Greetings, Instructors!
Welcome to the repository for the “Geographic Information Systems I,” or GIS I, course within the MSDE CTE HSEP program. What follows are lesson plans and curriculum guides designed to provide you with the ability to teach any lesson within any unit of the course. The development team realizes that all instructors experience a great deal of student and classroom variance – it’s just part of the job! These lessons are designed to give instructors the autonomy to adapt each learning experience – and the learning environment itself – to fit their students’ needs. It’s our hope that the scope and sequence of these lessons can help you increase your students’ learning, and improve your own experience teaching, in meaningful ways. Please note the following:
- The lessons are designed to be useful to the instructor with minimal preparation. A complete readthrough is required, and the exploration of all resources is recommended.
- The language of any learning objects is designed to be adaptable to your individual school system’s requirements.
- The timing and pacing of the lesson are not designed to fit into a specific timeframe. Some lessons may take multiple class periods, depending on the background knowledge and capabilities of the students.
- Wherever possible, the lessons have been designed to be culturally inclusive. Please make all adaptation and adjustments necessary and appropriate to meet the needs of the students.
- Engagement activities are not included because they are dependent on the students’ experiences and prior learning.
- All assessments are at the instructor’s discretion. Activities referenced in the lesson plans are appropriate for formative assessments. Summative assessments are not included with these lessons.
With that all said, let’s get to the resources!
Jump to Unit: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6
Unit 1
Lesson 1 – Introduction to GIS
Lesson 2 – Understanding Geographic/Geospatial Data
Lesson 3 – Applications of GIS
Lesson 4 – Where is GIS Used?
Lesson 5 – GIS Careers, Education, and Certification
Lesson 6 – GIS for Homeland Security
Unit 2
Lesson 1 – Intro to Spatial Data
Lesson 2 – Volunteered Geographic Information
Lesson 3 – Working with OpenStreetMap
Lesson 4 – Intro to ArcGIS Online
Lesson 5 – Working with ArcGIS Online
Lesson 6 – Working with Story Maps
Unit 3
Lesson 1 – GIS Software & Tools
Lesson 2 – Intro to Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop
Lesson 3 – Intro to ArcMap
Lesson 4 – Working with Data in ArcMap
Unit 4
Lesson 1 – Map Projections and Coordinate Systems I
Lesson 2 – Map Projections and Coordinate Systems II
Lesson 3 – Geospatial Metadata
Lesson 4 – Data Scale, Precision, and Quality
Lesson 5 – Data Sources, Portals, and Open Data
Unit 5
Lesson 1 – Data Display & Symbology
Lesson 2 – Labeling & Annotation
Lesson 3 – Intro to Geodatabases
Lesson 4 – Basics of Editing in ArcMap
Lesson 5 – Working with Tables and Joins in ArcMap
Unit 6
Lesson 1 – Geocoding in ArcGIS
Lesson 2 – Attribute Queries and Selections
Lesson 3 – Spatial Queries in ArcMap
Lesson 4 – Geoprocessing in ArcGIS
Lesson 5 – Fundamentals of Spatial Analysis
Lesson 6 – FEMA IS-922 Completion / Wrap Up