Evaluating the Use of Remote Sensing and GIS Tools for Environmental Science Education Enhancement

Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) has revolutionized the teaching and learning of the environmental science field by offering interactive and immersive learning processes. This research examines how RS and GIS tools influence the learning outcome, teamwork and knowledge-sharing habits of the high school students. The quasi-experimental design was applied in a period of five weeks where an experimental group was applied in the use of RS and GIS tools against a control group who were taught using traditional textbook. Students worked on the mapping of the land-use changes, analysis of the urbanization, and the gathering of field drone and GPS data. To measure the progress, weekly measurements such as Task Completion Rate (TCR), Collaboration Efficiency (CE), Knowledge Sharing Efficiency (KSE), and Learning Gain (LG) were computed. Findings indicate that interactive and collaborative tasks, specifically the manipulation of GIS layers, and group assignments, produced the greatest learning outcomes, with LG rising by 5 percent in week 1 to 22% in week 5. The overall team performance was also positively associated with the Collaboration Efficiency and Knowledge Sharing Efficiency, which serves to highlight the necessity of the cooperation in learning. An experiment on ablation established that the learning outcomes reduced the most due to the removal of collaborative activities, and environmental problem-solving involved teamwork. The above findings suggest that RS and GIS tools are not sham gimmicks but they have significant positive effects on the knowledge of environmental systems among students and their spatial reasoning and critical thinking capabilities. The analysis appeals to the wider use of RS and GIS in the curriculum in order that the students are prepared to face the requirements of the 21 st century environment such as the mitigation of climate change and sustainable land management.

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