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Announcing the Winners of the 2025 My California GIS Mapping Showcase and Competition

California students used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to address complex issues affecting the state

The California Geographic Alliance is proud to share the work of incredible students from across the state who are the recipient of awards for their submissions to this ninth annual iteration of this competition. The competition encourages middle (4th-8th grade) and high school (9th-12th grade) students to harness the power of Geographic Information Systems. Students choose an issue, story, or event within the state to examine in depth. They use ArcGIS Online to access geographic data and analysis tools and then produce a StoryMap that shares their results and insights. 

The competition is coordinated by Dr. Waverly Ray, Professor of Geography at San Diego Mesa College. Dr. Ming-Hsiang Tsou, Professor of Geography at San Diego State University serves as head judge for the competition.

9th-12th Grade Division

The selection of a winning project was exceedingly difficult this year. Awards are being presented to five outstanding projects, and at least one member of our panel of four judges gave three different projects the highest score. Each project was thoughtful, highly relevant, and well-executed. Congratulations to all the students and their teachers and support networks. Each student will receive a certificate from the CGA and a cash award of $50.

The image shows a map of California with shades of green indicating relative levels of biodiversity and red dots representing presence of invasive species.

1st PLACEFlora Yuan, Westlake High School, Westlake Village
Beyond the Beacon – How Ecological Recovery at Piedras Blancas Light Station Supports Biodiversity and Climate Adaptation

2nd PLACE – Alfred Isagoli and Jayden Tanner (with Luke Scherrer), Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School, Glendale
Sunny Lots“Problem: Current energy usage produces excessive greenhouse gases. Solution: Find suitable parking lots for solar panel installation to decrease greenhouse gases!”

3rd PLACEAlondra Arista and Angelina Joby (with Emahlee Medina), Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School, Glendale
Using GIS to Identify Industrial Polluters – Exposing illegal dumping in L.A. County storm drains.

4th PLACE – Kevin Abbe, Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School, Glendale
Solving Wi-Fi Challenges with GIS Tools – “This project aims to assess Wi-Fi coverage at Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School and propose data-driven solutions for improving network reliability.”

5th PLACE – Austin Zhang, Del Norte High School, San Diego
Smart Park Management: A Drone-Based AI Solution for BMPark“How can we leverage technology to improve vegetation health monitoring and wildfire risk mitigation at state/national parks?”

4th-8th Grade Division

A special thank you goes out to the educators who get students in elementary and middle school working with GIS and conducting geographic inquiries. These students will have many years ahead to explore what they learned while completing their projects. In an interesting geographic coincidence, this year’s entries from the younger students tended to come from further north in the state than the entries in the higher grades. Way to go NorCal youth! 

The image shows a map of California. A line down the center of the map splits two different map layers showing information about Native American territories.1st PLACE – Tyler Shekou, Ross School, Ross
Broken Promises – Mapping the secret treaties and broken promises to California’s Indigenous Nations.

2nd PLACE – Sarah Truong and Ava Monroe Layag, Vinewood Elementary, Lodi
How Climate Change Affects California’s Agriculture “With rising temperatures, droughts, changing weather events– climate change is having a major impact on agriculture in California.”

3rd PLACE – Petey Eichleay and Wesley Abramo, Ross School, Ross
Violent Crime Rate in California Cities – “In this storymap we will be looking into the crime rates in California cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and San Bernardino.”

4th PLACE – Penelope Byrd, Vinewood Elementary, Lodi
California Redwood Trees – “After the gold rush, only 5% of the original growth remained.”

5th PLACE – Teddy Weinstein and Torben Vilhauer, Ross School, Ross
The Evolution of the Tech Industry – History of the Semiconductor

Celebrate California Biodiversity Day by Documenting Biodiversity in Your Spaces, Sept. 4-12

To recognize California Biodiversity Day , the California Geographic Alliance is organizing students across the state to become Biodiversity Explorers and Mappers. In the interest of developing environmental literacy and stewardship in all young people, this will be an opportunity for close observation and appreciation of the amazing diversity of organisms present in our state, which is a global biodiversity hotspot.

Continue reading Celebrate California Biodiversity Day by Documenting Biodiversity in Your Spaces, Sept. 4-12

Student Atlas of California Completely Updated and Available Now Online

We are happy to announce the availability of a completely updated and improved second edition of our popular student atlas of California!

Image shows front cover of student atlas titled California: A Changing State, second edition. Cover shows map of California with icons representing recognizable features of the state.
Image shows front cover of student atlas titled California: A Changing State, second edition. Cover shows map of California with icons representing recognizable features of the state.

Continue reading Student Atlas of California Completely Updated and Available Now Online

Encountering California Biodiversity Close to Home

California has pledged to make all students environmentally and climate change literate. Outdoor education, fieldwork, and deeper connections with place need to be built into K-12 education to make that happen.

As part of this year’s recognition of California Biodiversity Day (September 7, 2020), the California Geographic Alliance is organizing students across the state to become Biodiversity Explorers and Mappers. In the interest of developing environmental literacy and stewardship in all young people, this will be an opportunity for close observation and appreciation of the amazing diversity of organisms present in our state, which is a global biodiversity hotspot. Using the citizen science platform iNaturalist, students will document plants, animals, insects, and other organisms that they observe in their yards, school grounds, or local parks and open spaces. In addition to the individual observations contributing to science, the collective efforts of students will be shared in a unique map using online mapping software (ArcGIS Online) that is freely available to all schools.

Optional informational webinar on 9/3 at 3:45 p.m.

Project links:
iNaturalist project page (and umbrella project for California Biodiversity Day 2020)
Media release
Instructions for participating
Flyer for project and 9/3 webinar
California biodiversity collage

Teaching with Geospatial Technology

Since 2017, the CGA has enjoyed an excellent partnership with Dr. Katsuhiko Oda of the Spatial Sciences Institute at University of Southern California.  Dr. Oda has been successful is securing funds to support research on the effectiveness of professional development focused on geospatial technology, and this creates opportunities to provide high quality professional development to California’s teachers.  CGA’s experience providing PD matches perfectly with Dr. Oda’s research and teaching interests.  Work carried out during the 2017-18 school year was presented at the GIS-Pro / CalGIS Conference in Fall 2018.  This year, a grant from Esri, the world’s leading provider of GIS software, provided support for further work. Continue reading Teaching with Geospatial Technology

3 Fun Ways to Accelerate Geographic Learning for Your Students

The 2018-19 school year has barely started, yet here come the holidays, ready or not!  We hope it has a wonderful Fall of geographic learning and exploring for educators, students, and all residents of California.  The CGA continues to be the one organization in the state focused on promoting and supporting geography education in K-12 schools as well as in after school and informal learning settings.  This update is a quick orientation to opportunities for schools, students, and educator, and we have partnership news to share as well, so please read on.

Join 10,000 Schools and Participate in this Year’s National Geographic GeoBee!
Organizing a GeoBee at your school can be a fun way to promote geographic awareness and a global mindset.  Registration for the 2018-2019 school year is now open. Any paid school employee can register their school for the National Geographic GeoBee. The registration fee is $120. Schools needing financial support can complete a Registration Discount Request form. Read the full list of rules here. Continue reading 3 Fun Ways to Accelerate Geographic Learning for Your Students

Geography and the H-SS Framework

CGA is Participating in the Statewide Community of Practice for the Content, Literacy, Inquiry, and Citizenship (CLIC) Project (AKA H-SS Framework Rollout 2.0)

As part of the first day of the proceeding, CGA Director Tom Herman gave a short presentation on content knowledge in geography.  To access the slides used in the presentation, click here.  Please consider including geography and the CGA in Regional Communities of Practice and district Professional Development plans.

Sweetwater Union High School District Uses World Geography and Global Issues Course as Launching Pad for Civic Action

The CGA has an ongoing partnership with SUHSD and ISTEPCalifornia Global Education Project to support the district’s World Geography and Global Issues Course and use it to develop new and innovative ideas for inquiry-based instruction and student engagement.  The course has incorporated a year-ending action research project, and this year the work of students was showcased in the first ever Student Conference/Showcase on Issues of Personal, Local, & Global Significance.  The event was the brainchild of teachers Kelly Leon and Gina Vattuone, and both the CGA and CGEP stepped forward to help secure speakers, provide refreshments, and offer critical feedback to the students presenting their research.

Sign welcomes people to Sweetwater School District's First Student Conference on Issues of Personal, Local, & Global Significance at San Ysidro High School on May 12, 2018.
Event sign reflects district’s partnership with CGA and ISTEP/CGEP.

Continue reading Sweetwater Union High School District Uses World Geography and Global Issues Course as Launching Pad for Civic Action

Perceptions & Knowledge of Geography on an American College Campus

As part of an upper-division Qualitative Research Methods in Geography class at San Diego State University in Fall 2017, students  under the guidance of Dr. Kate Swanson researched, surveyed and interviewed geography majors and future social studies teachers to measure students’ basic geographic knowledge and determine how they perceive geography’s value as a discipline.   In releasing the report Perceptions & Knowledge of Geography on an American College Campus, Dr. Swanson wrote the following:
“To our surprise, we discovered that interest in and enthusiasm for geography education is high. As stated by one of our interviewees, ‘I just wish that as a teacher, I would have more understanding of geography.’ In our report, we suggest that there may be a window of opportunity to expand geography education, particularly in K-12 schools.
In the report, we present our findings, along with a series of recommendations for incorporating more geography into our educational curriculum. Our main recommendations are as follows:
– Actively promote geography’s interdisciplinary approach as a strength;
– Promote more study abroad opportunities in geography;
– Host more geography awareness events;
– Create a university level ‘Geography for Educators’ course;
– Support moves to bring geography and geospatial technologies into K-12 schools;
– Rebrand geography by highlighting its relevance to today’s global problems;
– Promote tools and technologies that enhance geographic education and spatial learning;
Given our findings, we believe that teacher education in geography is especially important. American teachers recognize the value of our discipline, yet they have little experience with geography education.
Please feel free to share this report widely. I want to reiterate that this report was researched, written and designed by seniors at SDSU!”