CartoDB is excited to participate in the American Museum of Natural History’s Educator’s Evening on January 30. We’re excited because we know that secondary and primary students will do amazing things with maps.
What makes CartoDB an exemplary addition to the classroom is it’s flexible interface for collaboration, visually stunning graphics, and it’s ease of use. Literally any explorer can become a map maker.
Last Fall, local New York City high school students used CartoDB and open datasets to explore their own questions related to the impacts of climate change on New York City.
Using various techniques, the students familiarized themselves with how to use and tell stories with a broad range of data. More importantly, the students were able to engage in a discussion about the maps, apply critical thinking to interpret the stories the maps were telling, and demonstrate a new understanding of how effective, confusing, or misleading maps can be.
“Working in CartoDB allowed these students to think about and interact with data in a way they never had before. We as educators learned that a tool such as CartoDB could effectively be incorporated into our curriculum,” observed Hannah Jaris, Senior Coordinator at AMNH.
Each student walked away with a new interest in cartography and the concepts of visualizing data in new ways.
The final projects (group and individual) consisted of analysis of the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on New York City, a close examination of the 100 year flood zones around Manhattan - or the areas that have a 1% chance of flooding each year in the year 2050, and the location of FEMA Evacuation Zones related to our highest need populations.
You can review the students amazing works here.
CartoDB will be at AMNH tonight to chat and demonstrate the power of map making in the classroom.
Happy mapping!