Near In the City (NIC) – an exercise package for

GIS studies on urban environment

PhD Virpi Hirvensalo, Department of Geography and

Geology, University of Turku

Project in a nutshell

NIC in a nutshell

• A website, which focuses on urban environment.

• Familiarizes users with various kinds of places in a city and methods to become acquainted with them.

• Contains current and interdisciplinary themes: – personal and place identity – active citizenship – safety in public spaces– urban sustainability – local effects of climate change, etc.

Near In the City (NIC)

Near In the City (NIC)• Flexible toolkit for courses of geography,

sustainable development and environmental education in Finnish.

• Intended for students from the level of secondary school to institutes of higher education, including also subject teacher education.

• Encourages to make field trips.

Near In the City (NIC)

• User-friendly and inspiring contents.

• Linked with PaikkaOppi, which is a web-based learning environment for GIS studies in Finnish upper secondary schools.

Spaces and places as premises for an active

citizenship

City and its various places are in the focus of learning

The aim is that a student discerns more clearly places in a city, and considers his/her personal relationship to them. That strengthens:

– students place identity. – skills to participate in public discussion of urban

development and planning. This improves premises for an active citizenship.

Spaces create premises for learning

Spaces can be seen as ”intellectual prostheses”, which help learners to achieve information and to develop something new: reports, maps, videos, memos, models...

Cf. Paavolainen & Hakkarainen (2007): Triangular learning: dialogue between participant actors, cultural resources and shared objects of activity.

Spaces activate senses and provide possibilities to study and act creatively. They also enable interaction between actors.

(Smeds, Krokfors, Ruokamo & Staffans 2010)

Environmental competence

The skill to take advantage of spatially diverse environments and ability to find scopes for action from them.

A task of school institution in the future is to strenghten that.

Smeds, Krokfors, Ruokamo & Staffans 2010

How does NIC look like?

STREET – NEIGHBOURHOOD – BROWN FIELD – PARK – CITY CENTER

STREET

•What is a street?

•Living street

•Street as a public space

•Frightening street

•Street as a space of presentation

Descriptions of places

Texts, photos, video & audio clips, links to other web pages, hints of additional literature, excercises, etc.

Photo-documen-

tationObservation

Interactive map Photo-gallery

METHODS for studying places

Word association -

game

Orientation to a subject matter

Research in a field

Presentation of results

Sensory walkInterview

Web page / news paper

analysisConcept map

Mental mapping

Video / audio presentation

Participative planning tool

Personalizing a picture

Three toolkits with varying extents

Small toolkit: ”Learn the terms”

Medium toolkit: ”Familiarize yourselfwith places”

Large toolkit: ”Grab the study”

½ -1 hours. Learn concepts related to urban surroundings by reading texts, listening audios and watching videos. Do a short excercise in a classroom.

4 hours. Study materials in NIC, choose the suitable method(s) for your excerciseand realize it in a classroom or outdoors.

20 hours. With your small group, carry out a mini research project basing on a model of a progressive inquiry.

An example how to use NIC: grab the study

Practicing field research by sensing, observing, interviewing…

A case study: living in Rantakylä neighbourhood in Joensuu, Finland

Results of small groups as a map presentation of PaikkaOppi

Thank you!

Contacts:

Virpi HirvensaloDepartment of Geography and Geology,

University of Turku, Finland vijoke@utu.fi

Some more information about the project: http://users.utu.fi/vijoke/blogi