Milson, Andrew J. & Alibrandi, Marsha. (Eds) (2008). Digital Geography: Geospatial Technologies in the Social Studies Classroom. Reviewed by Zafer Unal, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg

Milson, Andrew J. & Alibrandi, Marsha. (Eds) (2008). Digital Geography: Geospatial Technologies in the Social Studies Classroom. Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Publishing Pp. 336     $40     ISBN 978-1593116729 Reviewed by Zafer Unal, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg July 27, 2008 A recent report by the National Research Council (2006), Learning to Think Spatially, states that Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have the ability to meet four educational goals: (1) support the inquiry process; (2) be useful in solving problems in a wide range of real-world contexts; (3) facilitate learning across a range of school subjects; and (4) provide a rich, generative, inviting and challenging problem-solving environment (p. 176). Additional research has further documented other important benefits of using GIS, such as increased motivation (McWillimas & Rooney, 1997), self-efficacy and attitudes toward technology (Baker, 2002), acquisition of spatial analysis skills (Audet & Abegg, 1996), increased mathematics ability (Coulter & Polman, 2004), and geographic and scientific content knowledge (Kerski, 2003). Although geospatial technologies have become widely used and access costs have declined, the integration of such technologies within the classroom has been alarmingly slow (Kerski 1999; Baker and Bednarz 2003). Some of the reasons for this slow integration of geospatial technologies into the classroom include a dearth of research on its effectiveness design issues related to geographic information systems (GIS) and web-based geospatial technologies (Green 2001), a general lack of geographic pedagogical content models, a shortage of related curricula, low dissemination of geospatial technology into K-12 schools (Bednarz and Schee 2006), and non-existent and/or ineffective teacher training models (Doering 2006). A timely addition to the GIS education literature has arrived. Digital Geography – Geospatial Technologies in the Social Studies Classroom is a volume in the International Social Studies Forum and co-edited by Andrew Milson and Marsha Alibrandi. Digital geography brings the collection of authors and their work together and provides a review and analysis of the theory, research, and practice related to geospatial technologies in social studies education. The book begins with the history of geospatial technologies in education, the influence of the standards movement, and the growth of an international geospatial education community are explored. While authors of this section provides definitions, background information, the history and present status of GIS, they also tried to answer what most educators agree about the future of GIS in K12 by providing the results of their interview with educators. The discussion then turns to the range and applicability of GIS in education, providing examples of the use of geospatial technologies for teaching and learning history, geography, civics, economics, and environmental science. The authors of this section introduce the development stages of different applications that apply GIS in education and experiences of students/teachers and their use of these applications for education including but not limited to My World GIS Software, GIS for History, Internet-based GIS, Mapstats for Kids, and GoogleEarth. Next, the book turns to a detailed section-by-section analysis of the reviews and critiques of recent research relevant to geospatial technologies in education. The theoretical perspectives are proposed that could guide research and practice in this field. The book concludes with an in-depth discussion on the theory, research, and practice associated with teacher preparation for using geospatial technologies in education. The authors of this section explore the importance of preparing teachers for GST expeditions with their students and makes recommendations for teacher education based on their research results. Bednarz and Audet (1999) have identified three main reasons that current approaches to teaching GIS in K-12 classrooms have not been effective: teachers inadequately trained to use GIS, a lack of teaching models to guide their pedagogy, and preservice teachers education programs that do not teach GIS in "a meaningful way" (p. 64). Digital Geography presents a comprehensive guide to history of GIS, discusses what future might bring regarding GIS, provides examples of the use of different GIS tools that are currently available, and the integration of GIS in education. Each of the authors presents their information in a knowledgeable manner, and the book is organized so as to provide useful context for the more technical and abstruse provisions. Overall, it is a resource that will prove to be especially useful for practitioners. . References Audet, R. H., & Abegg, G. L. (1996). Geographic information systems: Implications for problem solving. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 33(1), 121-145. Baker, T. R. (2002). The effects of geographic information system (GIS) technologies on students' attitudes, self-efficacy, and achievement in middle school science classrooms. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Kansas, Lawrence. Baker, T., and S. Bednarz. (2003). Lessons learned from reviewing research in GIS education. Journal of Geography 102, 231-233. Bednarz, S. W., & Audet, R. H. (1999). The Status of GIS Technology in Teacher Preparation Programs. Journal of Geography, 98(2), 60-67. Bednarz, S., and J. Schee. (2006). Europe and the United States: the implementation of geographic information systems in secondary education in two contexts. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 15(2):191-205. Coulter, B., & Polman, J. L. (2004).Enacting technology-supported inquiry learning through mapping our environment. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA. Doering, A. (2006). Adventure learning: Transformative hybrid online education. Distance Education 27(2):197-215. Green, D. R. (2001). GIS: A Sourcebook for Schools. London: Taylor & Francis. Kerski, J. J. (2003). The implementation and effectiveness of geographic information systems technology and methods in secondary education. Journal of Geography 102(3), 128-137. Kerski, J. (1999). A nationwide analysis of the implementation of GIS in high school education. In Proceedings of the 21st Annual ESRI User Conference. San Diego, CA. http://gis.esri.com/library/userconf/proc99/proceed/papers/pap202/p202.htm. McWillimas, H., & Rooney, P. (1997, March). Mapping our city: Learning to use spatial data in the middle school science classroom. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL. National Research Council.(2006). Learning to think spatially. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. About the Reviewer Zafer Unal is an assistant professor at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg in College of Education. His areas of interest include teacher education, technology use in classrooms, parental involvement, assessment, and classroom management. Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.