Teach

Geospatial data is a powerful learning and teaching tool. Using GIS in a secondary or post-secondary classroom has been shown to increase students’ spatial thinking and higher-order learning skills. QGIS is a particularly useful GIS platform for educational use because it is free and open source. Once downloaded, both QGIS and the QGreenland data package run offline whether in classrooms, at home, or in the field. 

QGreenland can be used for a wide variety of learning topics, skills, and practices, including: Earth's systems and climate, cryospheric and hydrologic processes, Arctic processes and ecosystems, modeling and using model data, and analyzing and interpreting data. 

Explore both our introductory tutorials and teaching resources.

Teaching Topics

From Greenland to our Coasts: Exploring Sea Level Change with QGreenland


Students read about the effects of current sea-level change on two different Alaskan communities and recognize the difference between regional and global average sea change. Students then choose a coastal community and create a flood map.
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Querying with QGreenland


These quick tutorials teach you how to analyze QGreenland datasets using built-in QGIS tools.
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QGreenland Beginner's Tutorial Series


The beginner's tutorial series contains 7 videos to familiarize users with both GIS and the QGreenland data package. This 1-hour series was adapted from the popular beginner workshops designed for those who have little or no prior experience working with GIS.
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Introduction to Point Data in QGIS


Students will learn foundational skills for viewing and editing geospatial data using the colony locations of the thick-billed murre.
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Introduction to Glacial Change in Greenland


Students will use QGreenland to observe and measure the advance and retreat of glaciers in Greenland.
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Ice Sheet Albedo


In this lesson, students observe spatio-temporal albedo trends in Greenland Ice sheets. Students will work with remote sensing and statistical methods in QGIS to examine trends in albedo variation.
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PolarPASS: Polar Place and Spaces


PolarPASS is designed to bring polar environments into the classroom, allowing students to explore extreme environments and connect with new and seemingly distant places. Using 360-degree interactive environments and Geographic Information System (GIS) data, along with more traditional learning resources, PolarPASS provides a science-based curriculum that immerses students in unique polar locations and brings them up close and personal with Earth science data and field locations on both land and ice near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.
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Best practices for making geospatial data analysis-ready


These examples and exercises from a QGreenland CryoCloud researcher workshop in 2023 are intended to help you make geospatial data analysis-ready and useable alongside QGreenland.
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