Using Geospatial Information Technologies and Field Research to Enhance Classroom Learning

Abstract

A focus of grazing management courses is the cause–effect relationships between grazing livestock distribution and environmental and management variables. A learning module for the classroom was developed to enable students to actively study livestock distribution by analyzing recently collected data from an on-ranch situation. Data were collected at the University of Nebraska’s Barta Brothers Ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. Six cows (Bos taurus) were fitted with global positioning system (GPS) collars and grazed freely with a herd of cow–calf pairs. Their locations were recorded at 5- or 10-minute intervals during two summer grazing periods in 2003. Following each grazing period, the collars were removed and the data were transferred to a personal computer. A geographic information system (GIS) software program (GRASS) was used for data processing and analyses. A standard digital elevation model of the ranch property was imported into GRASS as the base topographical map. Software tools were used to create animations and present analyzed data in tabular and graphical form. The learning module has two lessons. The first lesson presents the principles of grazing distribution and the second lesson enables the student to analyze the GPS locational data. In analyzing the GPS data, students have numerous options and select the pasture, date(s), hours of the day, and the independent variable (e.g., topographical position or livestock water location) to be included in the analyses. Students can develop hypotheses concerning the relationship between these independent variables and livestock distribution, and test them using the output from the module. Student evaluations indicate that the module is effective in engaging the students as learners and improving their ability to think critically.