Learning Endeavors hosting free virtual GIS event for Hawaiʻi students in grades 5-12

The Maui-based nonprofit Learning Endeavors will host a free virtual GIS Day event on Nov. 16 in celebration of Geography Awareness Week for schools on all the major Hawaiian Islands. 

The event features GIS professionals presenting live to students and educators about their work that uses GIS – Geographic Information Systems, also known as digital mapping software.  

Public, private and charter school teachers of any discipline — STEM, science, history, geography, health, economics or math — are encouraged to participate.  Teachers can sign up for their students to participate on the Learning Endeavors website: Learningendeavors.org/gis.

Presentations run from 9 a.m. to noon on GIS Day, Nov. 16. There will be prize giveaways after each presenter and geography trivia games.  Teachers log into the live, virtual event with a computer connected to their projector, screen and speakers, which also will connect the students with multiple classrooms across the islands.

“GIS allows us to visualize critical data and make better decisions in our communities and our world,” Learning Endeavors Executive Director Diana Papini Warren said. “We want to inspire students to consider GIS as a future STEM career.”

There is a conservation and climate science theme this year.

The schedule of GIS presentations:

• 9 – 9:25 a.m.: “Mapping Wetlands on Maui” By Robin Knox, Water Quality Consulting Inc.
• 9:30 – 9:55 a.m.: “Modeling Sea Level Rise in Hawaiʻi” By Diana Warren, Learning Endeavors
• 10 – 10:25 a.m.: “GIS Science in Seabird Conservation” By Jenni Learned, Maui Nui Seabird Recovery
• 10:30 – 10:55 a.m.: “Changing Islands & Imagery Analysis in the ArcGIS Living Atlas” By Katie Ornelas, Learning Endeavors
• 11:00 – 11:25 a.m.: “Understanding Groundwater & Salmon” By Karlee Liddy, UC Santa Cruz Graduate School
• 11:30 – 11:55 a.m.: “How We Use GIS to Save Forest Birds of Hawaiʻi” By Hilary Foster, Maui Forest Birds.  

Teachers who want to add the Learning Endeavors GIS Day event to their Celebration of Geography Awareness Week can sign up on the Learning Endeavors events page at learningendeavors.org/gis. For more information, call 808-793-3322 or email [email protected].