is a great time to highlight the importance of maps, geographic information systems and the importance of “where” with your students and staff. It is also an opportunity to invite a GIS Ambassador to share their experience with your students. This year it was officially celebrated around the world on Wednesday, November 16th. Find out what Canadian students, professionals and educators did to celebrate this special day in support of K-12 education, and discover the 6 reasons you should get involved next year.

GIS Day was officially celebrated on Wednesday, November 16th, but many events will be held after that date. As usual, the K-12 group was busy facilitating GIS Day workshops, connecting GIS Ambassadors with K-12 school events, spreading the joy of GIS and preparing relevant GIS Day resources.

The Education and Research group celebrated GIS Day with some well-deserved cake on November 16, 2016.

The 2016 GIS Day events included grades 7-12 students. They were given opportunities to learn about the importance of maps and GIS, to discover interesting story maps that cover various topics and to do hands-on activities in ArcGIS Online.

Explore our story map that highlights some of the K-12 GIS Day events that have happened across the country, so far.

If you did not get involved in a GIS Day event this year, here is 6 reasons why you should in 2017.

  1. Discover the many benefits of integrating GIS into your teaching
  2. Request a GIS Ambassador to visit your school and share their GIS experience with your students
  3. Students can learn about GIS career options and different applications of GIS in the real world
  4. Students can do a hands-on learning activity on GIS Day
  5. Esri Canada resources and support are available for your planned GIS Day event and throughout the year
  6. Your GIS Day event can be held on any day in 2017.

Contact us at k12@esri.ca if you have any questions and would like to learn how you can get involved in a GIS Day event next year.

About the Author

Angela Alexander is a K-12 Education Specialist in the Esri Canada Education and Research group. She has over 15 years of experience working with educators across Canada. Angela focuses on producing geographic information system (GIS) and curriculum-specific resources, and conducting and creating custom workshops for educators. She manages the GIS Ambassador Program and is the Technical Chair for the annual Skills Ontario GIS competition. Angela also writes monthly posts for the Esri Canada Education and Research blog, highlighting K-12 educators and partners, new ArcGIS resources and GIS-related events.

Profile Photo of Angela Alexander