The Londonderry Green School GIS Project

Financial support for this project was provided by the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Environmental Education
Grants Program.

  The image to the right is a Digital Orthophoto Quarter-quadrangles (DOQQ) downloaded from the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access. http://www.pasda.psu.edu.

Download lessons on how to obtain and use Pennsylvania DOQQ's from the PASDA site. DOQQ images work well as base maps for local GIS school projects. Start by going to the PASDA site and view the MrSID images of the DOQQ in Pennsylvania here.

If you know the name of your Pennsylvania quadrangle, you can view it here and download images and GIS data sets/maps from PASDA here. This page also shows all the state quadrangles, view it here.

Project Synopsis:  Londonderry School plans to develop a model curriculum that integrates cutting edge technologies with environmental education. The project centers on a habitat study of the site where Londonderry will be constructing a model green school building. Located in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, the construction site is a 14-acre wooded lot with a stream and small wetland. The curriculum to be developed around the habitat study will provide a model for enhancement of  DEP EE standards through the innovative use of technology. The project also promotes the Chesapeake Bay Program's National Green Schools Initiative by providing a model process for green school construction with the habitat study as the preliminary step. Results of the study will be shared with green school construction engineers as well as state and local environmental groups  (Capital Area Greenbelt Association, Chesapeake Bay Program's Educational Initiative, and others). The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Information Science and Telecommunications will also collaborate on the project. The Department's new Geoinfomatics Program is seeking to support exemplary K-12 projects that involve integrating GIS,  GPS (Global Positioning Systems), and web technology and has pledged training, general technical support, and GPS support for the Londonderry Green School GIS Project.       

  Project Plan:  The project design reflects innovative thinking "outside the box"  both  in its  approach to environmental education and in addressing local/regional environmental problems. As part of Londonderry's green school planning process, the project emphasizes the need for environmental protection/rehabilitation when new construction is undertaken.  To achieve its overall goals, Londonderry plans to achieve the following key objectives.

  1.  Develop, implement and publish on the Internet a model curriculum focused on new ways of utilizing technologies in environmental education.

2.  Make the student-constructed GIS accessible to other schools via the Internet.

3.  Conduct at least one teacher workshop for Central Pennsylvania educators focused on use of new technologies in EE.  In addition to Londonderry teachers, training will be offered to teachers in the 35 public school districts and private schools in Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry Counties.

4. Facilitate student presentations/discussions in national, state and local venues

Using Satellite Imagery:

Check out this view from space of the Harrisburg area, compliments of the Chesapeakebayfromspace.net web site