What is the BC Urban Tree Project?
As the world becomes ever more monitored, mapped, and surveyed, students have the opportunity as never before to use the same tools as scientists . One tool essential for analyzing environmental and social issues is a Geographic Information System (GIS). GIS allows the user not just to create computerized maps, but also to analyze patterns, linkages, and trends that exist in both the natural and social sciences domains. In fact, GIS is now becoming widely used across a range of disciplines. Oceanographers, geologists, geographers, seismologists, climatologists, biologists, chemists, zoologists, and other scientists regularly use GIS to help them make decisions about the planet. So the question becomes how to tap into this powerful tool for teaching and learning?
The urban tree project capitalizes upon the increased recognition that city trees have significant positive ecological, social, and economic impacts (McPherson et al., 1997) and the computational modeling tools. The urban street tree project is designed to engage students in:
- Investigating questions related to the ecological and economic of trees in their city
- Develop and ask their own research question
- The use of technology to answer scientific questions
- Conduct a scientific analysis using data
- Use their own data to draw conclusions and make recommendations
View movie b the program (8M, 11 minutes, .swf)