Amazing Race GIS Program for Youth

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

“Amazing Race: Calcasieu” was a public outreach program designed to engage school children in learning about Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in conjunction with National GIS Week. In a spirit of friendly competition, each participant’s goal was to be the first class to locate a landmark on a special GIS map before the other class did, thus winning the race. In the days leading up to the race, students learned about X, Y coordinates and how they transfer from graph paper to a map of the parish. Each day classes were given math problems or “clues’ that would help them determine a part of their X,Y coordinate. To add to the scavenger hunt feel and to encourage students and teachers to visit the main Calcasieu Parish Police Jury website, some of the clues sent students to various web pages to locate numbers needed in their coordinate. On the final day, “congratulations” messages were placed on the GIS map for the students to find while utilizing the county’s GIS system. Every classroom had their own unique landmark so classrooms within the same school could compete with each other. Overall, the “Amazing Race” program blended math, geography, internet, and GIS skills into a fun learning adventure.