Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, Edwardsville High School (EHS) students solved complex spatial problems and presented their findings to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Geography and other interested faculty, students and administrators on Friday, May 4.
From September 2017 through April 2018, approximately 30 students from EHS teacher Kevin Paur’s Advanced Placement Human Geography classes worked with Randall Pearson, PhD, professor in the Department of Geography, and Pearson’s staff at the department’s Laboratory of Spatial Analysis (LASA).
The final poster presentation on campus marked the fifth consecutive year that Pearson has worked with EHS to offer the intricate geography course. During the school year, LASA staff members Zach Schleicher and Josh Prisolas met with selected high school students twice a month. High school students also visited the SIUE campus several times to work on assignments.
“We present the students with a problem to solve in the counties of St. Clair and Madison,” said Pearson. “They have to come up with a company name, write a proposal stating the problem, and how they would solve it, and give a budget cost.
In response of making improvements in St. Clair and Madison counties, one team of students proposed building an amusement park. Maya Noonan, Tymei Dappert and Zak Francis listed their objective: “There is a wide variety of improvements that can be made throughout the many counties of Illinois,” the students wrote. “For this project, we will be discovering the most convenient and profitable location to build an amusement park. Currently, there are no amusement parks easily accessible to a majority of St. Clair or Madison County residents.”
“The students had to use methodology and list the top three solutions of where they would put their facility,” said Pearson. “This project made them think about business, technology, geography and working in a group. There were no winners, but everyone had to give a final poster presentation.”
The Apex Company, comprised of EHS students Kennison Adams, Lorie Cashdollar, Aidan Delgado and Katelyn Singh, proposed to find the best site for a solar panel field and wind farm to address the issue of providing alternative, renewable energy.
“Through extensive analysis of the layout of the land, acreage and proximity to power grids, and a large population of people,” wrote the Apex team, “we have determined that site one, at the intersection of Ludwig and Meffort roads, possesses optimal conditions to accommodate a solar/wind farm.”
“With the class and project experience, the students not only learned how to use the GIS technology,” said Paur, “but they also learned to think spatially and critically.”
“The collaboration also benefits us,” added Pearson. “The faculty get a chance to see these students’ energy and become revitalized. Our students become more adept in their field when they work with the high school students, and the high school students get to experience what college will be like.”
“This work and course goes above and beyond what an AP course would do. No one else is doing this in the country,” Pearson continued. “This is truly symbiosis, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
Photo:
Two Edwardsville High School students explain their geography site project during final poster presentations at SIUE.