With the resources, opportunity, technology, and creative possibilities provided by schools, students can explore the world around them and beyond-and enjoy the process! As schools expand their curriculums to meet growing advancements in society, GIS is a valuable resource. Not only does it visually enhance information normally confined to books and lesson plans, it aids administrators in community colleges; universities; and middle, elementary, and high schools with their multiple tasks, enabling them to focus on the needs of students.

The dynamic nature of the technology allows it to cross into many different subjects. History teachers can watch a region over time. Science teachers can enhance local projects with interactive maps. Math teachers bring numbers to life when they represent a real place and manipulate them with GIS. Language arts teachers can explore the richness of communication with multimedia GIS. And all classes become vocational in nature when students develop skills sought by the career world. Working with businesses, government agencies, or researchers, students can use GIS to help shed light on the complexities of their communities. It enables them to study the world and all that is in it, or was, or could be, at a local, regional, or global scale.

Administratively, GIS is an important tool for a multitude of tasks. Facilities managers can turn maps of their campuses into interactive representations that allow them to make better decisions and improve planning and analysis. Schools can map out data about admissions and student addresses to better serve them. Campus police, telecommunications, real estate management, grounds management, hazardous waste tracking, and student housing are just a few of the school branches that rely on GIS to improve their services.

Technology expands the horizon for an educational vision that takes students down knowledge paths that did not exist years ago. GIS is an important tool that contributes to the overall success of creating the best learning environment for students of all grade levels and ages. The stories in this section exemplify the power of GIS as an administrative and classroom resource.

For more information about the benefits of GIS in universities and community colleges, visit www.esri.com/university; in K-12, primary, middle, and secondary schools, visit www.esri.com/k-12; and in libraries and museums, visit www.esri.com/libraries on the Web.