Editorial: The Louisiana Purchase

Abstract

This article describes various materials on the World Wide Web that can be effectively utilized in courses on natural hazards and physical geography. Specific Internet addresses are provided for teachers who wish to access various hazard warnings, satellite images, hazard vulnerability maps, reports, and other data concerning geophysical, hydrologic, and meteorological hazards. Suggested strategies for classroom use of this information are also provided. References are made to previous articles in the Journal of Geography that can provide guidance for teachers using the abundant hazards data accessible via the Internet.     

Flood insurance and extreme events: the role of crisis in prompting changes in British institutional response to flood hazard

Insurance represents an effective response to natural hazards, spreading the cost of damage in space and time. The development of flood insurance for buildings and building contents in the UK is examined in order to assess the extent to which it fits a crisis-oriented model whereby changes in the nature and effectiveness of the response are triggered directly (and exclusively) by individual hazard events. The model is confirmed in outline, some factors influencing the imperfect link between insurance innovation and individual flood events are identified, and implications both of the widespread insurance cover availability and of the crisis orientation evident in the evolution of insurance policy are discussed.     

Colorado’s Millennial Generation: Youth Perceptions and Experiences of Nature

Abstract

This study uses survey and focus group methods to explore attitudes toward and experiences of nature among millennial-aged students in northern Colorado. First, results confirm that young people possess a strong interest in the outdoors yet time, transportation, and new technologies hamper their ability to visit public lands and outdoor spaces. Second, respondents experience nature in ways more mediated by new technologies such as cell phones and nature DVDs. Third, citizen science and active learning show promise as techniques for returning young people to the outdoors. The challenge lies in teaching young people to reimagine the outdoors not as elsewhere or out there but as a backyard geographic space.     

Journal Writing and the Development of Spatial Thinking Skills

Abstract

Informal journal writing in freshman level World Regional Geography classes is discussed as an active learning method that helps students to develop their spatial perspective and gain a better understanding of the interconnected nature of geographic phenomena. In particular, students read about events in the world and write their ideas about the geographic nature and implications of those events. Thinking spatially and thinking critically by creating their own framework for interpreting the event and applying concepts learned in class means that students are actively participating in their own learning. Ongoing instructor feedback and assessment are essential to this learning activity and are discussed as part of this exercise.     

The role of personal experiences in Norwegian perceptions of climate change

ABSTRACT

It is commonly assumed that personal experiences of a changing climate will influence people’s attitudes to the extent that they will be more likely to acknowledge anthropogenic climate change as a real threat and therefore be more willing to accept both mitigation and adaptation efforts. In the article, the authors examine how survey participants’ personal experiences of extreme events and climate-related changes in the natural environment influenced their perceptions of climate change. Using data from a nationally representative survey conducted in Norway in 2015 and the results of logistic regressions, the authors find that individual observations of changes in nature were linked to higher levels of concern with regard to climate change, as well as to attitudes that were more positive towards personal mitigation and adaption efforts. Somewhat counter-intuitively, they also find that participants who had personally experienced a natural hazard event were less concerned about climate change compared with participants without such experiences. The authors conclude that personal experience of the consequences of climate change may in some cases have a limited effect on enhancing people’s concerns about climate change.     

Fire In The Management Of Vegetation

Abstract

Fire, either natural or man-caused, has influenced the pattern of vegetation in numerous areas over the earth. Factors that contribute to potential damage to either the vegetation and/or environment are examined. Since the extent of damage varies, a fire can be destructive or useful. The use of “prescribed” fire in land management accomplishes several desired objectives, one of which is the perpetuation of certain fire-climax vegetation types, such as pines and some grasses. In those pine-forested areas where fire is regularly used in management, a related benefit is the reduction of hazardous natural fuels, which results in fewer catastrophic wildfires. Air pollution due to forest burning is also considered.     

A Proposal for Assessment in Geography Education

Abstract

The geographic skills, as outlined in Geography for Life, provide an avenue for assessing students' work in geography. If used across the scope and sequence of the curriculum, a common scoring guide based on these skills offers opportunities for students to demonstrate their ability to use inquiry approaches to study geography and to improve those abilities over time and over different geographic questions. If used consistently, a geographic skills scoring guide can also help to communicate to a broader audience of parents, administration, and the public as to what the discipline of geography encompasses.     

Geography Current

Abstract

Broadening the intercultural awareness and international outlook of undergraduate students is best achieved through active rather than passive learning. The international student interview provides an excellent strategy for such active learning in introductory human geography classes. It allows American-born students to enter into a dialogue with students from other countries and learn about their cultures while simultaneously reexamining their own society and cultural frames of reference. The exercise also provides instructors with an opportunity to discuss the ethics and social practices associated with interviewing. Feedback from University of Georgia students completing this assignment underscored these benefits and provided suggestions for refinement of the exercise.     

Agnotology as a Teaching Tool: Learning Climate Science by Studying Misinformation

Abstract

Foreign travel for secondary school teachers is beneficial for enhancement of classroom curriculum. The dual nature of the U.S. Navy-National Geographic co-sponsored trips is key to enriching the global geography perspective in the classroom. A travel study to Japan provides in-service benefit for teacher peers and community groups by enhancing geography through the link between the natural and social sciences.     

Lesson Plans in Geography

Abstract

This article advocates that geography teachers undertake field studies of human systems with their students. A field trip process is described that helps teachers to guide students to explore and analyze a real human system with the expressed goal of building skills that can transfer to and complement a wide range of geographic learning tasks identified in Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994. Students are taken to a human system, such as a supermarket or a hotel. In groups, students interview as well as tour with a representative of a key department of the human system. Using teacher-supplied materials, groups create models or visual schematics of the whole human system they studied. The model must show the complex as a collection of interdependent elements with distinct functions. The learning outcomes achieved by students are a collection of geographic skills ideal for transfer to subsequent geographic investigations of urban places and or regions.     

The Tornado Hazard In Southern New England: History,Characteristics, Student And Teacher Perceptions

Abstract

People generally do not perceive New England to be tornado-prone. Yet, there is a long history of such storms in the six states going back to the late seventeenth century. Usually, New England tornadoes are small and short-lived; even so, some have caused many deaths and much property damage. There is a greater probability for a person to be affected by a tornado in southern New England than in much of the American Midwest. As building and population density increases, so does the hazard potential. Data from awareness surveys indicate that the lack of tornado knowledge remains a serious problem for teachers, students, and the public, and government information about such storms is not being widely disseminated.     

The Fall of Threatening Rock: A Geomorphology Exercise Adaptation

Abstract

The Threatening Rock mass wasting event at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, in 1941 introduces students to a well-documented geomorphology case study. Based on data from Schumm and Chorley (1964), students examine the event using rock movement measurements and weather data, undertaking the same analysis tasks as the original investigators. Students observe patterns of movement related to precipitation and temperature, and use regression to estimate the time of initial movement. Specific exercise questions guide students to logical conclusions regarding geomorphic processes and environmental influences. The exercise exemplifies geomorphic investigation from both a process and historic perspective.     

Great Powers and Geopolitical Change

Abstract

Most traditional segregation measures, such as the index of dissimilarity D, fail to distinguish spatial patterns effectively. Previously proposed spatial measures modifying D suffer from several shortcomings. This article describes a general spatial segregation index based upon the concept of composite population counts, which are derived from grouping people in neighboring areas together to account implicitly for spatial interaction of groups across unit boundaries. The suggested spatial index can overcome the disadvantages of previous indices and can assess the spatial extent of the segregated clusters. The results offer a more comprehensive depiction of spatial segregation of a region.

     

A Field-Based Technique for Teaching about Habitat Fragmentation and Edge Effects

Abstract

This article presents a field technique that exposes students to the indirect effects of habitat fragmentation on plant distributions through studying edge effects. This assignment, suited for students in an introductory biogeography or resource geography class, increases students' knowledge of basic biogeographic concepts such as environmental gradients and disturbance in addition to formulating research questions and design. In this exercise, fieldwork can be implemented with simple tools that are easily obtainable and found in most physical geography labs. In this example, student response to the exercise was positive; they indicated that the exercise was a fun and interactive way to learn fundamental biogeographic concepts.     

Retarded Children and the Concepts of Distance and Direction

Abstract

Ideally the test questions we give to students reflect our educational objectives. Recent curriculum developments in geography show a change in these objectives, from an emphasis on imparting knowledge towards a greater stress on involving students in solving geographic problems. Most teachers, however, are accustomed to writing questions which measure factual knowledge. What kinds of questions can we ask which would be better aligned with our objectives? This paper is an attempt to indicate some such questions. It discusses aspects of test design, item classification, and styles of presentation which facilitate the preparation of tests measuring a variety of objectives. It also comments briefly on student performance on different kinds of items.     

Titles Of Theses

This essay questions the effectiveness of nuclear winter modeling as a means of impacting nuclear policy and changing public attitudes about nuclear issues. In nuclear winter modeling, humanistic concern over the possibility of global environmental destruction is cloaked in the ostensibly neutral language of science. Nuclear winter modeling attempts to apply rational argument to an issue that is rooted instead in human affect and morality. The implications of this misappropriation are discussed in terms of the dehumanizing nature of the images conjured up by nuclear winter, its attention to the effects of nuclear weapons rather than deeper structural problems, and its political ambiguity as a function of unresolvable uncertainty in model results.     

Configurations of community in flood risk management

ABSTRACT

Despite a notable increase in the literature on community resilience, the notion of ‘community’ remains underproblematised. This is evident within flood risk management (FRM) literature, in which the understanding and roles of communities may be acknowledged but seldom discussed in any detail. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how community networks are configured by different actors, whose roles and responsibilities span spatial scales within the context of FRM. Accordingly, the authors analyse findings from semi-structured interviews, policy documents, and household surveys from two flood prone areas in Finnish Lapland. The analysis reveals that the ways in which authorities, civil society, and informal actors take on multiple roles are intertwined and form different types of networks. By implication, the configuration of community is fuzzy, elusive and situated, and not confined to a fixed spatiality. The authors discuss the implications of the complex nature of community for FRM specifically, and for community resilience more broadly. They conclude that an analysis of different actors across scales contributes to an understanding of the configuration of community, including community resilience, and how the meaning of community takes shape according to the differing aims of FRM in combination with differing geographical settings.     

Population change in Urban areas

Abstract

Changes in the size of urban populations involve the demographic processes of migration and natural change; in many metropolitan areas the balance of births and deaths is more important than the number of in-migrants. Two exercises are described that have been developed from models of population change. These models, in turn, are derived from concepts contained in General Systems Theory. Discussion of these exercises and the results provides a useful introduction to various aspects of urban growth and to the role and nature of models in studying urban processes.