Presentation given at Scottish Learning Festival 24–25 September 2014 by Anne Robertson, EDINA, University of Edinburgh; Lisa Allan, Barrhead High School and Murdo MacDonald, Bellahouston Academy

1. Knowing their Place: Improving the
Spatial Literacy of Tomorrow’s Workforce
Scottish Learning Festival
24th – 25th September 2014
Anne Robertson, EDINA, University of Edinburgh
Lisa Allan, Barrhead High School
Murdo MacDonald, Bellahouston Academy

2. Presentation overview
• What is spatial information?
• What do we mean by spatial literacy?
• Which industries use it and for what
purposes?
• Spatial literacy & Curriculum for Excellence
• Getting started with Digimap for Schools
• Examples from Barrhead High School &
Bellahouston Academy

3. Spatial information……..
• Spatial or ‘geographic’
information links location to
people and events
• It is information that can visually
illustrate what’s happening,
where, how and why, and shows
the impact on people and
infrastructure at that location
• Provides insight into what
happened in the past, what is
happening now and what is likely
to happen in the future

4. Spatial literacy……..
The ability to use the properties of space to communicate, reason, and
solve problems
Can this 4-bedroom property be marketed at a higher price because it falls within a
particular school catchment?
Which town of population greater than 10,000 have we not yet opened a branch in?
Should we merge two smaller branches and relocate where we know our customers spend
more?
What could be the effects on local tourism if a new wind farm is located in a village?
How can a particular bus service attract the most customers but still journey from A to B
on main straight roads thus reducing fuel costs?
Which health centres require most help from government when targeting healthy lifestyle
campaigns?
If a river running through an urban area experiences a 100 year flood, what are the
furthest properties to be affected by flood waters?

5. Sector use

6. Ensuring a well prepared workforce
• Young people should be trained in the use of geographic
information and geographical information systems (GIS)
to avail themselves of employment opportunities
• GIS leads to critical thinking and inquiry-based teaching
• This should be happening at school not waiting until
tertiary education
and it’s in CfE ……
• SOC 3-14a I can use a range of maps and geographical
information systems to gather, interpret and present
conclusions
• SOC 4-14a I can use specialized maps and geographical
information systems to identify patterns of human
activity and physical processes

7. The first step – online mapping

8. Getting started

9. Simple analysis

10. Simple analysis

11. Map overlays contemporary mapping

12. Map overlays historic mapping

13. Change over time

15. Digimap for Schools
Examples from
Lisa Allan, Barrhead High School
Murdo MacDonald, Bellahouston Academy

16. Using Digimaps in (and out of) the
classroom
Barrhead High School

17. Looking at land use change

18. Planning/Decision Making
• Relief
• Landscapes
• Land use
• Measuring

19. Rural Land Use Mapping

20. Urban Land Use Mapping
Figure 6: Land Use Map - Dunlop
Red

21. Calculating Building Density

22. Flow Line Maps

23. Proportional Circles

24. Adding photographs

25. Using Digimaps in (and out of) the
classroom
Bellahouston Academy

26. THIRD LEVEL
PEOPLE, PLACE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
I can use a range of maps
and geographical information
systems to gather, interpret
and present conclusions and
can locate a range of features
within Scotland, UK, Europe
and the wider world.
SOC 3-14a

27. S1/2 GEOGRAPHY

28. S1/2 GEOGRAPHY

29. S1/2 GEOGRAPHY

30. S1/2 GEOGRAPHY

31. S1/2 GEOGRAPHY

32. S1/2 GEOGRAPHY RESEARCH

33. N4 Added Value/N5 Assignment

34. N4 Added value/N5 Assignment

35. ASSESSMENT MAPS

36. WHOLE SCHOOL

37. BELLAHOUSTON RECAP
S1/2 : Digimaps in classroom and at home,
use with John Muir award
S3/4 : Support for N4/5, fieldwork, assessment
maps
Whole School : DoE
Outside school : Use in home, on tablet…

38. Thanks
Questions?
Lisa Allan
Murdo MacDonald
Anne Robertson, EDINA, University of Edinburgh
Stand E25 today & tomorrow
a.m.robertson@ed.ac.uk