Innovation Institute 2017

What happens when teachers position students as researchers of their own lives and communities? What do students stand to learn when they investigate their local communities, and what is the role of technology in facilitating this work? Starting with these questions, this session will examine a community mapping project in which the presenters, all of whom are teachers, used ArcGIS software to explore their students’ home communities and map literacy resources that were available to people in the area. The presenters then used the software to consider how access to literacy resources intersects with race and class. After describing their experiences with the mapping project, each of the presenters will describe an additional community inquiry project they have designed and undertaken with secondary students. In doing so, they will discuss the role technology played in supporting these projects, and in allowing students to represent the knowledge and understandings they acquired as a result of conducting community inquiry. To conclude the session, the presenters will work with attendees to identify social issues that are relevant to their communities, and to frame community inquiry that addresses those issues.