Education Tidbits

"Fairfax County Public Schools and Google Inc. are pairing up to create an educational initiative in advanced Google Earth applications."

Google will train Fairfax Virginia area educators to use Google Earth products. Teachers, in turn will then produce at least 24 curriculum packets (meeting state and federal ed guidelines) which will be distributed worldwide. Teachers will receive stipends as part of the $35,000 donation from Google.

- Fairfax Times

Terry Brase, associate professor of ag geospatial technology, and his team at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, IA, have built a program for students with designs on a career in agriculture technology. There's an interview with Brase about the two year program which features GIS, GPS and precision-focused career training.

- Precision Ag

Princeton University historian John Haldon, a leading authority on medieval Byzantine history is leading a project to make sense of a rural town via the Euchaita/Avkat Project in Turkey, near the current-day village of Beyozu.

One of the project's unusual aspects is that it has integrated GIS (geographical information system) technology and mapping right from the beginning of the research.

"We can basically reconstruct the medieval landscape, land-use patterns, communications network, hydrology" and other information into computer models, he said.

- NJ.com

Bowdoin College (Brunswick, ME) Environmental Studies students have been contributors to the Sagadahoc Regional Rural Resources Initiative (SRRRI), which is the outgrowth of region-wide interest in protecting the area's "rural resources" for four years. Students have done GIS needs assessments, mapping wildlife corridors, and provided maps to local communities. That made the program part of the project that was awarded the Association of Maine Planners: "Plan of the Year." 

- Bowdoin News