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.     

A Review of: “Pittsburgh and the Appalachians: Cultural and Natural Resources in a Postindustrial Age”

Abstract

Geography is one of the subjects offered toward a diploma of the International Baccalaureate Organization. Like the others, its syllabus is regularly reviewed and revised to remain current. The advent of a revised syllabus brings overlap that can be challenging for teachers. The syllabus that is now coming to an end was described in 107(4–5) of the Journal of Geography. The present article compares that syllabus with the new one and, particularly, the demands the new syllabus will place on teachers and students alike.     

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.     

WyomingView: No-Cost Remotely Sensed Data for Geographic Education

Abstract

Learning enhanced by visual examples and remotely sensed imagery is a valuable classroom resource for teaching students geographic concepts in a meaningful context. Barriers to the use of imagery include difficulty finding appropriate imagery and the cost of moderate resolution satellite imagery. A program in Wyoming called WyomingView and analogous programs in other states are providing no-cost, preprocessed satellite imagery delivered over the Internet that can help teachers better communicate geospatial knowledge to their students.     

Curricular Changes in the Teaching of Geography in Swiss Upper Secondary Schools: An Attempt to Develop Skills for Lifelong Learning

Abstract

This article is an overview of the curriculum reform in Switzerland in the 1990s. It describes the grass-roots reform process in geography education in upper secondary schools and its impact on the development of new teaching materials. These ancillary materials are based on teaching methods and strategies, the effectiveness of which are empirically shown by results. The teaching units complement the thematic and methodological aims in the national curriculum and the federal regulations and were designed through a partnership of teachers, teacher educators and scientists. They can be translated directly into the practice of teaching and are available free to teachers through the World Wide Web.     

Image Building in the Metro Centers: Some Implications

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that:

(1) High school and college teachers and their students are most likely to achieve success in the field when they are armed with a conceptual framework, a plan for discovering the framework and a body of instructional theory.

(2) There are distinct differences between field teaching or training and field experience.

(3) During a time when many students are dissatisfied with classroom instruction, field experience can revitalize geography teaching in colleges and high schools.

(4) Field experience can create concrete images which are likely to be meaningful for many years.     

The Elementary Social Studies: Sense and Nonsense in Integration

Abstract

The ultimate goal of all geographic education is to have our students think geographically for life. To this end, the five geographic skills sets allow teachers to use the inquiry approach to more accurately observe whether or not geographic thinking is actually taking place. As essential components of these geographic skills, fieldwork, journaling, and stories based on the field experience have proven to be effective tools of inquiry. This article demonstrates how a journal, kept by the author while on an advanced alliance summer institute to Russia in 1996, was used to write an original short story based on the author's fieldwork there. The author's experiences model the five geographic skills sets in developing lesson plans for the original short story, The Dragon and the Anchor. These activities allow the students to sharpen their geographic skills and develop a sense of place by studying the changes that have occurred in Russia since the fall of communism in 1991.     

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.     

A Seventh Grade Problem Study of Czechoslovakia

Abstract

Computer technology has a rich history in geography education. The Internet represents the latest in technological advancements that continue to have important effects on geography curriculum and instruction. Many geographers are involved with Internet-based instruction, which some educators believe has potential to facilitate changes in how we teach and even what we teach. This article describes how the Internet is being used by some geographers for instructional purposes and discusses opportunities for improving teaching and learning with the Internet.     

Teachers as Learners Examine Land-Use Change in the Local Environment Using Remote Sensing Imagery

Abstract

In environmental science education, learners are exposed to earth phenomena that occur across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. However, it is challenging for learners to grasp the significance of spatial and temporal change because they have limited perspectives of the Earth. Within the scientific community, remotely sensed imagery is used for observing the Earth as a system. These same tools can be applied at all levels in environmental science education to help learners understand and visualize earth change. In this article, the experiences of teachers as learners are described as they conducted a temporal analysis of a local wetland using aerial photography in an inquiry-based activity.     

Books,Places, Regions—A Natural Blend

Abstract

Children love books, and through carefully chosen ones geographic concepts can be conveyed. Books are good resources—great background material for describing a place, emphasizing the culture of a region, highlighting a geographical issue, or clarifying where a place is in the world. This article explains how literature encourages geographic thinking, builds geographic skills, and develops lasting mental maps of places and regions.     

Studying the Human Geography of Subsaharan Africa in the High School and College

Abstract

While the study of Africa has become increasingly important in American schools, teachers are often perplexed by the problem of which materials and approaches to use in presenting a course on Africa. This article outlines a course in the regional geography of SubSaharan Africa which was developed by the writer for an introductory course at the college level, but which can easily be adapted for use in an advanced high school course. Emphasis is on African history and contemporary spatial patterns of urbanization and economic development.     

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.     

Exploring Cultural Universals

Abstract

This article identifies teaching strategies to explore cultural universals. Traits that contribute to distinguishing one culture from another can be classified into general categories that all cultures share. Students identify universals in their daily lives and then compare and contrast different cultural perspectives through an exploration of these universals. Computer technology provides access to images and information about other cultures that might be used to increase students' understanding of cultural perspectives. The Internet provides a vehicle for classrooms to exchange cooperative creative writing stories that allow students the opportunity to explore different cultural perspectives through the eyes of other students around the world. Suggestions about how to establish and conduct a classroom exchange project over the Internet are provided.     

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.     

Decisions of the U. S. Board of Geographic Names. June 5, 1900, To January 8, 1902 II

ABSTRACT

Spatial literacy is a new frontier in K–12 education. This article describes a place-based introductory GIS/GPS middle school curriculum unit in which students used measuring tools, GPS units, and My World GIS software to collect physical and spatial data of trees to create a schoolyard tree inventory. Maine students completed “memory maps” of their schoolyards as a pre/post exercise assessment. A statistically significant increase in students’ spatial awareness was documented. A technology-based curriculum can significantly increase students’ spatial awareness especially in a place and context relevant to each student.     

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.     

Network Topology and City Accessibility of the Commercial Internet

The rapid growth in this decade of World Wide Web access through the Internet is supported by a complex matrix of telecommunications infrastructure. This paper presents an overview of the history of the Internet and recent efforts to measure its structure and performance, and examines the spatial organization of the commercial Internet backbone. The research presented in this paper differs from previous Internet measurement work in that we apply network analysis methods to evaluate Internet connectivity. Transportation network analysis techniques are applied to measure 1) connectivity of individual service provider networks and 2) accessibility of cities to Internet service. The results reveal many different strategies implemented by service providers in network design as well as large differences in levels of accessibility of cities and regions in the United States. There is also an apparent disparity between population and city accessibility to the Internet.     

Inventing Geography: Writing as a Social Justice Pedagogy

Abstract

A critical geographic pedagogy of writing can help students participate in public life by gaining access to the means of knowledge production. Drawing on pedagogical and composition theory, this article analyzes student papers from an introductory-level geography course to show how geography teachers can create assignments that broaden the scope of student agency and expand access to power. This is one way to promote social justice in the classroom because it fosters habits and skills of critical citizenship and participatory democracy instead of passive, consumption-oriented attitudes. Students are better able to position themselves as active members of a community and as agents in the process of critically reshaping knowledge about the world.