Important Notes:

1. Prior to implementing the investigation, be sure that you have set up an ARCGIS.com account for your classrooms.
    
2. We recommend that you read the Urban Heat Island Investigation Teacher Guide prior to implementing this investigation. The Teacher Guide contains detailed content and pedagogical support materials that are not described on this Web page.
    
3. The instructional materials have been developed for use in a specific geographic location. The MS Word versions can be modified for implementing the investigation in other locations.
   
    

Important Implentation Notes:

1. When setting your data collection area on the Esri Collector App, Make sure that the blue box encompasses the entire data collection area. If a gathered data point is not in the data collection area, it will not be able to synch to the map.
    
2. Explicitly instruct students to hold their infrared thermometer at knee to waist height and aim down when gathering data. Be sure to tell them that they should not to take a temperature reading of their own shadow.
    
3. If your students experience a problem with the Esri Collector App, such as losing a location point while outside, have them exit out of the Collector App and restart that App.
    
4. It is important to submit data while standing still. If students move while submitting, the data point will appear in a different location than where the data was collected. Clicking the map image before submitting will move their data point to the location where the map is touched.
    
5. It is recommended that you explicitly model to your students how to use the ARCGIS.com tool features before they begin that part of the investigation. They should understand how to view and interpret the legend, add features, and change colors of a designated area.
    
6. Question # 14 requires students to estimate land cover type percentages. Instead, you may wish to have students calculate percentages for their assigned areas. The UHI Classroom Areas layer contains the land cover area for each type of land cover. It is recommended that you explicitly model how to display the land use type area data by clicking on a numbered field area and expanding the data display window. We also recommend that you model how to calculate the percentage of a land area type: Land use type divided by Total Area X 100.
    
7. If students are unable to finish their map drawings during a class period, they should save their map using the Save tool. The first time the students save, they will select “Save As” and give their map a name. They can click “Save” any other time they wish to save their map.