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GIS in the Social Sciences: Tools for Undergraduate Courses in Anthropology

GIS in the Social Sciences: Tools for Undergraduate Courses in Anthropology. Diana Stuart Sinton, Ph.D. GIS Program Director, National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education. Teaching and Learning with GIS. Benefits Challenges Case study: African anthropology GIS at NITLE.

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GIS in the Social Sciences: Tools for Undergraduate Courses in Anthropology

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  1. GIS in the Social Sciences: Tools for Undergraduate Courses in Anthropology Diana Stuart Sinton, Ph.D. GIS Program Director, National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education

  2. Teaching and Learning with GIS • Benefits • Challenges • Case study: African anthropology • GIS at NITLE

  3. Why GIS? Material is inherently spatial – use GIS to organize, display, and analyze spatial data. Great technology for projects that are inter-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, and collaborative. Marketable skill that can expand work or grad school opportunities regardless of academic background. Connections between curriculum and “spatial learning.”

  4. Spatial Learning? Howard Gardner, Theory of Multiple Intelligences

  5. Spatial Learning and Geography Space Concepts and Relations: the Bases of Geographic Knowledge pattern, clustering, dispersion spatial association regions frames of reference location place-specific identity boundaries magnitude time density and distance decay distributions spatial hierarchies orientation & direction flow & diffusion modified from Golledge (2002) as described in Bednarz and Bednarz, 2004, Geography education: the glass is half-full and it’s getting fuller, The Professional Geographer 56: 22-27

  6. Spatial Learning and GIS Level of GIS Bloom’s Geographical Complexity Function Taxonomy Inquiry Generating new info Spatial analysis Data analysis Data Datum How Ought? What Impact? How / Why? Where? What? Layout, output Query, Select by Theme, GeoProcessing Chart / View / Query Theme / View / Attribute Table Attribute Evaluation Synthesis Analysis / Application Comprehension Knowledge adapted from West, 2003, Student attitudes and the impact of GIS on thinking skills and motivation, Journal of Geography 102: 267-274

  7. Why not GIS ? Just a tool, not a cure-all Steep learning curve initially – can require significant commitment of time to learn software well and reach the analysis stage Change in pedagogical style Investment of money (hardware, software, data, training) and time Garbage in, Garbage out

  8. Raw data versus

  9. . . . meaningful information “It’s not something you would see until you actually saw it.”

  10. Anthropology, Sociology, Linguistics: What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage?      a. soda (52.97%)     b. pop (25.08%)     c. coke (12.38%)     d. tonic (0.67%)     e. soft drink (5.89%)     f. lemonade (0.01%)     g. cocola (0.29%)     h. fizzy drink (0.14%)     i. dope (0.03%)     j. other (2.55%)      (10669 respondents) Harvard Linguistics Survey, http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/

  11. soda pop coke

  12. African Anthropology countries, 2002 vegetation habitats, 2002

  13. petroleum consumption per person, 2000 energy consumption per person, 2000

  14. male to female birth ratio, 2000 proportion of women with HIV/AIDS, 1999

  15. roads, 2000 malaria cases, 2002

  16. “Tribal Map of Africa” from Africa: Its People and Their Culture, G. P. Murdock, 1959

  17. Ethnic areas (c. 1959) versus National Boundaries (c. 1885 at BerlinConference, under direction of Otto von Bismark)

  18. spatial learning & geography GIS liberal arts education technology

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