Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 2(2), 2009 205 How to Make GIS a Common Educational Tool in Schools: Potentials and Implications of the GIS for Teachers Book for Geography Education in Turkey Ali Demirci 1 and Ahmet Karaburun 2 1 Fatih University, Department of Geography, Istanbul, Turkey E-mail: ademirci@fatih.edu.tr 2 Fatih University, Department of Geography, Istanbul, Turkey E-mail: akaraburun@fatih.edu.tr __________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract: GIS has great potential for the teaching and learning of geography at secondary school level. Despite this potential, however, the use of GIS is not widespread throughout the world today. There are many obstacles which prevent the effective use of GIS in schools. Although GIS has been incorporated into the Turkish secondary school geography curriculum since 2005, Turkey has been struggling to make GIS a widely used tool in geography lessons. There are only a limited number of schools in the country where GIS is used in geography lessons. This prompted many academicians and institutions to develop strategies and materials to assist teachers in using GIS in geography lessons. This study describes a recent initiative taken jointly by Fatih University and ESRI-Turkey to help teachers in implementing GIS in their geography lessons, namely, the preparation of a book entitled GIS for Teachers. By combining theory and practice, the book and software package provides teachers with data, GIS software, GIS-based exercises, methodology, and all other necessary guidance for using GIS in their lessons. This study also discusses the potential and implications of GIS for Teachers for geography education in Turkey by outlining how the book was received by geography teachers and the extent to which it contributed to the integration of GIS into secondary school geography lessons. Approximately six months have passed since the book was first promoted. Around 300 copies of the book with a promotional brochure were delivered to high schools and universities free of charge. So far 700 books have been purchased. Although the book has received favourable attention from academicians and students in many different disciplines, the number of geography teachers who obtained the book has been less than satisfactory. This result indicates that supplying geography teachers with GIS books, software, digital data, and educational materials is not enough to make them use this technology in their lessons. Consequently, a number of other things need to be taken into consideration, such as encouraging and motivating teachers to utilise this technology in their lessons. Keyword: GIS, geography education, secondary school, book, teacher __________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION GIS is a set of integrated software programs designed to store, retrieve, manipulate, analyse and display geographical data-information concerning people, places and the environment (Fitzpatrick and Maguire 2000). The Geographic Information System (GIS) offers a wide range of services to educators in teaching and learning for different subjects in schools. GIS has been long known and utilised in different disciplines, especially in geography at the university level (Kemp et al. 1992). However, its recognition at the secondary school educational level only began in the 1990s (Goodchild and Kemp 1990). Many scientific studies have shown GIS to be a useful educational tool helpful in creating an inquiry-based learning environment (White and Simms 1993; Meyer et al. 1999; Lemberg and Stoltman 2001). This recognition led to the introduction of GIS in secondary school curriculums in such diverse programs as Geography, Science, Environmental and Social Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 2(2), 2009 ISSN 1943-2429 © 2009 Ozean Publication