March 13, 2015, Tigard, Ore. – The Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon (PLSO), a non-profit trade association, is partnering with the National Council of Examiners for Engineering (NCEES) as well as 12 other western state land surveying associations to sponsor teachers for the Teaching with Spatial Technology (TwiST) program.
Held at Clark College in Vancouver, June 22-26, TwiST is designed to teach K-12 educators how to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS)and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in the classroom to create meaningful and challenging lesson plans for students. It is a week-long workshop designed to make teachers proficient in the many aspects of spatial technology. The course is a mixture of classroom study and field exercises while learning to use GIS software, a GPS receiver and other related materials.
Teachers will learn about applications that classroom activities can accomplish around their school and community. Ranging from resource management to environmental assessment, cartography and more, the activities may be taught at various levels of grade appropriate complexity.
“Land Surveyors often use cutting edge technology in our profession and we want to encourage kids to be exposed to the profession early,” explains John Thatcher, PLSO Chair and state representative for the Western Federation of Professional Surveyors. “The surveying profession has a lot of future growth. Many workers will be retiring soon and we will need to fill our workforce. This is a way for us to plant the seed for future generations and that starts with our teachers.”
Oregon teachers are encouraged to log on to http://www.plso.org/twist for an application to attend. PLSO will reimburse travel costs and pay the $600 tuition cost up front, which includes all course teaching materials, ESRI GIS Software, Garmin GPS receiver, PC cable for downloading data, a 2GB thumb drive, hand compass, and other training materials.
# # #
The Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon represents more than 500 land surveyors and associated suppliers. It serves the land surveying industry in Oregon through professional education and outreach, holding paramount the interests of the public. To learn more visit www.plso.org.
