The MEC Educator’s Pack is a package of GIS software, datasets and lesson plans designed for educators who are interested in using GIS technology to explore global climate change issues. The package includes a free GIS software program called ArcExplorer by ESRI the world’s leading GIS software developer. ArcExplorer is easy to use and comes with a user manual to help get you started. The datasets available includes much of the data used in the MEC project such as the climate change models and the US Census Bureau’s TIGER Files. The data is enough to get you started, however once you are familiar with the GIS system you will be able to add new layer to you maps by creating your own or by searching for new data layers on the Internet and downloading them into your projects. Also provided are two lesson plans that use ArcExplorer to view the data and produce a series of maps to study climate change predictions in the MEC region. The MEC Educator’s pack is available for free to download or you can order by CD by filling out the form below.

ArcExplorer.zip (~7MB compressed)
Use this program to map and visualize data

Gis_Data.zip (~20MB compressed)
Includes much of the data used in the MEC project such as the climate change models and the US Census Bureau’s TIGER Files.

Lesson_Plans.zip (~14KB compressed)
Under this directory you will find two sample lesson plans giving you step by step instructions for using the GIS program and data sets in your classroom. The first lesson gives you instructions on creating maps using the climate change predictive models from the Canadian and Hadley climate centers. The second lesson looks at creating thematic maps using the 1990 census data for the MEC region.

MEC Educators Pack.zip (~27MB compressed)
This package includes all of the above in one download.

System Requirements

ArcExplorer will only run on a PC based platform (sorry all you Mac people).
Recommended system requirements are a Pentium Chip and at least 16 MB RAM.
The entire Educator’s Package uncompressed is approximately 60 Megabytes in size.

For additional information please contact:

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)
Columbia Earth Institute
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
61 Route 9W
Palisades, NY 10964
914-365-8988
http://www.ciesin/org