2 
examples in the form of satellite images, which considerably If we analyze in terms of cost/benefit, these data are not Par 
raises the price of this type of material; expensive when used in research projects and remote sensing har 
lack of institutional and financial support towards making applications, but for the generation of educational material they pro 
educational material. still present high costs. elal 
Several attempts have been made by the space agencies and “to 
to resolve the problems referring to the lack of educational distributors of data in the sense of solving this problem, moi 
material, the following actions are suggested : generating kits of images at a low cost, but these are not tim 
developed in the form of educational material, they are groups tim< 
to promote together with the financing organisms the diffusion of images that can be used by more experienced teachers in this 
of remote sensing in such a way that motivates these organisms area. Parallel, a lot of times the economic difficulties of the and 
to finance the generation of didactic material; developing countries end up annulling such efforts. his 
to request the cooperation and the support of the distributor of 
space data and from the private companies as well as the space To hinder more the situation, the market of textbooks on Mai 
agencies, for the obtaining of such data a low cost for teaching remote sensing is not as wide as the one of other areas of the it, b 
activities; sciences, such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, geology, rese 
to favor vinculated actions with the private sector that foment biology, etc. thrc 
the generation and distribution of educational material; edu 
to motivate the education autorities at national and regional The textbooks on the subject, need a great amount of pro! 
level, to support the publication and distribution of educational illustrations and examples of satellite images that, since they are 
material with remote sensing data; generally colored, excessively raise the price of their It is 
to motivate and to give means to the educational ones and publication and consequent uninterest on the part of the acti' 
researchers to elaborate educational material to support remote publishers to publish them edui 
sensing teaching; 
to motivate the universities that possess publication centers to Mentioning Brazil and Latin America as examples, there are EDI 
generate educational material and make its popularization only three basic books on the subject, all published at least 7 
through scientific societies. years ago, without new editions. In the Spanish language there Con 
to create together with the universities a visiting teacher’s is only one. And even so published by a Spanish and not a dev< 
scholarship with the specific objective of producing educational Latin-American author. In spite of being in its third edition and Ren 
material; being of very good quality, all examples in the book refer to Insti 
to create in all the scientific meetings, related with remote Europe. PRC 
sensing, space that the specialists, who generates educational mat« 
material, can make its popularization. There are also textbooks that approach themes such as digital to tl 
images processing and geoprocessing, themes thoroughly used terti 
WHY GENERATE EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL FOR in the remote sensing projects, all of excellent quality, but that acce 
THE TEACHING OF REMOTE SENSING ? are assentially dedicates to researchers and superior level 
professionals. The 
One of the great problems faced for generation of educational 
material for the Practically there is almost no educational material turned to the to p; 
teaching of remote sensing, in developing countries, is the high teaching of primary, secondary and tertiary teaching (mainly appl 
cost of the data technical teaching) or document of a more informative the 
approach, that could be used at professionals training that do mate 
Unfortunately for some schools and even universities, this not work directly with remote sensing, but that can influence in to d 
material in the analogical its diffusion, such as decision makers, opinion formers, acqi 
or digital form continues to be very expensive. For example, administrators, planners, lawyers, etc in si 
each quadrant, three channels, costs around US$ 723.00, this, in to s< 
a country that has its own reception antenna. This happens because the use of orbital images for the study of rese; 
the environment is very recent, it is only 34 years old, which to n 
These costs still increase, when it is a country that does not makes that its universe is still considered small in relation to part 
possess its own antenna, as it is the case of most of the other areas of the science and technology, more traditional. of re 
developing countries. In these countries the costs of the images to rr 
in the digital form can be above US$ 3,000.00. Even so, it is necessary to create textbooks or pedagogic educ 
notebooks to be used as educational material at all levels of 
This has forbidden that many technical schools and formal teaching , in such a way that the universe of users of Th> 
undergraduation courses use these data in a wide way, hindering remote sensing data can be enlarged and, consequently, make then 
in this way that their students have contact with remote sensing this technology widely used in benefit of the preservation of data 
during their formation period. natural resources. wide 
mair 
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