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.     

Giant Maps as Pedagogical Tools for Teaching Geography and Mathematics

Giant maps offer a potentially useful pedagogical tool for teaching mathematics and map skills. In this pilot study, giant maps were distributed to elementary schools in Colorado and New Hampshire and teachers were provided with guided activities designed to integrate mathematics and geography skills. In an assessment of student skills, it was found that there were improvements in map-use skills and that students improved in some skills more than others. Additionally, there were differences in gender; girls improved more in their scores for some skills and less than boys in others. The teaching benefits of giant maps merit additional investigation.     

What Kind of Assessment for What Kind of Geography? Advanced Placement Human Geography*

This article raises awareness of the recently introduced Advanced Placement course in Human Geography by describing the design and management of assessment in the course. Standards are maintained through the choice of assessment instrument, the development of test items, scoring, and grade‐setting. The article contributes to a deeper understanding of the opportunities and threats of standardized testing within geography.     

Spatiality,Maps, and Mathematics in Critical Human Geography: Toward a Repetition with Difference

Quantitative and cartographic methods are today often associated with absolute, Newtonian conceptions of space. We argue that some such methods have not always been and need not be so allied. Present geographic approaches to relational space have been largely advanced through radical political economic and feminist thought. Yet we identify quantitative and cartographic methods (taking as exemplars a range of thinkers, some of whom were most prominent in the 1960s and 1970s) that can contribute to these approaches to relational space. We suggest neglected methods to revisit, new alliances to be forged with critical human geography and cultural critique, and possible paths to enliven geographical imaginations.     

自然的社会建构：西方人文地理学对自然的再认识

自然的社会建构作为西方人文地理学界对自然的再思考,渐成为理解自然与社会互动的重要理论框架,并逐步成为推动人地和谐、可持续发展研究的新范式。通过梳理自然的社会建构研究理论源起并对西方涉及自然的社会建构的研究文献进行全面梳理发现,自然的社会建构并非单纯指基于建构主义视角考察自然的知识生产或价值与意义,还应该关注自然被生产与形构的商品化过程。现有议题主要聚焦于政治与自然、商品化与自然、社会情感与自然以及日常生活与自然四大方面。在此基础上,进一步提出了国内未来研究需要关注的重要方向。     

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.     

人文地理研究回顾与展望——庆贺中国科学院东北地理与农业生态研究所成立60周年

人文地理学是地理学的重要分支学科,是区域地理研究不可或缺的重要方面。中国科学院东北地理与农业生态研究所（简称东北地理所）人文地理研究一直坚持稳定的学科方向,具有紧密围绕国家战略需求的时代特征,聚焦不同历史时期东北区域发展重大问题,区域研究特色突出。东北地理所建所60 a来在农业和工业发展与布局、城镇化与城市发展、区域可持续发展、区域综合发展规划等方面开展了大量的应用与基础研究,取得了丰硕的科研成果,为东北地区经济社会发展做出了重要贡献。面向未来学科发展趋势和国家战略需求,东北地理所人文地理研究仍要围绕东北老工业基地振兴与可持续发展这条主线,重点研究现代农业与乡村振兴、新型城镇化与城市转型、产业结构调整与优化布局、国土空间规划与区域治理、跨境区域开发与经济合作、资源环境与区域可持续发展等重大问题,探索东北老工业基地人地关系地域系统演变规律,发扬人文地理研究特色,创新理论与方法,加强学科队伍建设,提升为国家经济社会发展服务的能力和水平。     

多样vs.分裂:论中国人文地理学发展的多元性及其挑战

从哲学、理论、方法和实践4个方面梳理了中国人文地理学内部的多元性,并区分了这些多元性的性质,即哪些是缺乏交流和整合的“散见”、哪些是需要统一和弥合的“歧见”、哪些是认识局限导致的“偏见”。据此建议加强中国人文地理学研究的问题意识和原创性理论研究;减少对“主义”的过度推崇和对方法的盲目崇拜;加强定性方法和定量方法的交流及论证过程的严谨性;在政策取向上取得“求真”和“务实”的平衡;提高学科发展的自信和对不同研究视角的包容。此外,应该在研究选题、杂志建设和奖项设置等操作层面推动人文地理学的理论整合。     

Why Geography Still Needs Pen and Ink Cartography

Abstract

Maps are fundamental in geographic explanation and education, but as map-making becomes firmly entrenched in the GIS lab, it becomes harder for students to imagine how they can make maps for their papers. Students need to illustrate papers with maps: among other things, maps provide clarity, links to real places, and insights into patterns and context of phenomena discussed in student papers. A simple, quick, and aesthetically satisfying method for students to make their own maps is presented. This map making method can help students can think more creatively and geographically about their topics.     

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.     

人文与经济地理学的传承与创新：青年学者的责任

2018年1月27-28日,人文与经济地理学青年论坛暨第二届中国科学院区域可持续发展分析与模拟重点实验室青年论坛在北京国家会议中心成功举办。青年论坛以“人文与经济地理学的传承与创新：青年学者的责任与行动”为主题。莅临会场的院士、前辈和主管部门领导纷纷表示鼓励、支持和关怀青年人才的更快更好的成长。在这样的背景下,以这次青年论坛主题为题,在新时代传承和创新人文与经济地理学,青年学者责无旁贷,追寻地理学家的精神,集中探讨青年学者的责任与行动,展示人文与经济地理青年学者的思考和风采。     

我国人文与经济地理学发展回顾与展望——变化大背景下我国人文与经济地理学发展高层论坛综述

2016年1月22-23日,“变化大背景下我国人文与经济地理学发展高层论坛”在北京召开,与会的30余位专家就近年来我国人文与经济地理学发展的主要进展、学科发展存在的问题和制约因素、面临的发展机遇、学科发展的国际化道路、发展的主要重点方向与前景等议题开展了深入交流和研讨。近年来人文与经济地理学蓬勃发展,当前面临着一系列发展的重要机遇,未来发展有着广阔空间。建立学术共同体,针对重大问题开展联合攻关和协同创新;兼容本土化特色与国际化道路,促进中国人文与经济地理学走向世界;推动各系列人才梯队建设和中青年人才成长。     

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.     

Applying Geography Course Projects to Issues in City Resilience and Global Connectivity

Globalization would appear to be a subject that easily could be addressed in geography classrooms, yet this is not always the case. In terms of pedagogy, many geographers are concerned whether the field has been adequately engaging various components of this topic (e.g., connectivity, core-periphery), especially in terms of making the subject matter relevant to students. This article presents the results of a recent course project situated at the intersection of city-level resilience to hazards and connectivity with the global economy, utilizing SWOT analysis. The student projects demonstrated that this comparatively simple analytical tool was a useful means for exploring and integrating key topics in globalization and urban-economic geography, while also facilitating a problem-based learning environment.     

Mapping Soils,Vegetation, and Landforms: An Integrative Physical Geography Field Experience*

Students in a graduate seminar at Michigan State University produced a series of detailed vegetation, soils, and landform maps of a 1.5‐square‐mile (3.9 km²) study area in southwest Lower Michigan. The learning outcomes (maps) and skill development objectives (sampling strategies and various GIS applications) of this field‐intensive mapping experience were driven by the assumption that students learn and understand relationships among physical landscape variables better by mapping them than they would in a classroom‐based experience. The group‐based, problem‐solving format was also intended to foster collaboration and camaraderie. The study area lies within a complex, interlobate moraine. Fieldwork involved mapping in groups of two or three, as well as soil and vegetation sampling. Spatial data products assembled and used in the project included topographic maps, a digital elevation model (DEM), aerial photographs, and NRCS (National Resource Conservation Service) soil maps. Most of the soils are dry and sandy, with the main differentiating characteristic being the amount of, and depth to, subsurface clay bands (lamellae) or gravelly zones. The presettlement (early 1830s) vegetation of the area was oak forest, oak savanna, and black oak “barrens.” Upland sites currently support closed forests of white, black, and red oak, with a red maple, dogwood, and sassafras understory. Ecological data suggest that these oak forests will, barring major disturbance, become increasingly dominated by red maple. This group‐based, problem‐solving approach to physical geography education has several advantages over traditional classroom‐based teaching and could also be successfully applied in other, field‐related disciplines.     

20世纪90年代以来欧美人文地理学(导论)教材编写新趋向及其启示

基于对欧美人文地理学（导论）教材出版的新情况,对相关问题作些尝试性的探讨,以期为编写出优秀且符合时代要求的人文地理学（导论）教材提供一些参考。欧美同类教材的趋向：① 在原有多样化的基础上重构;② 概念主导的教材在增长;③ 概念主导教材的作者在增多。这些新动向给我们的启示：① 针对多样化的需要,编出多样化的导论教材;② 加强教材的学术性和思想性;③ 教材写作要突出基本概念,培养地理学思维。     

河流健康:概念、评价方法与方向

人类不合理的社会经济活动严重干扰了河流生态系统,河流健康问题引起广泛的重视。在详细概括了有关河流健康概念的不同认识基础上,介绍了河流健康评价的生物监测法与综合指标法的优缺点与发展历程,并就有关河流健康评价的发展趋势提出建议。认为今后的重点是评价标准确定、河流对干扰敏感性、生态过程性指标及流域尺度上的健康评价的研究。     

Getting to the Bottom of It: Tools,Techniques, and Discoveries of Deep Ocean Geography

The initial impetus for developing a specialty in ocean geography resulted from the need to resolve applied problems in coastal resources, as opposed to development of oceanographic research methods and concepts. However, the development in the last 10 to 20 years of sophisticated technologies for ocean data collection and management holds tremendous potential for mapping and interpreting the ocean environment in unprecedented detail. With the understanding that ocean research is often very costly, yet deemed extremely important by large funding agencies, geographers now have the opportunity to perform coastal and marine studies that are more quantitative in nature, to formulate and test basic hypotheses about the marine environment, and to collaborate with geographers working in corollary subdisciplines (e.g., remote sensing, GIS, geomorphology, political geography as pertaining to the Law of the Sea, etc.), as well as with classically-trained oceanographers. This article reviews, for the non-specialist, the newest advances in mapping and management technologies for undersea geographic research (particularly on the ocean floor) and discusses the contributions that geographers stand to make to a greater understanding of the oceans.     

Wireless Mapping,GIS, and Learning about the Digital Divide: A Classroom Experience

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe a capstone course in undergraduate student geographical research in which GIS and other geospatial tools were used to teach undergraduate students basic geographical principles. The course uses the “cooperative learning” pedagogical approach to address one of a number of client-supplied research projects, chosen on the basis of logistical difficulty, time, student ability, and project importance. In the connection of primary data with existing data, students confronted a number of important research issues such as mapping ethics, database design and management, time management, group dynamics, and research limitations.     

Digital Data-Centric Geography: Implications for Geography's Frontier

The debate regarding geographic information systems (GIS) as tool, toolbox, or science still lingers in geography departments and among geographers. Analysis of geographic information is a vital component of decision making among business, governments, researchers, and academics. GIS users, geographers and nongeographers alike, use and benefit from problem-solving methods in numerous fields and contexts, making the use of GIS and the core competencies associated with using GIS a topic of intense debate. Complicating this ongoing discussion is the rise of data-centric approaches to research in geography that further expand the capabilities of spatial analysis and add to the expected knowledge of a GIS user and analyst. Building on a panel discussion at the 2016 American Association of Geographers (AAG) annual meeting, as well as informal dialogues on Twitter and other social media platforms that navigate this issue in academics and industry, this article explores how skills in research computing and programming operate in geography and GIS, especially given the rise of data-centric approaches to research in these realms. Some topics, like the costs and benefits of open and closed source software, are familiar from previous discussions in geography and GIS. Others, though, like the reward structures and recognition for computing skills or programming ability, have not been widely considered given the current landscape.