On October 8, 2007, students of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District have the day off, but some teachers will be learning about geography during a Professional Development day. Dr. Roger Pearson, UAGP and UAF Professor Emeritus, will team up with Randy Smith Middle School teacher Carl Addington to present two in-service workshops, one to fourth through sixth grade social studies teachers and one to seventh grade geography teachers. Pearson and Addington will focus their presentations on using maps and GIS technology in the classroom.

Carl Addington is well-qualified to present on this topic. He is an ESRI certified Instructor for ArcView, has presented several papers on GIS technology in the classroom and was a contributor to EarthCaching: An Educator's Guide, a curriculum created by the Geological Society of America and the National Geographic Society. Dr. Pearson, co-editor of Alaska in Maps: A Thematic Atlas has experience with AEJEE (ArcExplorer Java Edition for Education) software. He has introduced many K-12 teachers to this software through presentations of this kind.