NEW PUBLICATIONS

Ten Years o f Physicogeographic Research in Hungary

Antarctic Snow and Ice Studies     

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.     

Bridging Geography and Education for Sustainable Development: A Korean Example

There is an apparent disconnect between geography and education for sustainable development (ESD), with geography underrepresented in publications and curricula related to sustainability though the discipline embraces the need to foment positive change. To bridge this schism, this article introduces advances in education for sustainable development (ESD-2) and a three-dimensional key competence-based model that can be deployed in tandem with economic geography theory. Deploying the theme of solar PV in Korea, a competency-based lesson planning exercise is presented to demonstrate the potential for this learning paradigm to generate agency and empower change for a sustainable future.     

全球化背景下的《世界地理》教育教学改革探索

《世界地理》是一门从自然和人文相结合的角度认识世界的区域科学,是地理学科的重要组成部分。随着全球化的持续发展、当代地理学科发展呈现新趋势及我国素质教育改革的不断深入,我国高校《世界地理》教育教学面临着严峻的挑战。因此,《世界地理》课程必须从教学思想、教学目标、教学计划、教材体系、教学手段和教学评价等方面进行全方位的改革,才能摆脱目前严重滞后于时代和学科发展的困境,以走上健康发展之路。     

An Evaluation of University World Geography Textbook Questions for Components of Spatial Thinking

ABSTRACT

Geography textbooks contain chapter or review questions that may engage students in spatial thinking. This research used Jo and Bednarz’s (2009) Taxonomy of Spatial Thinking to evaluate the percentage of spatial thinking questions in four university-level world geography course textbooks. The results from this study were then compared to the findings in Jo and Bednarz’s (2009) analysis of high school geography textbooks. Thirty-five percent of university level textbook questions are related to spatial thinking compared to twenty-four percent in high school geography textbooks. The results provide information useful to stakeholders, such as teachers, administrators, and textbook writers and may help these stakeholders to consciously incorporate the three components of spatial thinking as defined by the National Research Council (2006). A simplified taxonomy for identifying spatial-thinking concepts in textbook review questions is also suggested.     

The Pedagogical Benefits of SimCity in Urban Geography Education

This article investigated the pedagogical potential of the SimCity simulation game in an urban geography course. University students used SimCity to build their own cities and applied a wide range of theories to support their urban structures. Moreover, the students critically evaluated the logic and functioning of the SimCity simulation compared to real-world contexts and urban geography principles. The students believed the SimCity activity provided them with opportunities to promote their geographic creativity, resulting in diverse, unique, and interesting cities. The findings demonstrate that the use of SimCity can be an effective tool for geography education.     

The Value of Place Geography in a Commercial Geography Course

Abstract

This article summarizes methods used in a secondary school geography class to interest students in geography through examples drawn from local geography. Instead of relying on examples taken from exotic places to illustrate geographic concepts, the local landscape is used in the classroom to teach students about geography. The article is arranged according to the six essential elements of the National Geography Standards, but it does not imply that the methods presented should be used to teach the standards. Rather, the examples presented are used throughout a course in the geography of North and South America to develop an interest among students and, with examples from the local landscape, to increase student understanding of geographic concepts related to issues presented in the course.     

Geographic Education and Careers in Geography

Abstract

Disciplinary concern with career options and opportunities has fluctuated over the years. Not surprisingly, geography continues to be incorrectly stereotyped as a field of study offering limited employment prospects. While geographic education has long focused on content, it must also embrace the importance of educating instructors, students, and career counselors concerning how the field opens doors to viable careers. This article presents a program that can be implemented by college and university departments to raise awareness and disseminate information about career opportunities in geography. The program emphasizes an integrated approach that includes partnerships with alumni, campus placement offices, and employers.     

Transformative Research in Geography Education: The Role of a Research Coordination Network

This article considers the concept and significance of transformative research in the context of geography education. It provides an overview of how the capacity-building activities and management operations of a research coordination network (RCN) are designed to support broad-scale advances in geography education theory, methods, and practice. Vignettes of RCN activities are presented as examples of pathways toward transformative research in the areas of geography learning progressions, assessments of spatial thinking, and geospatially enabled project-based learning. Beyond the prospect of introducing new paradigms of learning and using research findings to inform and systematically change approaches to teacher education and curriculum development, an RCN offers an opportunity to plan broad-based strategy and develop leadership needed to address many long-standing challenges that have undermined the quality and quantity of geography education research. These challenges include the low visibility of geography education research relative to other geographic subdomains, the difficulty of carrying out interdisciplinary and international research collaborations, low rates of transfer and uptake of research findings in practitioner communities and in policymaking, and the erosion of graduate-level programs that prepare students to plan and design conceptually rigorous educational research in geography.     

Problem-Oriented Learning in Geography Education: Construction of Motivating Problems

This article reports on the possibilities and challenges of starting problem-oriented learning in geography lessons. The article focuses on the features of motivating problems, because one of the essential functions of the problem to start with is to animate learners to solve it. The analysis of various introductions to problem-oriented learning of geographic topics in primary schools shows that generating a cognitive dissonance is highly suitable for inducing a desire to learn. As a motivating role relative to the problem, the helper and expert roles were seen as being ideal.     

中国地理教育：继承与创新

面对国内外高度重视创新人才培养的形势,以及培养在中国市场经济体制下地理各专业人才的就业竞争力,中国地理教育在继承优良传统的基础上必须创新;中国地理教育必须对基础地理教育和高等地理教育进行全面的改革。为此提出实施地理学跨越式发展的三条对策,即在地球系统科学与可持续发展科学的框架下,构建中国地理教育的新体系;在国家标准和适应国际规范的前提下,规范高等地理教育的学科划分和课程体系;在国家自然科学名词审定前提下,规范高等地理教育中的地理科学术语。     

Early Instruction in Geography: An Exploration in the Ecology of Kindergarten and First-Grade Geography Education

Abstract

Student drawn maps have been relatively neglected as an evaluation tool, despite their potential utility for assessing geographic knowledge. Comparison of students' sketch maps at the beginning and end of the year can inform the teacher about how students' representations of the world change over the course of instruction. Used as a pretest, they can be used to diagnose areas of strength and weakness within a class; as a posttest they can be used to assess students' achievement and the effectiveness of instruction. In this paper we provide an easy method for sorting and summarizing sketch map data, which is illustrated using maps collected from two sixth grade classes. We also outline a framework to guide teachers in generating questions to ask about their own students' maps.     

Computer Science and Programming Courses in Geography Departments in the United States

Geographic information systems (GIS) are fundamental information technologies. The capabilities and applications of GIS continue to rapidly expand, requiring practitioners to have new skills and competencies, especially in computer science. There is little research, however, about how best to prepare the next generation of GIScientists with adequate computer science skills. This article explores how U.S. geography departments are introducing and developing computer science and programming skills in their geography and GIS degree programs. We review the degree requirements in fifty-five geography departments and discover that forty-four of them offer some kind of GIS programming course. Of the 210 separate degree options identified, however, only 22 require one of these courses for a degree. There is little consistency or emphasis on computer science and programming skills in geography or GIS degrees, despite the immense importance of these components in geography and GIS careers. We propose future research along distinct investigative tracks to build a research-based understanding of the educational interactions among GIS, computer science, programming, and geography.     

Transformative Geography: Ethics and Action in Elementary and Secondary Geography Education

Abstract

Geographic ethics are profoundly important if students are expected to be stewards of the earth and responsible citizens whose decisions about the environment will affect our planet's future. The proposed framework, founded in geography but applicable to other subject areas, guides students to moral decisions for the well-being of the planet and its people so that geographic skills will be applied for beneficial purposes. It is in the tradition of Kropotkin, Dewey, and Freire and introduces Nel Noddings' concept of caring to geography education. This proposed framework for the elementary and secondary levels is called transformative geography.     

The Impact of Paper Versus Digital Map Technology on Students' Spatial Thinking Skill Acquisition

This study investigates whether spatial learning outcomes differ with respect to different instructional media. Spatial thinking skills were tested pre- and postlesson implementation via the spatial thinking ability test as eighth grade students participated in either paper-based or digital map-based instruction. Students' attitudes toward geography, past travel experience, and demographic variables such as gender, were also examined to search for differences in spatial thinking skill development. Results of the study reveal that both paper and digital media aid in developing and improving spatial thinking skill acquisition among students.     

美国大学区域地理教育的发展与变迁--以亚洲地理教育为例

区域地理是地理学教育与研究的一个重要组成。在当今经济与环境的全球化过程中,对区域地理课程的需求有了明显上升。区域地理教育的重要性也引起了方面的重视。美国大学区域地理教育的发展与变迁主要受两方面的影响：一是地理教育在国民教育中的地位;二是某个区域在国际事务中的重要性以及与美国的关系。在过去３０年中,随着近年来亚洲经济的高速发展和它在国际中的地位日益提高,以及亚洲与美国贸易额的的迅速增长,亚洲地理课在     

Reform of Teacher Education: An Opportunity for Geographers

Abstract

This paper focuses on the context and major efforts designed to reform teacher education in the nation's universities. An overview of systems governing and impacting teacher education is provided, with focus on the issues and conflicting forces that form the context within which teacher education-and geography education—find themselves. The paper concludes with a discussion of general trends in education reform and renewal and leadership opportunities open to geographers.     

Concept Learning through Writing for Learning: Using Journals in an Introductory Geography Course

Abstract

To effectively use journals and other writing for learning tasks as critical thinking and learning tools, geographic educators need to draw from the education literature on concept learning. Using the literature on concept learning and critical thinking, geographic educators can construct different kinds of journal assignments that give students opportunities to personalize and understand concepts. I demonstrate that students, regardless of their sex, level of education, or previous coursework in geography, found journal assignments helpful in understanding human geographic concepts.     

The Geography of Education and the Education of Geography: Agricultural Extension and the Political Ecology of Education

The spatial nature of learning is increasingly a focus of geographic inquiry. I argue that the spatiality of education, which is where formal learning occurs, has the potential to shape students’ spatial imaginaries. I analyze the role the spatiality of agronomic education plays in the historical construction of the social and physical landscape in southeastern Pará, Brazil. In opposing ways, the first Green Revolution, and agrarian social movements’ more recent agroecological Green Revolution are found to structure agronomic education and spatial imaginaries. The perspectives of agricultural extension agents trained in traditional agronomic programs are compared with teachers from an agroecological school located in an Amazonian agrarian reform settlement of Brazil's Landless Workers’ Movement. I collected these data over 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork. To analyze these data, I employ a political ecology of education perspective, which highlights how education and political economy interact to mediate relations with, access to, and contestations over natural resources. The geography of education and the education of geography exist in a complicated feedback cycle: Education is not neutral but ideologically charged and affects conceptions of productive landscapes, providing students intellectual and economic power to put their visions of landscape into effect.