How it Started

     In 1986, Eugenia (Jeannie) Barnaba, a resource inventory specialist at Cornell University, was asked by a community along the Hudson River in New York State to help answer the following question: "Should we develop a youth recreational facility on a former industrial site?" There was suspicion that a local industry, which had gone bankrupt eight years earlier, had engaged in dumping of potentially hazardous materials at the site. The local Environmental Management Council, whose members included middle school teacher Norene Coller, worked alongside Jeannie using historic aerial photographs and maps to document land use activity at the site dating back to 1935. In the course of this investigation, three areas of dumping were located. Furthermore, Norene and a teaching colleague, Jerry Sherman, saw the potential for engaging middle and high school students in such land use "detective" work. The students could become proficient in the use of aerial photographs and maps, and use them to investigate land use problems in their community. Such a project would easily capture students' interest because of its relevance to local problems students hear about in their everyday lives. Furthermore, the airphoto and map tools would prove captivating to students, as well as to their parents and other community members.

     Following their initial collaboration, Norene, Jerry, and Jeannie developed several airphoto and map projects for classrooms, which in turn, led to a series of workshops for educators. These workshops were funded by the New York State 4- H Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Hudson River Foundation. In 1993, Jeannie and her Cornell University colleague Marianne Krasny obtained a multi-year grant from the National Science Foundation Informal Science Education program to conduct Explorations from an Aerial Perspective.

With the use of inexpensive aerial photographs, youth and adults can experience the thrill of seeing their own community from an aerial perspective. From this unique view, they gain new insights about:

•  How their neighborhoods have changed over time;
•  The effect of land use practices on water quality in local streams and lakes;
•  The impact of a proposed development on their neighborhood;
•   Other local and use and environmental issues.

Explorations From an Aerial Perspective is written for educators working in a diversity of settings. It will enable these educators to incorporate airphotos and maps into investigations of local environments and land use history. Students and adults in classrooms, nature centers, after-school programs, 4-H clubs, camps, and other settings conduct these investigations.

Explorations from an Aerial Perspective also includes the information necessary for university extension faculty and others who wish to conduct a "train-the-trainers" program. Participants in such programs are educators who go on to guide youth conducting local Aerial Perspectives investigations.

Included are:

•  Instructions for how to set up a "train-the-trainers" program;
•  Background information on how to interpret airphotos and topographic maps;
•  Hands-on activities designed to develop airphoto and map interpretation skills;
•  Case Studies of Aerial Perspectives community investigations conducted in rural, suburban, and urban settings;
•  Resource packets for students, including activity pages and worksheets, airphotos, and maps.

Cover

Contents

Preface

A Sampler of Case Studies

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