The authors assessed eight years of a national professional development institute focused on providing geographic information systems (GIS) teaching and technical skills for educators, titled Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS (T3G). Through a survey (N = 276 [out of a total population of 450]), the authors determined that the institute generally met its goals of equipping educators so that they could (1) teach GIS concepts and skills for their peers, (2) create GIS-based curricula, and (3) communicate the value of GIS to other disciplines. Over the eight years that the institute ran in a face-to-face format, the institute reflected broad changes in GIS technology and methods, including the transition from desktop to Web-based GIS and the movement to shorter lessons. Our study also revealed challenges and benefits of this model of professional development and broader issues of adoption of GIS in primary, secondary, university, and informal areas of education. These revelations allowed us to expose and evaluate strategies to advance the implementation and effectiveness of the use of GIS in instruction.

作者评估了一家国家专业发展机构八年的工作经验，该机构致力于为教育工作者提供地理信息系统（GIS）的教学和技术技能，名为“教师教学教师GIS（T3G）”。通过调查（N = 276 [在450人的总人口中]），作者确定该研究所总体上达到了为教育者配备装备的目标，这样他们就可以（1）为同伴传授GIS概念和技能，（2）创建基于GIS的课程，以及（3）将GIS的价值传达给其他学科。在研究所面对面运作的八年中，研究所反映了GIS技术和方法的广泛变化，包括从台式GIS到基于Web的GIS的过渡以及向较短课程的过渡。我们的研究还揭示了这种专业发展模式的挑战和收益，以及在小学，中学，大学和非正规教育领域采用GIS的广泛问题。