Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
MLIT provides in-service teacher training to promote the educational use of
national geographic information, such as National Land Numerical Information,
26
Digital Japan,
27
and Base Map Information.
28
These have been implemented in four
prefectures, using Chizutaro, MANDARA, Google Earth, and QGIS to fi t the teaching
style, facilities, and budget of each prefecture. The exercises are based on mapping
disaster prevention around the school. The author and other GIS specialists participated
as lecturers, manual writers, and dataset developers. These manuals are available
online at “The GIS training program for primary, junior and high school teachers”
on the MLIT website.
A number of lessons were learned from these training workshops. First, a
majority of teacher questions, approximately 80 %, were attributable to their
lack of computer skills. For example, queries included how to double click,
where downloaded fi les can be saved, and how to unzip fi les. Second, only 10 %
of trained teachers used GIS in the classroom, and they required a tremendous
effort to prepare the datasets. Therefore, simpler ways to demonstrate and use
GIS are essential.
15.5
Conclusions
This chapter described the role of GIS specialists in supporting GIS use in schools.
These specialists assist schools in GIS selection that fi ts teaching styles, available
facilities, and budgets. They also provide training workshops.
The experiences point to some commonalities across regions in the teaching of
GIS: (1) Reading GIS maps is a higher priority than editing them; (2) delivering
datasets via web GIS is the easiest method, as long as the school internet can sup-
port the bandwidth; and (3) GIS training videos are an alternative to demonstrate
how to create GIS maps in a classroom without the internet.
References
Diercke C (2010) Diercke international atlas. Westermann Schulbuch, Braunschweig
Fujisawa City Education and Culture Center Social Studies Research Committee (2007) Kyouka
-ryouiki kenkyu: Atarashii chiki gakusyuu; shiminsei no ikusei; kyouiku GIS wo riyou shite
(The research of subjects and fi eld: new regional studies; the fostering of citizenship using
GIS). Fujisawa City, Fujisawa.
http://www.city.fujisawa.kanagawa.jp/kyobun-c/page100077.
shtml.
Accessed 31 July 2012
Fukuda T, Tani K (2003) Koukou chiri kyoiku ni okeru GIS riyou no kanousei (The GIS availability
in senior high school geography education). Saitama chiri (Saitama Geogr) 27:17-25
26
http://nlftp.mlit.go.jp/ksj-e/index.html
. Accessed 31 July 2012.
27
http://portal.cyberjapan.jp/site/mapuse/index.html
.
Accessed 31 July 2012. (J)
28
http://www.gsi.go.jp/kiban/
Accessed 31 July 2012. (J)
