SDSU Department of Computer Science
  
Home Contact Us Undergraduate Student Info Graduate Student Info Faculty & Staff News & Events
News Calendar Problem of the Fortnight

May 2008 Calendar

CS Masters' Thesis Defense

Title: Classification Of GIS Teaching Modules
Speaker: Sareshma Samaiya
Date: Friday, May 9, 2008
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Location: GMCS 405
Thesis advisor: Dr Carl Eckberg

Abstract:
There are many educational modules showing relationships between GIS, and fields like geography, geology, ecology, and so forth. But there are few if any connecting GIS to math classes.

This thesis describes the classification, analysis and development of GIS based science lessons that would be of value for high school students in their geometry classes, especially trigonometry. In this way students will be able to learn more about math skills associated with GIS.

The goal is to provide the high school and above students a good understanding of geography (like globe, earth, projections etc) and its relation to math (like trigonometry). Students will be able to "visualize" the different projections which are some times hard to understand from books. The module will utilize technology provided by Google.

The first module will provide a good understanding of basic concepts like latitude and longitude, provide lat and long for an address on the map, study different types of projections and their distortions and provide mathematical formulae for different types of projections. The second module will demonstrate the basic concepts of GPS receivers and triangulation. The third module includes Google API?s, and applies some classical geometry theorems (alternate interior angle etc.) to maps. This module will allow you to calculate the distance between any two points on the map. Similarly users can calculate the area between any three points. Each module is then followed by a section quiz to collect more feedback from students on that particular module.
webmaster@cs.sdsu.edu page counter College of Sciences