GIS Enhanced Lessons for the History Classroom

Chris BuninDirector of Teaching Fellows ProgramThe “Virginia Experiment” TAH Grant

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom The Virginia Experiment

Teaching American History Grant• School Divisions – Albemarle Co., Charlottesville, Greene Co.,

Madison Co. and Orange Co.

• Partners – The Virginia Center for Digital History, The Polis Center (IUPUI), American Civil War Center, Virginia Council on Indians, Miller Center for Public Affairs, Library of Congress, James Madison’s Montpelier, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Virginia Geographic Alliance, and many others

Querying the Reach of Jim Crow

Scott MaceCharlottesville City Schools

DEMO #1

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom

Every event has both a temporal and spatial tag.

In history, we usually know when something happened with a high degree of certainty. We may have less precise knowledge of where it happened.

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom

In American history:

• When does location matter?• Distance? Direction?• Neighborhood? Region? Territory?• Scale?

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom Digital Mapping and History

An Historical Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer-based tool and set of methods designed to examine spatial influence as it relates to the past.

It combines history and geography.

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom Strengths of GIS

• Integrates data by location, regardless of format• Visualizes information, most often in the form of a

map• Allows analysis of spatial data and associated

attributes

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom

Supports the analysis of spatial concepts

Distance

Location

Connectivity

Adjacency

Direction

10 Miles

X,YX,Y

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom Classroom Strengths

• Interactive and Dynamic (It is not, “what you see is what you get”)

• “Democratizes” Maps/Supports the SOL• Supports Differentiation • Facilitates Higher Order Thinking • Helps students “understand” maps• Facilitates the visualization of past events and

episodes

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom

You can integrate other information into your GIS• Photography• Scanned Images• Voice• Video

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom Limitations and challenges

• Limited by data sets.• Does not necessarily “prove” anything• Initial learning curve

Historical Mapping in the

Classroom Data set limitations

• Vast amounts of GIS data have been developed over the last few years. Much of this data is free or very inexpensive.

• But… very little historical data exists compared to other types of GIS data.

From Jamestowne to the Fall Line and Beyond:America’s First Counties

The American Civil War

Questions?