Events

My California GIS Mapping Showcase and Competition (9th Annual)

Image including CGA logo and title of contest: "My California GIS Mapping SHowcase and Competition for 4th-12th grades"Register now for the 2024-25 competition.

The 9th Annual “My California GIS Mapping Showcase and 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. Continue reading My California GIS Mapping Showcase and Competition (9th Annual) →

Instructional Resources

Explore Data About Your Place in the World Using Geography and GIS

Get to know your community better. Studying the people and the environment in the place where you live has numerous benefits.

  • A local scale inquiry builds on experience and insights that you are already accumulating through your everyday lived experiences.
  • You can take advantage of opportunities for experiential learning and develop your skills through direct observation and interaction.
  • You can connect learning to civic action and find ways to contribute to your community based on what you are learning.

These are two tools designed to help you access, collect, and learn from information about your local area. These can help you better understand the place where you live and study. They can also help you find ways to connect with and contribute to your community.

  • Community Environmental Justice Screening Tool (PDF)
  • 2020 US Census Community Demographic Data Collection Sheets (PDF)
Events, Professional Development

Environmental Justice for California Communities: An Interdisciplinary Workshop Series for Secondary Teachers

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This is an exciting Professional Learning program presented by the California Environmental Literacy Initiative, several California Subject Matter Projects, and the California Geographic Alliance. We are excited to support a cohort of teachers to become leaders in using an exciting new resource for place-based environmental learning and action.

In the 3-part series, teachers will get experience with classroom-ready resources and will learn how they and their students can use geospatial tools to develop their own inquiries. The CHELA (California’s Hub for Environmental Learning and Action) website helps educators, students, and collaborators:

  • use powerful GIS mapping tools to access current data and visualize, understand, and analyze important issues in a way that centers their own communities and concerns, wherever in the state they may live;
  • follow their interests and hone their own questions across a broad range of topics related to the environment, sustainability, and environmental justice; and
  • share their stories of environmental learning, action, and advocacy.

Continue reading Environmental Justice for California Communities: An Interdisciplinary Workshop Series for Secondary Teachers →

Events, Professional Development, Uncategorized

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 →

Uncategorized

SDSU Geography Class Examines Impact of COVID-19 on Campus Community

Students in San Diego State University’s Geography Department‘s course on Qualitative Methods in Geography (taught by Dr. Kate Swanson) worked together to produce this excellent StoryMap that examines the impact of COVID-19 on the SDSU community.

This is information and perspective that you won’t get anywhere else, and geography helps pull it all together. Congrats to Dr. Swanson and the whole team!

From Dr. Swanson: “Overall, our findings pull from 458 student surveys, 131 faculty surveys, as well as 24 interviews with students and faculty. The StoryMap integrates graphics, recordings, maps, office space photos, and compelling first-hand testimony to uncover how students and faculty are coping. Key sections include: student financial report; housing, food security and education impacts; impacts of online learning on student well-being; and impacts of online learning on faculty well-being. We conclude with a series of recommendations. I’ve attached a few figures to highlight some of our findings.

Please share widely! My students are really excited to share their impressive work. We hope that these findings help uncover further ways to support students and faculty during these difficult times.

A special shout-out to Ana-Felix Ibarra who put the StoryMap together! It’s beautiful!“

This image shows the professor and students in the Qualitative Methods in Geography course at SDSU while engaged in a Zoom call.
Uncategorized

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 →

Uncategorized

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

Uncategorized

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 →