Geography Education: The Glass Is Half Full and It's Getting Fuller

This article examines the recent progress of geography education as an academic subfield of geography and as an area of activity in K–12 education. Challenges to both endeavors are described. A restructuring of geography education's research program that focuses on spatial thinking and reasoning and merges applied and theoretical research is proposed.     

A Place for Geography in the Liberal Arts College?

This study charts the presence of geography at liberal arts colleges and explores the relationship between the liberal arts and the study of geography. The results of this study reveal a paradox: geography embodies many of the ideals of a liberal arts education and yet this study indicates an absence of degree‐granting geography programs at 93% of institutions. Geography thrives, however, at a select group of liberal arts colleges, and these colleges are disproportionately important as the undergraduate origin for doctorate recipients in geography.     

‘Committing to Place’ at the Local Scale: the potential of youth education programs for promoting community participation in regional natural resource management

Emerging approaches to environmental governance require a greater level of community participation than did previous approaches in which these responsibilities largely rested with government agencies. There is consequently a need for increased engagement with NRM among a broad community sector. This paper examines initiatives by two prominent government agencies, the Murray–Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) and the National Museum of Australia (NMA), to engage school children from regional communities using education programs that focus on place and environmental health. We focus on the MDBC's International Riverhealth Conference held in Mildura in 2003 and the associated Murray–Darling Basin TalkBack Classroom sponsored by the NMA and the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO). We explore how key themes of local scale, place-based identities, youth voice and critical engagement are developed in these programs and consider how they relate to the environmental agency of children. We then reflect on the potential for the kinds of environmental agency promoted through these programs to help build the capacity of local communities to progress larger goals of environmental restoration and sustainability in the Murray–Darling Basin. The evaluation research reported here forms part of the Committing to Place research project, an Australian Research Council Linkage grant involving the University of Tasmania, the National Museum of Australia and the Murray–Darling Basin Commission.     

Traces of the secondary Geography curriculum

Abstract: Expressions of dissatisfaction about the post‐compulsory Geography curriculum in the early 1970s were unusually concerted, leading to the creation of a National Geography Curriculum Committee. This essay reviews this history and the resulting Syllabus for Schools: Geography Forms 5–7 as a prelude to a discussion of contemporary curriculum development. The essay argues that curriculum development from 1975 and the ‘education reforms’ of the late 1980s failed to produce conditions in which satisfactory outcomes for a Geography curriculum can be assured in 2005, and that a new and concerted period of participation in curriculum discussion is required. Some goals for this process are outlined in the final section of the paper.     

工程测量高职教育存在的问题与改革建议

主要阐述工程测量高职教育中在教师的选聘、课程的设置、实习设备、技能考核、顶岗实习等方面出现的问题。通过对以上问题的分析,探求工程测量高职教育的改革思路,并提出教改的个人观点。     

地理信息工程专业“普通地图编制课程设计”教学探讨

普通地图编制课程设计是地图学与地理信息工程专业重要的一门实践课程。笔者在分析了当前测绘地理信息技术发展的基础上,对课程教学从内容设计到教学方法等方面进行了探讨。     

高校风景园林专业GIS应用需求及教学体系设计研究

当前,风景园林设计行业已成为GIS技术重要的应用领域。笔者通过分析高校风景园林专业GIS的应用需求,依据风景园林专业学生的特点,从教材的选择、授课时间、课程设置内容和考核方式4个方面,探讨有效的风景园林专业GIS课程教学方法。     

我国高校遥感科学与技术专业现状分析

为了进一步研究新型交叉性学科——遥感科学与技术专业的建设与发展问题,该文对我国高校遥感科学与技术专业的现状进行了剖析。为适应遥感科学与技术专业人才的需求,我国已有28所高校开设了遥感科学与技术专业。此专业主要设置在理工类普通高等院校,并以测绘科学背景院校为主。不同的学科背景,专业培养目标各具特色,课程体系与结构设置差异较大。为深化遥感科学与技术专业的教学改革,科学合理地设置专业、建设课程体系,在专业的地区分布、设置院校、专业培养目标、课程体系与结构等方面尚需进一步优化。     

思维导图方法的教学实践

思维导图在国内外已有多项研究证明思维导图在促进学生创新思维发展上有作用。在测绘类学科的高校教学中引入思维导图这种学习和工作方法,用在测绘本科教学改革中的讲座责任制授课模式上,通过在测绘本科教学方法改革的需求分析、应用实践和学生调查统计,得出结论:思维导图用于测绘类高校教学中,有利于提高学生创新思辨和自主学习能力,有助于达到以"能力"为核心的测绘专业人才培养目标。     

褚亚平先生的学术思想与主要贡献

褚亚平先生是中国著名的地理教育学家和地名学家.他长期从事地理教育研究与实践,完善了中学地理教学法学科体系,创造性的提出地理教材"三系统"理论,提出以学生为本,促进学生全面发展与深入教学研究,培养高质量师资队伍并行的地理教育理论,他对地理教育的研究成果推动了中国地理教育学的发展.他重视地名研究与管理人才培养,撰写专著力图构建地名学的基础理论,并对新时期地名管理,地名规划,地名商品化等问题提出自己的看法.