The National Center for Research in Geography Education is organizing several sessions for the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, April 21-25 in Chicago.

Several sessions will be on the program for the special track, “Geography and Online Education”. The track will include panels, research presentations and invited lectures examining the frontiers of research and practice in online education.

There will also be sessions for two of NCRGE’s current NSF-funded projects:

1) The GeoProgressions project will be on the program in the form of a panel and workshop. Participants from the October 2014 GeoProgressions researcher-training workshop will be on hand to discuss emerging research projects on learning progressions for maps, geospatial technology and spatial thinking. Delegates to the AAG Annual Meeting will also have an opportunity to attend a workshop and receive a handbook for doing learning progressions research.

2) There will also be a panel to present a progress report on NCRGE’s “Geospatial Resources, Materials and Tools for STEM Teacher Preparation” project. Researchers will demonstrate a ArcGIS Online-based teacher training RMT examining water usage and environmental impacts. The RMT is designed to support standards-based instruction in math, science, and social science, and is being tested with pre-service and in-service teachers at Texas State University and several Geographic Alliances. The panel will explain connections between the RMT and Esri’s ConnectED initiative and outline plans for future a NSF application for a national expansion of the project.

Check back here and on the AAG Annual Meeting website in early 2015 for updates and the session schedule.