Session Focus<\/h4>\n
Middle School\/Junior High<\/span> | Geospatial Technology <\/span>\u00a0| U.S. Focused<\/span><\/p>\n Byrd<\/p>\n Dr. Brandon J. Beck<\/strong> is an Assistant Professor of Secondary Social Studies and Africana Studies Affiliate Faculty at UMBC. After earning his Ph.D. from Clemson University in 2025, he joined UMBC to teach courses in social studies foundations and preservice teacher preparation. His research explores the history of Black education, community- based pedagogies, and the use of oral histories to foster reparative social justice. As a social studies education and history of Black education scholar, Dr. Beck draws on his experience as a former middle school department chair to advocate for culturally sustainable classrooms.<\/p>\n Summary Computer mapping using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) has become the way all modern maps are made, and GIS has become much more accessible and easier to use. This session […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":23317,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","_tribe_events_is_hybrid":"","_tribe_events_is_virtual":"","_tribe_events_virtual_video_source":"","_tribe_events_virtual_embed_video":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button_text":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_at":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_to":[],"_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_event":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_views":"","_tribe_events_virtual_url":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[89,116],"tribe_events_cat":[107],"class_list":["post-24064","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-annual-conference","tag-saturday-afternoon-session","tribe_events_cat-conference-sessions","cat_conference-sessions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/24064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/24064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24065,"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/24064\/revisions\/24065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24064"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=24064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Conference Room<\/h4>\n
Meet the Presenter<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Todd-Kenreich-photo-NCGE-295x300.jpeg\")
Todd Kenreich<\/strong> is a professor of secondary and middle school education at Towson University in Maryland, and he is the co-director of the Maryland Geographic Alliance.
\nHis interests chiefly lie in the areas of geography education and global citizenship education. With a range of international experiences, Kenreich seeks to prepare cosmopolitan teachers who can help their students more deeply understand the world and their community. At Towson, he directs Global Citizenship in Education, a graduate certificate program for teachers. In 2008, he was named a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Japan. He has published articles in journals such as Theory and Research in Social Education, Journal of Geography, The Geography Teacher, and Social Studies Research and Practice. He edited Geography and Social Justice in the Classroom, a volume for the Routledge Research in Education book series.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Cathy-Cooper-photo-300x271.jpg\")
Cathy Cooper<\/strong> earned an M.A. in geography at The George Washington University, and then a Ph.D. in geography education from Texas State University. In 2009-2010, she served as a Grosvenor Scholar. For four years, she coordinated \u201cMapping Maryland,\u201d an annual student map competition. Now she enjoys living in a retirement community in Easton, Maryland. The Eastern Shore provides many occasions and entertainments as well as enjoyable opportunities to practice \u201cgeographic exercises\u201d around both physical and cultural lessons. She points out to friends the opportunities of being aware of \u201cthinking geographically.\u201d She enjoys reading articles in the NCGE journals as well as re-reading around some favorite chapters of geographers\u2019 books. She enjoys the study of geography and enjoys sharing observations whether near at hand or farther afield.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ncge.org\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Schmidt-photo-2026-1-216x300.jpg\")
Martin Schmidt<\/strong> teaches science at the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland. He developed an interest in GIS in his work since 1978 as a science teacher, and realized computer mapping is also an excellent tool for geography, social studies, and other disciplines. He helps teachers of any subject develop maps they can use with their students, and learn skills to create exactly the maps they want to engage students in studying our fascinating and varied Earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"