Community Based Informatics Education: Geographical Information Systems, Remote Sensing and Ontology collaboration

With the United States Department of Education challenged to augment the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pipeline, applied and deliberate focus on geosciences pipelines issue may be at risk. The Geosciences pipeline may require intentional K-12 standard course of study consideration in the form of project based, science based and evidenced based learning. Thus, the K-12 to geosciences to informatics pipeline may benefit from an earth science experience that utilizes a community based “learning by doing” approach. Here, terms such as Community GIS, Community Remotes Sensing, and Community Based Ontology development are termed Community Informatics. Here, approaches of interdisciplinary work to promote and earth science literacy are affordable, consisting of low cost equipment that renders GIS/remote sensing data processing skills necessary in the workforce. Hence, informal community ontology development as a pedagogical rubric may be considered a K-12 paradigm. In civic terms, a spatial thinking community, from its defined ontology base may evolve or mature from a local community towards formal scientific community collaboration. Such consideration may become a means to engage educational policy towards earth science paradigms and needs to address the geospatial technology workforce issues.