Mentoring Early Career Faculty in Geography: Issues and Strategies*

Early career geography faculty in colleges and universities in the United States are positioned at the leading edge of a challenging period of change in higher education. Demands brought on by new technologies, new administrative and research pressures, and an increasingly competitive campus climate, may make it difficult to balance teaching, research, and service while also trying to maintain a personal life. This article argues that many geographers could benefit from the support of mentoring. Using ideas generated by participants in the Association of American Geographers' recent project, the Geography Faculty Development Alliance, I provide both pragmatic and personal suggestions for establishing these all‐important mentoring relationships to help cope with the pressures facing early career faculty.     

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.     

A Typological Analysis of South Korean Primary Teachers' Awareness of Primary Geography Education

This study illuminates primary teachers' awareness of geography education. Data were collected through interviews with twenty-one teachers and analyzed using Straussian-grounded theory. A total of 210 concepts were categorized into twenty-two categories. The participants were categorized into three types. Many participating teachers (type 1 and 2) were clearly aware of the core characteristics of geography, and some of them recognized themselves as primary geography specialists (type 1). However, a few teachers (type 3) seemed unaware of the value of geography. These results suggest the necessity of primary-teacher training to improve primary teachers' awareness of geography education.     

The Comparison of a Thematic versus Regional Approach to Teaching a World Geography Course

The benefits of a regional or thematic approach to the study and presentation of world geography have long been debated. The goal to not to reimagine these debates or to promote one approach over another; the aim is to explore how world geography courses are currently being taught in American universities. By polling and sharing information about course structures, topics, and forms of evaluation, an open dialogue between instructors that will improve teaching strategies and student comprehension is encouraged.     

Teachers and University Faculty Cooperating to Improve Teacher Preparation

Abstract

The National Geography Standards provide an opportunity to forge close relationships with teacher-preparation programs. This article reports on strategies used by the Virginia Geographic Alliance to produce regional, crossdisciplinary teams of educators informed about the Standards. Each team will include a faculty member from every teacher preparation program in Virginia.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

The Council at Work: An Open Letter to the Membership

Abstract

Funding for the improvement of geography at the precollegiate level has increased dramatically, both in the amount of money raised and the number of funders making grants. Nevertheless, geography is still not high on the priority list of most funders. Geographic educators must present a stronger case to potential funding agencies. Grant seekers must define geography appropriately, plan for at least the next five years, inventory the resources available to move forward, and be sure to emphasize the present-day relevance of geography' s subject matter. Six essential elements for fund raisers are listed, and a short caution concerning potential conflicts of interest is offered.     

The National Geography Standards and Your Undergraduate Curriculum: The Opportunity That Knocks More Than Once

Abstract

Geography For Life: National Geography Standards 1994 offers university geographers opportunities in the areas of program assessment and development. This article describes an assessment process that is applicable to both individual courses and geography programs. The process can strengthen programs by making them more consistent. As a result, geography may have a more powerful presence in teacher certification programs. Additional techniques for enhancing geography's role in preservice education curricula are also outlined. Finally, the article expresses concern that geographers at the university level will not take the recently published National Geography Standards seriously, thinking they apply only to K-12 education. They are challenged to extend the Standards' scope and content to the baccalaureate degree.     

GEO-Teach: A Preservice Teacher Preparation Program in Geography

Abstract

GEO-Teach is a project funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Preservice Education (FIPSE). The project aims to develop a model preservice curriculum at the secondary level. It incorporates the newly published National Geography Standards and merges content with pedagogy through partnerships with faculty in education and other social and behavioral sciences to deliver the curriculum. School teachers act as mentors to students in the program.     

Teaching American Indian Geography and History with New Perspectives: The Lodge Pole River Project Example

Abstract

A three-year institute called “The Lodge Pole River Project” was designed to change educator perceptions of American Indian historical geography and encourage the creation of balanced and culturally sensitive American Indian K-12 curriculum. This project offered unique opportunities to assess a geography institute's impact upon teacher knowledge and perceptions towards Native people and pedagogical approaches to teaching about American Indians and their landscapes. The assessment suggests that three weeks of field work, archival research, and curriculum writing increased participant knowledge of American Indian history and culture, solidified sympathetic perceptions and attitudes towards Native people, and strengthened the ability of educators to offer different interpretations of American Indian geography and history to their students.     

Systematic Geography for Grade 4: A Spatial Systems Approach

Abstract

Various social and geographical strategies that have been used to assign children to schools in the United States are examined in order to: 1) support the contention that social space and geographic space are rarely considered in concert in the context of community problem solving, 2) point out the need for the consideration of various socio-spatial concepts such as action space, territoriality, and neighborhood in social scientific research addressing itself to the understanding of social issues, and 3) urge consideration of the fundamental changes overtaking American society, particularly the processes of time-space convergence which underlie the socio-geographical reorganization of earth space.     

人居环境:地理学研究面临的一个新课题

从人居环境研究的迫切性和重要性着手 ,论述人居环境与地理学之间的相互关系 ,地理学为人居环境研究服务的途径。     

Cartography and Population Geography as Current Events: A Case Study

Abstract

The Sanders housing lawsuit in Pennsylvania provides a case study of how to incorporate current events into the teaching of cartography or population geography at the high school or college level. Settlement of the Sanders case resulted in the release of information about the segregation of public housing by race in the Pittsburgh area. The issues in the Sanders case were mapped using publicly-accessible data, illustrating how an authentic lesson can be created with a minimum of resources.     

Writing a Successful Fulbright Group Projects Abroad Grant: Voices from a Journey to South Africa

Abstract

The authors share a successful Fulbright Group Projects Abroad grant award. The purpose of the grant was to enhance American educators' experience and knowledge of South Africa, in particular, and sub-Saharan Africa more generally. Toward that end, participants experienced a multifaceted view of South Africa's geographical diversity, both physical and cultural, through visiting three provinces and four major cities. Participants experienced people and places associated with reconciliation, segregation, and creolization, making comparisons with the U.S. historical experience. The program required participants to attend an orientation, participate in predeparture readings and to develop curriculum units that were shared at a national conference.     

Observing Metropolitan Atlanta,Georgia: Using an urban field study to enhance student experiences and instructor knowledge in urban geography

Abstract

In urban geography courses, knowledge of a local area is especially useful for demonstrating geographic principles. These classroom examples are further enhanced when students conduct their own field observations, with direction from the instructor. This paper describes a field study of the metropolitan Atlanta area that is used in an intermediate geography class, in which students compare their observations of Atlanta with urban geography models and theories. I argue that the preparation of the project, and the completion of it by students, represents a valuable firsthand observation experience for both the instructor and the students.     

Geographic Information Technologies + Project-Based Science: A Contextualized Professional Development Approach

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of using a long-duration, project-based science professional development model on the acquisition of declarative knowledge and basic terminology associated with the use of geographic information technologies (GIT), teachers' self-assessed confidence in using GIT skills, and the implementation of GIT in participants' classrooms. Results suggest that a long-duration, project-based science model was effective in teaching GIT declarative knowledge and raising teachers' self-confidence in using GIT tools. The academy was funded through a grant from the US Department of Education with additional support from Environmental Science Resources Institute (ESRI), Inc., and members of the New Mexico Geographic Information Council.