Environmental Science Education Programs: Opportunities for Geographers

Abstract

Environmental agencies in most states have an environmental education Web page that can point geography teachers to a variety of opportunities and resources to enhance their teaching. Most states provide linkages to local and national programs such as Project WET and Project WILD, and access to lesson plans and other teaching materials. A number of state agencies have environmental resource centers, teacher workshops, and grant programs for field trips and class projects. A few states have workshops that provide graduate academic credit and special certification. Much of the content of these programs contributes to fundamental geographic education themes as specified in the 1983 Guidelines in Geographic Education K–12 and Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994.     

Preservice Geography Education

Abstract

Improving preservice education, especially geography preservice education, is difficult because few geography faculty understand the teacher education process, many education professors who prepare geography teachers are not geographically well-educated, education and geography faculties do not communicate effectively, and efforts by alliances and other organizations have focused on inservice teachers, for the most part. Recommendations to improve preservice education in geography are offered. The authors argue that none of these recommendations should be implemented without considering its relationship with all of the components of the geography education system.     

Experienced Teacher Participation in Preservice Programs: A Model in Geography at the University of Northern Colorado

Abstract

This paper discusses a model program for preparing secondary geography teachers in the Department of Geography at the University of Northern Colorado. The key feature of the program is the presence of an outstanding secondary teacher in residence throughout the year who team-teaches the Teaching Methods in Geography and World Geography courses with geography faculty, modeling effective ways of teaching the subject. Students are paired with Colorado Geographic Alliance teacher-consultants in summer institutes and for student teaching. Analysis of formative evaluation data collected through the third year provides some measure of the program's success. Students have responded favorably to the use of a variety of teaching strategies, the opportunity to discuss with faculty why certain strategies are utilized, and how their own constructed lessons have worked in their student teaching. They have also reported that their understanding of geography has improved from taking the team-taught courses.     

Farewell to Bongo,Ahab and Iglook

Abstract

Hilltop Geography is a year-long integrated geography program that involves first and second graders in a hands-on laboratory approach to exploring their immediate environment while at the same time providing a stepping stone to their understanding of the world. This article will describe how teachers and students in a rural New Mexico school have been utilizing the semi-arid hills surrounding their building as an outdoor geography learning laboratory, involving parents and the local community in the process.     

Overcoming Geographic Innocence in Geography Education

Abstract

This article deals with the issue of providing geographic training to prospective teachers from the perspective of a secondary school teacher who also teaches a social studies methods course. Research in educational journals provided a background for describing the lack of geographic training among social studies teachers. While the National Geographic Society's alliance network is addressing this issue among practicing teachers, there is still a need to include some geography training for preservice teachers. Suggestions are offered for including geography within the context of the social studies methods course. A plea is also made for geography professors to include the new National Geography Standards in their courses, especially in introductory courses.     

Geographical Notes

Abstract

To improve student retention and to combat problems of declining enrollments, many colleges are turning to freshman or first year experience (FYE) programs. These programs are designed to aid students in the transition to college, and in doing so make students more satisfied and more successful in their new environments. FYE programs are offered in many forms, one of which is to offer FYE instruction as an integral part of the existing curriculum. Using existing courses makes the inclusion of introductory geography courses viable for FYE programs. The inclusion of FYE-related materials in an Introduction to Geography course, as illustrated here, can result in greater student satisfaction with faculty and the institution as a whole, higher rates of retention, and student skill development without a significant loss in geographic course content. Although the resulting improvements may be modest, when projected over an entire incoming class, even small gains may affect significant numbers of students. Participation in FYE may give geography programs greater exposure to incoming students and could help to attract new majors to the discipline.     

Making the Connections: Infusing the National Geography Standards into the Classroom

Abstract

How will the National Geography Standards change the way teachers teach? The Standards will provide teachers with a geographic perspective that will enable them to teach improved geography content while building geographic skills and knowledge that will benefit their students for the rest of their lives. By taking a fresh look at the content in the curriculum from a geographic perspective, teachers can make connections between the Geography Standards and our own classrooms. The Standards provide information and strategies for teaching geography. They can be used to create lessons which offer opportunities for students to “do” geography and apply the skills they are learning.     

Future Teachers of Geography: Whose Opportunity?

Abstract

Although geography is being revived in the K-12 curriculum, preservice teachers—candidates for the teaching profession—now in our universities are not universally reaping the benefits of cooperative efforts of geography and college of education faculty. Reform is appropriate in both camps. Colleges of education, influenced by many agents, including Certificate/licensing regulations, accrediting agencies, professional organizations, and a stream of reform movements, are bringing education to the level of a true profession. The dimensions of the reform underway and several key players offer great opportunities for geography education and for improving the general climate for teaching excellence in institutions of higher learning. Candidates for the new teaching profession and their education faculty are teaching and learning collaboratively, and conducting research in diverse school districts. Geographers have new reasons and new opportunities to participate in the education of the geography teachers of tomorrow.     

Geographers' Forum

Abstract

The Local Community: A Handbook for Teachers is an effective text and organizational framework for developing a course on the geography of a state which combines elements of introductory geography, regional geography, and geographic methods for a graduate class composed of practicing teachers generally inadequately trained in geography. Through a series of distinct, yet integrated steps teachers are exposed to the conceptual and methodological basics of the field, comprehensive analysis of regional patterns of the state, and specific strategies for teaching the geography of the state and the local community. Teachers leave the course knowing not only what to teach about the geography of a state, but how to teach it.     

Using Action Research to Implement the National Geography Standards: Teachers as Researchers

Abstract

Action research is defined as systematic classroom-based inquiry to solve teacher-perceived problems. It has been a component of education, particularly professional staff development, for the past century under several names although geography educators in the United States have rarely used it for this, or any other, purpose. This paper reviews the literature on action research in order to argue for its use in geography education. A preliminary exploration of action research-based professional staff development is described. The results of the project indicate that action research is potentially useful as a way to guide teachers to reflect on their practice. It is argued that geography educators should include it in their repertoire of reform techniques.     

AIDS to Successful Photography

Abstract

The National Geographic Society's Geography Education Program continues to work on improving geography in the nation's schools. A successful network of geography education Alliances is in place across the United States. These state-based Alliances emphasize grass-roots involvement by teachers and other geography educators. Features of the Geography Education Program include inservice teacher training at Alliance-sponsored summer institutes, institutes held at the Society's headquarters in Washington, and specialized institutes devoted to a specific topic such as technology in education, or water issues. In the near future, the Society's projects include urban outreach, technology training and application, development of preservice programs, and the implementation and dissemination of world-class standards in geography.     

Establishing Preservice Partnerships: Geography and Social Studies

Abstract

Great strides have occurred in geographic education resulting in the development of new geographic teaching strategies and geography materials. Despite these developments, many social studies methods professors are still using outdated geographic materials, methods, and techniques. In 1992, the Missouri Geographic Alliance established a unique relationship with social studies methods professors in Missouri. This partnership was established at a four-day, intensive geography/social studies conference that used an innovative model for its development. The outcome of this conference was a strong partnership between social studies methods professors and geographers in Missouri. A result of this partnership has been an increase in the number of beginning teachers involved in the alliance movement, and ultimately, the use of up-to-date geographic teaching strategies, methods, and materials in their classrooms.     

Modern Agriculture in Advanced Placement Human Geography

Abstract

This article is an overview of the agriculture section in the outline of the Advanced Placement (AP) human geography course. It is intended to provide a more detailed framework on which teachers may develop their own curriculum for the AP class. Special emphasis is given to the practice of agriculture in contemporary industrial societies. It also encourages teachers to balance the cultural and historical views of agriculture contained in many textbooks with an economic and geographic focus. Agribusiness is also given special treatment.     

Geography Education Across the Atlantic at the Geographical Association

Abstract

The Geographical Association (GA) is an international association of over 10,000 geography educators headquartered in Sheffield, England. The National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) and the GA have similar goals. The GA's annual conferences provide an excellent opportunity to begin geography education partnerships between the NCGE and the GA. Operating exhibits and teaching workshops on geographic information systems at the last three Geographical Association conferences at universities in England afforded the opportunity to network with teachers and pave the way for future collaboration.     

The National Geography Standards and Your Undergraduate Curriculum: The Opportunity That Knocks More Than Once

Abstract

Geography For Life: National Geography Standards 1994 offers university geographers opportunities in the areas of program assessment and development. This article describes an assessment process that is applicable to both individual courses and geography programs. The process can strengthen programs by making them more consistent. As a result, geography may have a more powerful presence in teacher certification programs. Additional techniques for enhancing geography's role in preservice education curricula are also outlined. Finally, the article expresses concern that geographers at the university level will not take the recently published National Geography Standards seriously, thinking they apply only to K-12 education. They are challenged to extend the Standards' scope and content to the baccalaureate degree.     

Editorial

Abstract

Project GeoSim is a multidisciplinary effort by members of Virginia Tech's Departments of Geography and Computer Science, College of Education, and Learning Resources Center to develop computer-aided education (CAE) software for introductory geography and related classes. GeoSim laboratory exercises draw on the five fundamental themes of geography for their subject matter. The programs emphasize interactive learning combining the information capabilities of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with the techniques of computer simulation. The result is a series of geographic explorations that will make available some of the most exciting aspects of geography to a potential audience of 425,000 introductory geography students per year.     

Changing Perspectives in High School World Geography: 1950–2005

Abstract

This study set out to better understand the changing links between geography and citizenship. Content analysis was conducted on eighteen high school world geography textbooks and state/national standards. Interviews were conducted with teachers and textbook authors. Five significant changes were noted: decline of national orientation and a greater focus on non-Western cultures; greater emphasis upon consumption over production; the accentuation of values clarification; increasing coverage of basic or prevocational skills; and standardization of format and content in textbooks. Many of these changes point towards a new cosmopolitan citizenship model, although some teachers and state social studies standards still see geography from a national perspective.     

Geography and Afro-America: The Anatomy of a Graduate Training and Curriculum Development Project

Abstract

This paper outlines the experimental programs of the Commission on Geography and Afro-America in its attempt to develop a multi-phased graduate training and assistance program leading toward the improvement of geography programs at predominantly black institutions of higher education. Comments on the status of geography at black colleges and universities are made as well as an assessment of the black college role in higher education. The commission's objectives, its varied activities and programs are also discussed. Throughout the paper, an attempt is made to informally evaluate progress to date and to speculate on the commission's future programs and directions.     

Looking Toward the Future: A Concepts,Themes, and Standards Approach to Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

Preservice teacher education based on content, skills, and perspectives specified in Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994 is essential for dissemination of the Standards to classrooms all across the country. Curricular materials are often structured around the five fundamental themes of geography; however, it is essential that teacher preparation courses integrate the content of the Standards into the themes of location, place, human—environment interaction, and region. One model of this approach to preservice education, as summarized here, provides future teachers with a conceptual basis for learning and teaching geography, enhancing opportunities for disseminating solid geography content to all grade levels nationwide.     

Challenges of Teaching Advanced Placement Human Geography

Abstract

The new Advanced Placement (AP) human geography course is a wonderful opportunity to ensure the availability of high quality geographic education for high school students. As with any course, in addition to the students' interest and ability, their success is also closely linked to the teachers' preparation. In order to be as well prepared as possible, most AP human geography teachers want and need to know several things in addition to the course content. Questions addressed include how to promote the course, who to promote it to, necessary geographic background for both students and teachers, recommended texts and other resources, how to prepare students for the examination, and how to incorporate the course into the school curriculum.