Teach

Geospatial data is a powerful learning and teaching tool. Using GIS in a secondary or post-secondary classroom has been shown to increase students’ spatial thinking and higher-order learning skills. QGIS is a particularly useful GIS platform for educational use because it is free and open source. Once downloaded, both QGIS and the QGreenland data package run offline whether in classrooms, at home, or in the field. 

QGreenland can be used for a wide variety of learning topics, skills, and practices, including: Earth's systems and climate, cryospheric and hydrologic processes, Arctic processes and ecosystems, modeling and using model data, and analyzing and interpreting data. 

Explore both our introductory tutorials and teaching resources.

Teaching Topics

Best practices for making geospatial data analysis-ready

TOPIC:
geospatial technology

These examples and exercises from the researcher workshop (2023) are intended to help you make geospatial data analysis-ready and useable alongside QGreenland.

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PolarPASS: Polar Place and Spaces

TOPIC:
glaciology

PolarPASS is designed to bring polar environments into the classroom, allowing students to explore extreme environments and connect with new and seemingly distant places. Using 360-degree interactive environments and Geographic Information System (GIS) data, along with more traditional learning resources, PolarPASS provides a science-based curriculum that immerses students in unique polar locations and brings them up close and personal with Earth science data and field locations on both land and ice near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.

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Ice Sheet Albedo

TOPIC:
glaciology

In this lesson, students observe spatio-temporal albedo trends in Greenland Ice sheets. Students will work with remote sensing and statistical methods in QGIS to examine trends in albedo variation.

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Introduction to Glacial Change in Greenland

TOPIC:
glaciology

Students will use QGreenland to observe and measure the advance and retreat of glaciers in Greenland.

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Introduction to Point Data in QGIS

TOPIC:
biology

Students will learn foundational skills for viewing and editing geospatial data using the colony locations of the thick-billed murre.

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QGreenland Beginner's Tutorial Series

TOPIC:
geospatial technology

The beginner's tutorial series contains 7 videos to familiarize users with both GIS and the QGreenland data package. This 1-hour series was adapted from the popular beginner workshops designed for those who have little or no prior experience working with GIS.

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Querying with QGreenland

TOPIC:
geospatial technology

These quick tutorials teach you how to analyze QGreenland datasets using built-in QGIS tools.

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From Greenland to our Coasts: Exploring Sea Level Change with QGreenland

TOPIC:
sea-level change

Students read about the effects of current sea-level change on two different Alaskan communities and recognize the difference between regional and global average sea change. Students then choose a coastal community and create a flood map.

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