Active Learning Strategies and Assessment in World Geography Classes

Abstract

Active learning strategies include a variety of methods, such as inquiry and discovery, in which students are actively engaged in the learning process. This article describes several strategies that can be used in secondary-or college-level world geography courses. The goal of these activities is to foster development of a spatial perspective in students through frequent analysis and interpretation of spatial data. Detailed examples of one particular technique, the “atlas warmup”, are included. Active approaches supplement expository teaching of standards-based geography concepts and current geographic issues. Assessment of the impact of these methods reveals the need for ongoing guided practice in the use of these skills.     

The Establishment of the Validities of Experimental Materials in Geography

Abstract

This paper describes the various procedures followed in validating some research tools to be used to investigate pupils' attitudes toward and achievements in geography taught by programmed instruction. The research tools consist of learning materials and measuring instruments. The learning materials include five geography programmed texts, five conventional texts in geography, and a familiarization program in civics. The measuring instruments also include a geography achievement test, and two attitude questionnaires designed to measure attitudes toward geography and programmed instruction. The paper highlights the roles of formative evaluation in preparing curriculum materials in geography.     

Rural and Urban: Using American FactFinder on the Census Bureau Web Site Lesson Plan: Grades Four through Eight

Abstract

Regional survey courses are often perceived as ancillary to the systematic foci taught by geography programs. This situation stands in contrast to the recent recovery of place and region as key elements in the practice and theory of geography. In this article, I outline one possible approach for bridging the gap between regional geography's revival in theory and research and its instruction in the classroom. This approach is described in the context of a survey course about the former Soviet Union—a region where the conventional boundaries of place have been severely questioned by political, economic, and social upheavals.     

A Scoring Guide for Assessing Issues-based Geographic Inquiry on the World Wide Web

Abstract

Inquiry-based learning has a long tradition in geography education, and many faculty members are using inquiry to tap the constructivist potential of the World Wide Web. This paper reports on the development of a scoring guide that assesses the degree to which teaching materials support issues-based geographic inquiry. The scoring guide was tested in a content analysis of geographers⁷ Web-based teaching materials. The results of the preliminary analysis suggest that relatively few geography teaching materials on the Web bear the characteristics of inquiry. Additional research is needed to determine whether teaching materials on the Web are facilitating a shift toward constructivist practice in the discipline.     

The Use of Maps in the Teaching of Geography

Abstract

Coyote teaching emphasizes learning community, long term mentoring, a need for learning, ownership of learning, heightened sensory awareness, storytelling, purposefully designed tricks, and the Socratic method to promote lifelong learning and a new generation of coyote teachers. Many of these methods are found in other educational philosophies but seem to be fully integrated in the coyote teaching method. Because geography is integrative, it seems a logical discipline in which to apply this method. Each of the characteristics of coyote teaching has its unique place in geography education. This article demonstrates how each of these components of coyote teaching can be readily employed, enhanced, and, more importantly, integrated into geographic education and inculcated into multiple generations of geography educators.     

Linking Theories of Service-Learning and Undergraduate Geography Education

Abstract

Service-learning, or community-based experiential learning is receiving much deserved attention as an alternative or addition to the traditional university lecture. This approach to learning not only establishes valid linkages between the university and the community or public sector, but allows course participants to practice responsible citizenship while acquiring practical work experience. The main objective of this article is to establish the theoretical linkages between undergraduate geography education and service-learning. It is argued that community service-based learning is allied with pragmatic and constructivist theories, and may enhance undergraduate geographic education. Second, some of the strategies employed to establish effective university-community partnerships and offer students “hands-on” experience are introduced. In an upper-division land use planning course, the class first compiled a draft comprehensive plan that was adopted by the planning commission of a recently incorporated municipality, then assisted with plans for open space preservation and environmental protection in the community. A review of the course objectives and the planning project exemplifies the benefits of service-learning and its appropriate application to geography.     

Gender vs. Sex Differences: Factors Affecting Performance in Geographic Education

Abstract

Much has been written about sex differences in learning, but less attention has been paid to the impacts of gender—which is socially constructed—on learning geography. This article investigates whether differences in gender influence performance on a standardized test of geography knowledge. Undergraduate students in two large clases completed a standardized inventory of gender differences and then completed a standardized test of geography knowledge. The results of our analysis of the correlation between gender traits and geographic learning resulted in somewhat unexpected results, as well as a set of complex questions for further research on learning styles in geographic education.     

SOIL SURVEYS AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS TO BE USED WITH SAMPLE AREAS DEPICTED IN THE LOOK OF OUR LAND—AN AIRPHOTO ATLAS OF THE RURAL UNITED STATES

Considering the influence of German geography on the historic development of the discipline in North America, surprisingly little communication takes place between German-speaking and English-speaking geographers today. This report is intended to provide readers of THE PROFESSIONAL GEOGRAPHER with a review of recent events in the German-speaking countries of Europe, giving special attention to ways in which ideological differences have influenced geographic research in the two parts of divided Germany. It also traces the emergence of theoretical-quantitative geography in German research, the rise of applied research, and recent trends in regional geography.     

Concept Mapping Strategies: Content,Tools and Assessment for Human Geography

Abstract

This article examines the use of concept mapping for formative and summative assessment of northeast Florida middle school students’ knowledge of human geography. The students were participants in an afterschool, academic, college reach-out program that provided opportunities to test concept mapping strategies that support spatial thinking and stimulate interest in human geography. The study documents the use of concept mapping for assessment of seventh graders’ achievement of a specific lesson and for students’ human geography achievement across all implementation grades. Concept mapping results provided insight into aspects of the curriculum and instruction where appropriate modifications could better facilitate meaningful learning.     

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.     

The Council at Work

Abstract

The field of geography education is sadly lacking in empirical data that might inform and underpin decisions about standard setting, curriculum design, materials development, teaching strategies, and assessment procedures. Large quantities of high-quality data are necessary if geography is to be successfully implemented in the American education system. This article advances four needs that, if met, would generate the data necessary to make the case for geography in America's schools. We need a new attitude towards research, a series of baseline studies, a research agenda, and a research clearinghouse if we are to make a convincing case for geography in America's schools.     

Spatial Thinking Concepts in Early Grade-Level Geography Standards

ABSTRACT

Research in the cognition and learning sciences has demonstrated that the human brain contains basic structures whose functions are to perform a variety of specific spatial reasoning tasks and that children are capable of learning basic spatial concepts at an early age. There has been a call from within geography to recognize research on spatial cognition in a meaningful way in primary school curriculum. This article utilizes the spatial thinking taxonomy proposed by Gersmehl and Gersmehl (2006) to examine to the extent to which spatial thinking concepts are being practiced in U.S. schools. The National Geography Standards and forty-nine state social studies or geography standards are examined. Using standards as a measure of geography content, it is concluded that while some of spatial thinking concepts appear often in curriculum, others are largely absent. Designing geography standards that address the findings of spatial cognition research may serve as a means of improving geography instruction.     

Differential Adoption of Internet-based Teaching Practices in College Geography

Abstract

Innovation diffusion research has shown that users of innovations have identifiable characteristics that can be used to differentiate them from nonusers. This research classifies practitioners of Internet-based teaching in college geography and relates adoption patterns to faculty members' research specialty, place of employment, teaching experience, and academic rank. All variables except academic rank were related to faculty members' adoption of and approach to Internet-based teaching. The results of the study provide insight into how the Internet is being used to teach geography in higher education.     

Fifteen Year Follow-Up Geography Skills Test Administered in Indiana, 1987 and 2002

Abstract

After fifteen years of geographic education efforts, a baseline geography skills test was repeated in Indiana. In 2002, 2,278 students in college freshman geography courses were tested with a revision of the National Council for Geographic Education Competency-Based Geography Test, Secondary Level Form II. The test measured geographic ability in map skills, place name location, physical geography, and human geography. As in 1987, the 2002 test gathered personal information from each student on age, gender, travel experience, and prior geographic education. Test scores were lower by two percent in 2002. Travel and lifetime experience are again the best teachers of geography as opposed to high school geography course work. Significant performance differences persist between gender and ethnic groups. Arts and science students perform significantly higher than students from education, business, and other schools. Test results underscore the need to emphasize more intentional classroom focus on state standards and preparation of classroom teachers.     

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.     

Green infrastructure,green space,and sustainable urbanism: geography’s important role

ABSTRACT

This paper is a broad review of green infrastructure theory and practice relative to urban sustainability and the space for geographers in these discussions. We use examples from various urban sustainability plans to highlight ways in which green infrastructure is being conceptualized and implemented. We explore how geography contributes research on green infrastructure as well as the emerging practices as seen within sustainability plans. We identify four areas in which geographers can influence both green infrastructure theory and practice: 1) scale; 2) mapping distribution; 3) sensitivity to place and locale; and 4) equity and access. We conclude that in these areas geographers have tremendous opportunity contribute more deliberately to sustainable urbanism.     

Geography and Multiple Abilities Program: Innovations in Teacher Education-Reconnecting Teaching to Students' Needs

Abstract

The University of Alabama is now offering a new and innovative, five-semester program that provides preservice teachers with both knowledge of and skill in using strategies and teaching methods associated with general and special education. The goal of the Multiple Abilities Program (MAP) is to enable teachers to accommodate the wide range of learning styles and developmental readiness for instruction of all learners in a given classroom, regardless of the labels with which the children are identified. This article describes MAP in light of the geography strand of the MAP curriculum. MAP students work with five topics in geography, which they use to develop a greater understanding of how authentic teaching and learning of geography are mediated by cognitive, affective, and social needs of children. MAP students take a particular topic in geography and design and implement instruction for it by creating authentic learning activities that offer elementary school students an opportunity to explore the topic. The variety that is systematically planned into the activities is the major means of accommodating differences in cognitive ability, learning style, level of physical and social development, and cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity.     

Integrating GIS into the Undergraduate Learning Environment

Abstract

Despite the promise of GIS, substantial barriers have prevented its widespread use in geographic education. Among the key factors are technical impediments stemming from software complexity, pedagogic issues related to the lack of experienced faculty and the shortage of curriculum materials, and systemic issues associated with faculty motivation. This case study describes strategies that were employed for addressing each of these barriers in a large enrollment, multisection world geography course. Successful implementation of those strategies has enabled large numbers of students in classes taught by instructors with no formal GIS experience to spend a substantial amount of time learning geography with the help of simple, easy-to-use GIS software applications.     

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.     

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.