Inquiry-Based Learning in Remote Sensing: A Space Balloon Educational Experiment

Abstract

Teaching remote sensing in higher education has been traditionally restricted in lecture and computer-aided laboratory activities. This paper presents and evaluates an engaging inquiry-based educational experiment. The experiment was incorporated in an introductory remote sensing undergraduate course to bridge the gap between theory and application of relevant technology. During this semester-long experiment, titled ‘ESF goes to space’, students designed, built, launched and successfully acquired imagery from the upper stratospheric parts (approximately 27 000 m). Replication guidelines are presented and a post-evaluation discusses benefits and limitations for students, instructors and university.

Keywords:

• Inquiry-based learning
• project-based learning
• hands-on learning
• amateur remote sensing
• educational assessment

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through a New Investigator Award for Dr Mountrakis (award NNX08AR11G), a grant targeting integration of research and educational activities for untenured faculty. The authors would like to thank the students participating in this experiment and the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript.