Meeting the Challenge of Systemic Change in Geography Education: Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s Young Geographers

The history of K–12 geography education has been characterized by recurrent high hopes and dashed expectations. There have, however, been moments when the trajectory of geography education might have changed to offer students the opportunity to develop a thorough working knowledge of geography. Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s geography program developed in the 1920s and 1930s was brilliant in its conception and execution but it did not lead to large-scale systemic change. Analyzing the origins, development, and outcome of her program suggests the conditions that facilitate and inhibit systemic change, and therefore perhaps we can learn to capitalize on comparable moments in the future.     

Fostering Environmental Sensitivity by Observing Everyday Environments

This study examined the effects of observing and reflecting on everyday environments in the development of environmental sensitivity, defined as a holistic capability composed of predisposition, knowledge, and behavior subdimensions. We encouraged participants to use diverse sources, such as texts, photographs, and animation, to record their observations and thinking. As a result, the activity in this study was beneficial in enhancing students’ environmental sensitivity. Students’ mean scores on the environmental sensitivity questionnaire improved, and their reflective journals reported increased interest in everyday environments, enhanced knowledge about diverse environmental elements, and strengthened will to act pro-environmentally. The usefulness of the geospatial platform was also reported.     

Exploring Chile: Identities and Their Relation with the Environment through the Film Football Stories

Cinema can be considered a useful tool for understanding different geographic concepts, showing physical and human factors and the interactions between them. Andres Wood's film Football Stories explores the Chilean territory allowing the observation of the differences between the north and south of the country. Geographic components such as landscapes, architectures, the impact of anthropogenic activities, social inequalities, ways of life, and city and countryside differences are analyzed, as well as the importance of location, the spatial environment, and cinematic narration. The study of geography through films could contribute to understanding of our world and to spatial knowledge.     

Developing and Sequencing Community Engagement and Experiential Education: A Case Study of Urban Geography Teaching and Research

Community engagement curricula and course design can provide substantial experiences for both community members and participating students. Using a case study approach, this research focuses on four steps in this process: initial community relationship forming, engaging in community service, transitioning to civic engagement, and developing a community-based research program. Narrative examples from student course evaluations position these community-based experiences as transformative for multiple parties. Institutional structures are presented as helpful entrees to engagement for students, while noting that community relationships provide contextualized, powerful, and meaningful relationships, supporting recommendations for emerging and existing community engagement programs.     

THE CLASSROOM AS THE FIELD FOR STUDYING GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION

ABSTRACT. Recent attempts by U.S. politicians to reform the nation'sschools have shifted the goal of education to school accountability as assessed in standardized testing. Such an emphasis undermines geographical education in schools because of geography'ssuperficial representation in tests and in the social studies curriculum. Fieldwork done in the classroom can point to means of circumventing this dilemma. Collaborative fieldwork between college faculty members and public‐school teachers has the potential for adding geography to the social studies curriculum in a substantive way. Work conducted jointly by Hartwick College and the Oneonta (New York) Middle School exemplifies such a partnership.     

GIS in the K-12 Curriculum: A Cautionary Note

Two qualitative case studies, one focusing on K-12 teachers and the other on middle school students, explore key factors associated with using Geographic Information Systems in the classroom. In both studies, access to appropriate hardware is a critical barrier. Time is another critical barrier—time to learn the GIS software and time in the curriculum to incorporate GIS as a learning experience. In both case studies, learning the technology at the expense of learning spatial analysis was a danger, suggesting the need for conscious focus on the goal of using GIS to learn how to “do geography.”     

River Views of Beginning Pre-service Teachers: Content Knowledge Use

Abstract

How beginning teachers organize themselves to teach new or unfamiliar topics is an important issue for research. This paper discusses information about rivers in pre-service teachers' lessons taught to fourth grade students. Lessons were videotaped and transcribed for analysis. The data consisted of all information about rivers found in the lessons. Lesson content was analyzed for accuracy, coherence, centrality, over-simplification, and undue emphasis.

Seven kinds of problems with lesson content occurred because the beginning teachers lacked sufficient knowledge about rivers. Inaccurate information was either presented or allowed to stand unchallenged in the lessons. The lessons lacked coherence, because the beginning teachers tended to make passing references to concepts. About twice as many of the lesson concepts were peripheral to the study of rivers, the problem of centrality. The relationships between some river-related ideas were misunderstood or ignored. Both physical and human geography concepts were consistently over-simplified. The recreational use of rivers was consistently over-emphasized.     

Kindergarten Geography: Teaching Diversity to Young People

Abstract

A Southern Poverty Law Center grant enabled purchasing dolls representing children of different races, ethnicity, and condition of disability. The teacher used these with other materials to sensitize kindergarten children to human differences. She directed them to cut pictures from National Geographic Magazine showing people who are “somehow different/' Responses from children were classified. Nine commented on adornment, three on household setting, two on occupation, and one on race. Little research exists on teaching geography to kindergarteners except on the ability to read maps. The authors contend that kindergarteners are quite ready to learn about regional differences among human populations.     

Geographical Positions of Base Lines and Principal Meridians Governing the Public Surveys

Abstract

Richard Edes Harrison. The Ginn World Atlas. Ginn &; Co., Statler Office Bldg., Boston 17, Mass., 1963. 62 pages (single page 7 1/2 × 10 in.) with table of contents, colored maps and index. $1.00.

National Geographic Society. Atlas of the World. National Geographic Society, Washington 6, D.C., 1963. 304 pages, including 115 pages of 11-color maps, with 127,071 place names. With introduction, table of contents, etc. The price for the standard edition in a flexible, leather-grained plastic cover is $18.75. The deluxe edition with hard-backed cover in a matching slipcase and gold-stamped lettering with the owner's name is $24.50.

Mary Louise Clifford. The Land and People of Afghanistan. J. B. Lippincott Company, E. Washington Sq., Philadelphia, Pa., 1962. 160 pages, illustrated with photographs, map and index. $3.25.

Pradyumna P. Karan and William M. Jenkins, Jr. The Himalayan Kngdoms: Bhutan, Sikkim, and Nepal. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 120 Alexander St., Princeton, N.J., 1963. 144 pages with preface, table of contents, appendix, bibliography and index. Included are maps and sketches. $1.45.

Donald B. Cole. Atlas of American History. Ginn and Co., Statler Office Bldg., Boston 17, Mass., 1963. 151 pages with table of contents, maps and index. $1.60. (paperback)

D. M. LeBourdais. Stefansson: Ambassador of the North. Harvest House Limited, 220 Elm Ave., Montreal 6, P. Q., Can., 1962. 204 pages with table of contents, map and index. $2.50 (paperback)

Elvajean Hall. The Land and People of Norway (Portraits of the Nations Series). J. B, Lippincott Co., E. Washington Sq., Philadelphia 5, Pa., 1963. 158 pages with table of contents, one place name map, photographs and index. $3.25.

Sir Alan Burns. Fiji. British Information Services, 845 Third Ave., New York 22, N.Y., 1963. xv and 255 pages with table of contents, illustrations, photographs, drawings, maps, appendices and index. $6.00.

George B. Cressey. Asia's Lands and Peoples. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 330 West 42nd St., New York 36, N.Y., 1963. 652 pages plus table of contents and index. $9.95.

S. Carl Hirsch. The Globe for the Space Age. The Viking Press, 625 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y., 1963. 88 pages including table of contents, index, drawings, suggestions for further reading and list of globe manufacturers. $8.75.

Cuchlaine A. M. King. An Introduction to Oceanography. McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc., 330 West 42nd Street, New York 36, N.Y., 1963. xii and 337 pages with table of contents, index and illustrations. $7.95.

William Bixby. Waves, Pathways of Energy. David McKay &; Co., Inc., 119 W. 40th St., New York 18, N.Y., 1963. 160 pages, illustrations, suggested further readings index. $3.50.

Hans H. Lansberg, Leonard L. Fischman and Joseph L. Fisher. Resources in America's Future: Patterns of Requirements and Availabilities 1960–2000. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 18, Md., 1963. 1067 pages with black and white and colored ilustrations, table of contents, appendices and index. $15.00.

C. Daryll Forde. Habitat, Economy &; Society. E. P. Dutton &; Co., Inc., 201 Park Avenue South, New York 3, N.Y., 1963. xv and 500 pages with preface, table of contents, illustrations, maps, drawings, chapter references, bibliography and index $2.35.

Patricia Horkheimer Suttles. Educators Guide to Free Science Materials, 4th ed. Educators Progress Service, Randolph, Wis., 1963. XV and 313 pages with publisher's foreword, table of contents, general directions, title index, subject index, source and availability index and eleven units. $7.75.

Irwin Isenberg (associate editor). The Soviet Satellites of Eastern Europe. Scholastic Book Services, Scholastic Magazines, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1963. 159 pages with photographs and index. Sixty-five cents, (paperback)