Duke TIP Students Learn Spatial Thinking And Problem Solving Skills At Geospatial Analytics Workshops

Approximately 45 Sixth grade participants in the Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP) recently attended workshops at the Center’s Geovisualization Lab where they learned spatial thinking and problem solving skills through interactive demonstrations of Tangible Landscape, the Simulation Table, Immersive Virtual Environments, and instructor-facilitated classroom exercises.

By all accounts, the experience left a wonderful impression on these talented children.  Mary Anderson, instructor and curriculum developer for Duke TIP, summed up the student experience nicely with the following feedback:

“Most students had never heard of GIS. This field trip afforded us the chance to have the students use real tools and work with real data in a manner impossible to replicate in our regular classroom. After the field trip, the students universally expressed enthusiasm about everything they had experienced. A number of students expressed specific interest in attending NC State for the purpose of exploring geospatial analytics further.”

She went on to say:

“I appreciate the generosity of NC State, the Center for Geospatial Analytics, and most particularly the presenters this summer in sharing these tools with students who will hopefully become the next generation of researchers using them.”

This certainly bodes well for geospatial analytics at NC State and future public science engagement opportunities for Duke TIP students.