A PEDAGOGIC FRAMEWORK TO LINK GIS TO THE INTELLECTUAL CORE OF GEOGRAPHY

This paper aims to develop a new pedagogic framework for teaching GIS at the college and university level using Berry's geographic matrix. B y synthesizing different schools of thought, this paper argues that GI S education essentially involves two aspects-how to teach about GIS an d how to teach with CIS. Berry's geographic matrix can be used to tie these dual aspects of GIS education together neatly. As an abstract re presentation of geographical phenomena, the geographic matrix embeds a ll three entities of GIS-location, attribute, time-and thus can help G IS instructors teach about GIS. As a synthesis of geographical approac hes, the geographic matrix can assist GIS instructors teach with GIS. This paper demonstrates that GIS is actually an implementation of Berr y's geographic matrix. Furthermore, the 10 approaches to geographical analysis, originally proposed by Berry for the geographic matrix, can be executed routinely in a GIS environment. By incorporating Berry's g eographic matrix into GIS education, teachers can enable students to s urpass technical issues and to appreciate the conceptual and functiona l linkages between GIS and geography's intellectual core.