Integrating applied remote sensing methodology in secondary education

Remote sensing is a fast growing technology with an increasing need for highly qualified employees. Especially in governmental sectors regarding ecology, disaster management, or traffic control the need for data and applications is growing rapidly. The increasing amount of remote sensing satellite missions and the generated products also mirrors this development. By contrast the public perception of the development that is taking place in this technology, regarding higher spatial and spectral resolution, and the resultant benefits are significantly low. In secondary education classes in Germany remote sensing and related products are inexistent, although the use of information technology and methods are explicitly requested in recent curricula. The presented study aims at the integration of remote sensing in secondary education. In cooperation with eight participating schools an interdisciplinary didactical approach is developed to integrate remote sensing in regular classes by linking regular education standards with technology that is new and fascinating for students. In the past, experiments using satellite imagery in high school education often failed because of rudimentary computer infrastructure, the lack of knowledge about this technology on the part of the teachers, and especially because of a huge amount of extra work for teachers. In a first step regular class issues were identified that are appropriate for the sustainable integration of remote sensing methodology. Afterwards first material and teaching units were prepared providing regular topics supported by satellite imagery and digital image processing methods.