Design and Practice of “Lightweight Simulation Experiments” for Geography Data Analysis Courses in the Digital and Intelligent Era

In the era of digital intelligence and the booming development of Earth observation technologies, the rapid accumulation of geo-spatiotemporal big data, coupled with the continuous deepening of geographical thought methods and technical models, jointly constitute the core driving force for the theoretical development of geography and innovation in the geography industry. In the face of this era of transformation, promoting the digital and intelligent transformation of education and cultivating composite talents with computational thinking, digital literacy, and intelligent computing skills has become a historic mission and valuable opportunity entrusted to universities in the new era. Geography data analysis courses in higher education bear the responsibility of nurturing computational thinking among innovative geography talents. Among these, the experimental design component of such courses is particularly crucial, imposing high requirements on instructors to rigorously conceive, meticulously design, and repeatedly explore. In response to the constraining factors currently faced in the experimental design of this series of courses, such as unreasonable difficulty gradients, challenges in developing students' practical abilities, and poor interdisciplinary integration, this study innovatively proposes a "lightweight simulation experiment" course design model. By introducing convenient IoT sensor devices and leveraging cloud platforms and other technological means, the aim is to comprehensively optimize course experimental design from multiple aspects, including stimulating students' interest in learning, cultivating their practical abilities, promoting interdisciplinary thinking, and improving quantitative assessment dimensions of the course. This study will contribute to an in-depth analysis of the difficulties and breakthrough paths in the current teaching development of geography data analysis courses, providing strong support for the high-quality development of related geography courses in Chinese universities and enhancing the level of cultivating innovative geography talents.