PennsylvaniaView and Remote Sensing Education

PennsylvaniaView (PAView) is part of the AmericaView program. PennsylvaniaView’s major goal is to educate students and the public about remotely sensed imagery. The presenter has built a presentation and exercise for freshman college level geography courses using CropScape, a National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) web service. After a rough draft was developed, the documents were evaluated by college students and scientists from the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS). In the exercise, students evaluate the Top 5 Crops in Pennsylvania and then examine the changes in Pennsylvania crop acreage over the past 10 years. The presenter will also discuss Earth Observation Day, which is part of Earth Sciences Week. As the presenter likes to say, “Everyday is Earth Observation Day”, but the Tuesday of Earth Sciences Week is designated as the official day. Last year AmericaView Education Committee created a board game called Factory Earth.

Dr. Tom Mueller has been a geography professor at California University of Pennsylvania since 1999. He received his degrees at Towson University (BS), University of Connecticut (MA) and University of Illinois (Ph.D.). He co-created and is the advisor for the Geography Major with a concentration in Geographic Information Technology. His interests include Geographic Information Systems (Computer Mapping), geography education and world regional geography. His goal is to apply spatial theory to the real world, particularly using GIS. It is essential that service learning be included in his geography courses. For example, students in his courses have completed real world projects for local police departments, Federal Emergency Management Agency, etc.. He has also taught numerous GIS workshops for members of the local community, professors at Cal U and other campuses and K – 12 community. He has built a successful geography research agenda through a variety of scholarly endeavors, including conference presentations, grants, technical reports, book reviews and publications in professional journals.

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