In this paper, we examine the conceptual understanding and experiences that students in German secondary schools have of boundaries. For our research we conducted qualitative interviews and surveys (interviews n=20; surveys n=21) with children (aged 14-17) born both in Germany and with refugee backgrounds. We asked for the children's conceptual…

Ever want to take a quick, deep-dive into a map found in students' textbooks? Ever want to use a web-based map to bring that static, print map to life? Maybe the map would be better with interactive or near real-time data. This article discusses the new Earth Science GeoInquiries! Earth Science GeoInquiries from Esri are instructional resources…

Aerial imagery has a great capacity to engage and maintain student interest while providing a contextual setting to strengthen their ability to reason proportionally. Free, on-demand, high-resolution, large-scale aerial photography provides both a bird's eye view of the world and a new perspective on one's own community. This article presents an…

In last month's column, the authors examined the different kinds of maps that exist in everyday life. In this month's column, they experience, through simulation, the skills that are required of a cartographer. A cartographer is a person who practices the art of making maps. Cartographers' maps were often unique, visual representations of data.…

Learning science includes learning to argue with "inscriptions": images used to symbolize information persuasively. This study examined sixth-graders learning to invest inscriptions with representational status, in a geographic information system (GIS)-based science investigation. Learning to reason with inscriptions was studied in emergent…