Использование геоинформационных технологий в преподавании географических дисциплин в Высшей школе (на примере курса «Геоинформационное картографирование») (Using ArcGIS in Teaching Geosciences)

Type: Bachelor's Thesis (B.Sc.). School: Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Educational Studies. Location: Moscow, Russia. English Abstract: The recent acceleration of the scientific and technological progress is based on the introduction of the computerization into the educational process in universities, as well as automated systems, software control devices and processing centres. Therefore, an important pedagogical task is teaching of the students of geographic schools that can be actively involved in a qualitatively new stage in the development of the natural sciences (in particular, geographical disciplines) associated with digitalization.The solution of the above problem radically depends both on the technical equipment of universities with computers with appropriate peripheral equipment and software, training, effective demonstration of the equipment and software, and on the students' readiness to perceive the ever-increasing flow of the spatial (geo-) information, their awareness and professional knowledge of geoinformation technologies - GIS. This explains the relevance of the chosen topic of this thesis. The object of the research is the study of the effective use and application of GIS technologies in the process of teaching geographic disciplines in universities. The subject of the research is the content and methodology of the formation of skills to use GIS in the classrooms. The purpose of this work is to identify ways to improve the efficiency of using GIS technologies in the teaching of geosciences and GIS skills. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were used: 1. To analyse the psychological-pedagogical and methodical literature theoretical issues of teaching geoscience in the universities. 2. To determine the structure and functions of GIS programs. 3. To study the theoretical foundations and practical possibilities of using GIS in the educational process of the Higher School. 4. To determine the status of the issue of using GIS in Russian and international practice of teaching geography in universities. 5. To analyze the methods of using various GIS in the modules of teaching geoscience for students of geographic faculties. 6. To analyse the effectiveness of the use of GIS for various disciplines of geographic faculties. To solve the tasks, the following methods were used: logical and didactic analysis of the formation of GIS; analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature; study of technical documentation of various GIS packages for their comparison; study of the possibilities of various GIS, their advantages and peculiarities in their use for teaching various geographical disciplines (geomorphology, geoecology, etc.); studying the existing experience of using GIS technologies in classes in geographical disciplines in universities, both Russian and international ones.