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High school geography in the U.S. continues to face many challenges. Recent research argues for increased faculty engagement with teachers and students to broaden participation and promote career opportunities. Here, we sought to better understand teachers' challenges in ninth-grade geography classes in Southeast Texas, including addressing students' negative perceptions of geography from a baseline survey. To address student perceptions, teacher and student focus groups highlighted challenges and interests. Results suggest that student interests do not align with teachers' insights. These data can be used to work with teachers to enhance secondary geography education and improve student perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress and anxiety are well-known struggles for university students, and professional associations like the American Association of Geographers (AAG) have developed recommendations to address mental health. This commentary outlines interventions for accessing nature's healing benefits through location-based mobile app technology, such as iNaturalist, podcasts, and videos. This "pocket-sized" easy-access model can be utilized by geography and teacher education faculty, as well as undergraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple perspectives on geographical thinking are lacking in the teaching of climate change in school geography. This study establishes an epistemic model through a co-construction design to support geography teachers' curriculum making with respect to climate change. We developed the preliminary model with four main geographical perspectives, including natural scientific, humanistic, social scientific, and posthuman perspectives, by drawing on studies in academic geography. Based on interviews with nine geography education researchers who have been involved in the GeoCapabilities project, we examined the educational potentials of multiple geographical perspectives in developing student's capabilities to react to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learner-centered instruction fosters 21st-century skills and must be implemented in geography classrooms. In this South African case study, most teachers predominantly implemented teacher-centered instruction. The analysis of the results established a moderate but highly significant relationship between geography teachers' years of teaching and their implementation of teacher-centered instruction and a weak significant relation in the implementation of individual instructional strategies. Teachers with more years of teaching implemented more teacher-centered and individual learner-centered instructional strategies than early-career teachers. Teachers stated that learners and parents expected them to teach and that large classes hindered the implementation of learner-centered instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research was to determine if and to what extent students' learning of geographic concepts can be improved through incorporation of hands-on play with Play-Doh® and LEGO® and geospatial technologies, specifically drones. The project team conducted six months of biweekly, collaborative instruction at Comstock Middle School in Michigan incorporating in-class activities such as drawing mental maps, creating contour lines of model landscapes in water boxes, constructing 3D landscapes from 2D topographic maps, building and operating small drones, and more. Compared pre- and post-tests reveal a 14% increase in overall scores, a statistically significant improvement in student performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blank paper maps are often used to assess student location knowledge. A total of 502 students enrolled in 12 undergraduate World Geography classes between 2016 and 2022 were initially asked to find some of the following countries on a blank world map: Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela. Comparing student cohorts, results were generally mediocre and consistent over time, yet changes in identification accuracy appear with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and in times of intense US media coverage of a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the potential of narrative-based geospatial technologies (NGSTs) in the teaching of regional geography to preservice geography teachers (PGTs). Reflective journals gathered from students who took a StoryMaps-based European regional geography class were analyzed using phenomenography. The results showed that NGSTs are useful for cultivating PGTs' understanding of and insights into regional geography studies and teaching through the integration of regional geography narratives, map layers, and multimedia technologies. These results provide meaningful insights into the education of PGTs, the practice of regional geography education, and the use of narrative-based geospatial technologies in the geography classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions around the globe to close or move to a remote format. This article focuses on the transition of an in-person undergraduate physical geography lab to online synchronous learning during the Fall 2020 semester. Findings suggest the importance of abundant learning materials as well as showing similar experiences across different groups of students. In addition, we captured the experiences of lab instructors over time. Ultimately, even as education transitions post-pandemic, these findings highlight the usefulness of extensive/intensive learning, and course flexibility in a synchronous, online, active-learning physical geography lab course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem-solving skills are often considered to be the key skills in today's world, and their importance in geography education is widely recognized. However, empirical evidence analyzing whether and how teachers develop problem-solving skills during geography lessons is especially scarce in the context of preservice teachers. Accordingly, we conducted a questionnaire survey with 256 respondents. The survey analyzed preservice teachers' experience with problem-solving skills and different teaching styles in their pre-college (upper secondary) geography education. The results show that preservice geography teachers prevailingly perceive that they were not exposed to problem-solving skills even passively, let alone actively developing them. The insufficient development is in line with the prevalence of teacher-centered styles. The article concludes with a discussion of possible causes and recommendations for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explains the limited presence of geography in New England higher education as a result of the structure of the region's higher education system. Blending the geography and history of education literatures, it identifies type of control (public vs. private), institution type, urban location, multi-campus university systems, and the weak position of geography in secondary schools and community colleges as key influences upon the existence of an undergraduate major in geography. The article also considers windows of opportunity when geography departments were commonly established and provides selected examples of institutions that closed geography departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With feet firmly planted in three disciplines - psychology, education, and geography - Downs was in a strong position to survey the scene in geography education. This effect, however, pales in comparison with the impact of brain-scanning technologies in neuroscience and psychology. In 1994, the I Journal of Geography i had a three-page article entitled "The need for research in geography education: it would be nice to have some data (Downs [5])." Research in psychology and education Professor Downs was in a unique position to craft a list of research needs. [Extracted from the article]

The voice and perspective of early career scholars are particularly important in geography education, a subfield that has traditionally been small and is rapidly becoming smaller due to the retirements of prominent scholars. This research surveys and discusses these early career scholars' vision for the future of geography education, in light of a rapidly changing context for geography and education alike. We categorize respondents' research agendas and aspirations into three progress variables and then ultimately discuss pathways for the future, including challenges and research opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of interdisciplinary sustainability curriculum remains understudied in geography education. Accordingly, we deployed and evaluated an interdisciplinary sustainability and STEM module for in-person and online sections of a fall 2018 Human Geography course. Results indicate that sustainability knowledge improved after the interdisciplinary curricular intervention irrespective of course modality. Another focus is to explore student reactions to teaching modality due to COVID-19 disruptions. Results indicate that online student sustainability knowledge also improved during COVID-19 (fall 2020). For students in a section converted from in-person to blended, sustainability knowledge did not improve. Implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollution issues, anthropogenic climate change, and biodiversity declines, formerly local in scope, accumulate to threaten crossing planetary boundaries and tipping Earth's system to an uninhabitable state. The human-environment identity is an unsung cornerstone of geography that can educate upcoming generations of citizens about trends over time, current conditions, and pathways to a more desirable future. The geography education community should develop and apply human-environment thinking through tools like timelines and big ideas. We hope the geographic thoughts presented herein will provide a scholarly rationale for K-12 educators to consider as they design curricula to share human-environment geography with students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate students' understanding of the Gulf Stream as a geographical phenomenon and in relation to geospatial conceptualizations focusing on the geographical concepts of location, distribution and interaction. Data consists of 134 responses from 12-13-year-old students who completed an assignment in the Swedish national test in geography (2013). The responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Data was complemented with interviews in 2017. Results show that many students hold alternative conceptions of the Gulf Stream in relation to geographical concepts, which implies that instruction should focus on students' geographical contextual understanding, including map-reasoning skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) datasets for geography, we explore relationships between geography achievement in the eighth grade and contextual variables related to the content and organization of the geography/social studies curriculum. Differences in student achievement are associated with grade-level variations in exposure to geography as well as the organization of social studies as discrete versus integrated subjects. The achievement gaps observed in this study underscore the need for research into the characteristics of geography curricula and the extent that variance in student outcomes is explained by differential access to geography in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student and teacher attitudes toward school subjects are associated with varying levels of achievement in those subjects. This study analyzed data from the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to explore relationships between geography achievement in 8th grade, student attitudes toward geography, and teacher attitudes about their students and profession. There is a significant and positive relationship between geography achievement and attitudes, including a teacher's job satisfaction and how students perceive the value of geography for understanding the world. However, the significance of these relationships varies for different groups of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computers and geospatial technologies such as Geographic Information Systems, Google Earth, and the Global Positioning System (GPS) are increasingly common tools for geography instruction in schools. The NAEP Data Explorer was used to conduct an analysis of geography achievement in the eighth grade based on differences in students' access to and uses of computers and other technologies at home and school. The analysis over the study period (1994–2018) documents the emergence of technologies available to support geography instruction. Results point to differences in geography achievement associated with differential access to technology and applications of technology for geographic learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social disparities in NAEP student outcomes with respect to geography provide further evidence of how far the discipline of Geography still must go to address issues of diversity, equity, inclusion. Addressing these issues requires difficult but necessary conversations and planning of initiatives along with a more fundamental re-envisioning of what Geography education is, for whom the learning of geography matters and why, and a commitment to decolonize curriculum and pedagogical approaches. Such reform has the promise of not only making Geography education more responsive to social difference and justice, but it also ultimately will increase the intellectual and political efficacy of our profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial thinking is a crucial aspect of geography education with which all citizens should be equipped. This study employs eye-tracking technology to research strategies (their repertoire, distribution, effectiveness, and adaptiveness) used by upper-secondary students when analyzing spatial patterns with thematic maps. The results show that students have a broad repertoire of strategies and are mostly able to adapt them to the specific task demands. Moreover, the efficiency of students' strategies gradually increases as they get familiar with the task type and the maps analyzed. Based on the findings, how to appropriately develop students' strategies in geography lessons is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geospatial thinking is crucial for understanding the spatial order of the world. The factors influencing geospatial thinking deserve attention in geography education. Utilizing correlation analysis, we found that general intelligence, geographic knowledge, and geographic learning interest had a significant influence on geospatial thinking. This article attempts to understand how these factors affect geospatial thinking by using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that they impacted geospatial thinking directly. In addition, general intelligence and geographic learning interest had an indirect impact on geospatial thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School subjects' curricula, including geography, are infused with contents to improve climate change literacy. This study sampled 420 public secondary school students in Enugu State, Nigeria. Mean differences and multinomial logistic regression results show geography students possess the highest climate change awareness level. Besides, students' gender, location, age and class are variables significantly influencing climate change awareness. Students who took geography had an increased probability of being moderately or highly aware of climate change. The scope of climate change contents infused in other school subjects ought to be expanded, with explicit specifications of methods and materials for delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to interpret the meaning of primary geography teacher-researcher identities (PGTRIs) using phenomenology according to van Manen. Four emerging themes explained the meaning and characteristics of PGTRIs. The participating primary geography teacher-researchers (PGTRs) developed particular identities as practitioner agents of primary geography education research. Based on their aspirations for geography education research and their awareness of the problems in primary geography education, the PGTRs aimed to innovate in primary geography education and primary classroom-embedded geography education research and to connect primary classrooms with the academic world. The results provide an in-depth understanding of the meaning of research and education for PGTRs and their identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Place-based education is common in elementary school geography curriculums where children are taught about their surroundings. Emphasizing hands-on, real-world learning experiences, this approach creates heightened commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens. By post-secondary school, geography students collectively pursue knowledge within a classroom, learning about the importance of becoming global citizens. In the process, the benefits of place-based education are overlooked in favor of global aspirations. This paper considers the importance of place in student well-being, and the role of educator in place-based education, while reflecting on the role that local experiential education can play in increasingly global-oriented education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centers on to evaluate whether and to what extent the learning objectives of the geography curricula emphasize students' higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), and whether students are capable of answering to HOTS-questions by using the Finnish upper secondary geography education as an example. The revised Bloom's taxonomy was used as a framework for the content analysis. The findings show that geography has the potential to enhance students' HOTS, but students experience difficulties when answering to HOTS-questions. The results could be used to evaluate the desired thinking skills and knowledge dimensions in geography education for to enhance students meaningful learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on our experience teaching a 2-week field-based geography course on urban environmental issues, we reinforce the value of field-based experiential education (EE) especially as it faces growing threats. We show how such experience can enable students to understand the diversity of urban environmental challenges in situ; grasp cities as sites of environmental sustainability; understand the innovative ways local organizations and actors – many of them Black, Indigenous, and People of Color – are addressing these challenges; and feel empowered to take part in environmental stewardship. Focusing on course design and delivery, we additionally offer a blueprint for course replicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the application of photovoice as a pedagogical tool in a geography class. The main stages of photovoice were modified to suit the context for learning about a geographical issue, animal rights in relation to street cats in South Korea. Data were collected, and grounded theory was applied for the analysis. Based on the results, the paper discusses the implications of photovoice as a pedagogical tool for helping student learn geography by studying place/community as well as engaging in active learning and citizenship, authentic learning and assessment, and social justice and change in a critical geographic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perpetual decline of students' performance in external geography examinations necessitated this enquiry to identify causes of failure reported by examiners. This study, therefore, adopted a qualitative approach to analyze West African Examination Council (WAEC) chief examiners' reports from 2008 to 2018 to extract vital information on why Nigerian students perform poorly in geography, using the grounded theory methodology and RQDA for data analyses. Poor map work, inadequate preparation and scanty explanation of points were identified. Ideal geography teachers ought to be multiplied in schools, with the utilization of relevant instructional resources and student-centered teaching strategies for improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased liability, limited resources, and global pandemics reduce opportunities for field-based learning and accelerate transition to online education across grade levels and geographic contexts. Conventional expectations about teaching through fieldwork (i.e., in-person, led by the instructor) no longer encompass geography as a field discipline. Prospects for field-based learning diversify as technologies make "out there" available "right here" and as online courses grant students agency to engage with and redefine the field. This essay presents those possibilities and describes online modes of deploying and assessing field-based learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel method to create a physicalization of Digital Earth resulted a new type of analogue and tactile geographic information system (GIS). The model was tested by students in Australia, who shared insights into how the model supported their learning about the concept of "overlay" while providing an interesting and engaging learning platform. Observations suggest the model promoted collaborative learning, and provided a bridge between paper maps and digital GIS. This study offers insight into preferences of school children for physicalization models in geography education and contributes to an understanding of children's spatial thinking and understanding of the overlay concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on students' reflections and testimonials, we examined what it takes to help students become engaged in an online course designed with educators and education researchers in mind. The purpose of this paper is to provide the readers with insights into creating an online learning environment where students succeed by taking active roles and responsibility for their own learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent events resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic precipitated a triage-like environment wherein experienced faculty were forced to convert courses rapidly to online venues. This unexpected circumstance forced educators to adopt different learning theories of which they were largely unaware. The results were predominantly unsatisfactory for both learner and educator. This paper provides perspectives to this unfortunate circumstance, describes positive and negative aspects of the experiences, presents best practices for deep online learning, and challenges geography educators to learn how instructional design for online courses can be leveraged. The goal is to provide a forum for online learning in geography education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional agglomerations of industry have been a focus of economic geography research, especially in terms of how these clusters form and remain successful. Such a core topic should be explored in economic geography coursework. Economic geography education itself has been the topic of debate, particularly in terms of how to make important concepts relevant to students, especially those with little or no exposure to geography. This paper presents results from a project in an upper-level, undergraduate geography course that centered on an assessment of Portuguese clusters and their export potential, employed to explore and integrate core concepts in economic geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media are the arena where the discursive struggle over identities, cultures and geographies is carried out. Media organize our ways of thinking and acting vis-à-vis our ideas and perceptions of "us" and of "others." With the proliferation of participative information technology, (young) media users reinforce or challenge media events through activities like sharing, liking and commenting. The MiDENTITY project addresses this phenomenon from a pedagogic perspective and provides a case study on the implementation of Critical Geographic Media Literacy in geography education. Its central purpose is to empower students to develop a self-determined way of media use thereby reflecting on their own online practices of social in- and exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing concerns about the politics of curriculum for certain ideologies of global citizenship, there is scant literature focusing on critical understandings of school geography in relation to global citizenship (GC). This article examines the complicit relationship between dominant discourses of GC and South Korean curriculum policy and world geography textbooks. The language of global others is analyzed via postcolonial and post-structural thinking. Four themes of modernity, dichotomization, discrimination, and objectification emerge. This article articulates the ways in which these link closely to Western discourses of GC by legitimating certain types of geographical thinking while obscuring others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designed for middle school grades, the National Geographic Geo-Inquiry Process engages students in geographic inquiry that begins with formulating a question that addresses an issue in the local community and ends with taking informed action to advocate for a specific, concrete solution. This research employs a pretest and post-test in classrooms in five schools to assess changes in students' geography competencies, inquiry skills, and self-efficacy in civic engagement after undertaking a geo-inquiry project. In addition, this article provides a context for geo-inquiry to include its development, articulation with state standards, and example projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outdoor education is a teaching strategy that is considered an integral component of geography education. This article deals with the benefits of outdoor education as perceived by teachers, pupils, and parents for learner development in the areas of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and interpersonal relationships. To obtain the data, the semi-structured interviews with 18 elementary school teachers were realized. Then, based on the interview results, one model school was chosen to conduct a questionnaire survey among the pupils and their parents. The research shows that teachers see the benefits of outdoor education in both the cognitive area and the affective aspect of education and know that learners gain certain skills and knowledge during outdoor education. Conversely, parents see the greatest benefit in the area of attitudes and interpersonal relationships. Finally, learners perceive outdoor education as entertainment and time spent outside the classroom rather than a learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

K–12 geography education is often grouped with other subjects, limiting student exposure to geospatial technology and geographic inquiry. We explored the implementation of geospatial technology in North Carolina K–12 schools through a forty-four-question survey. Educators shared their teaching methods, geospatial technology integration, and professional development experience. Survey responses were statistically tested for multiple subpopulations, including rural, urban, and state-sponsored schools. Results suggest a lack of geography state standards, professional development opportunities, and classroom utilization of most geospatial technologies, which contribute to the deficiencies of geographic inquiry–based learning in North Carolina. Future North Carolina K–12 initiatives require changes to curriculum standards, professional training, and classroom resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing interconnectedness of people and goods enhances the complexity of geographical problems. For students to understand geography, systems thinking—and in this context, the use of causal diagrams—is a promising approach. A quasi-experimental design is used in which the systems thinking ability of students working with causal diagrams is compared to a control group where students did not work with causal diagrams. Pre- and posttests were taken by 448 students in the experimental group and 168 students in the control group. The results indicate that students in the experimental group outperform students in the control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geography Education in the Digital World: Linking Theory and Practice: edited by Nicola Walshe and Grace Healy, New York, Routledge, 2021, 192 pp. Curriculum making, teacher agency and choice, and innovative practices using digital technologies are at the forefront of this book. Specifically, I considered what more I could do as a teacher educator to encourage educators to engage in current discourse, examine and construct their professional identities, learn new technologies, and investigate pedagogical best practices for integrating technologies into the taught curriculum. [Extracted from the article]

This study aims to theoretically investigate the notion of critical thinking for a more just understanding of self and "others" in global geographical learning. It focuses on the kinds of injustice in the world which are driven by our relationships with "others." By drawing on the literature of critical education, philosophy of education, and geography education, this study reveals how universal notions of criticality tend to easily undermine those perceived as global others and may highlight, in deficit mode, their perceived differences. Instead, the study presents the imperative of deconstructive thinking for a more just world. The article concludes by proposing a teaching strategy for alternative criticality which strives for justice in school geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An awareness of preservice geography teachers' learning styles and self-directed learning skills can assist geography lecturers in the creating of effective and meaningful learning environments. The cross-sectional case study explores whether a relationship exists between preservice geography teachers' self-directedness in learning and their learning styles. The participants completed Williamson's Self-Rating Scale of Self-Directed Learning questionnaire and D. A. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory. Descriptive statistical techniques, t tests, analyses of variance, chi-square tests, and Cramer's V test were used to analyze the quantitative data. This study found no relationship between preservice geography teachers' self-directedness in learning and their learning style preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates efforts by a small regional university without a geography department to incorporate geography into its general education curriculum as part of a "quality enhancement" process mandated by its accreditor. Drawing on interviews and surveys of students and faculty, we highlight lessons learned that may be useful for institutions considering similar changes—including the importance of valuing disciplinary expertise, addressing faculty contingency, and engaging with existing research on geographic education and pedagogy. The initiative, while limited in significant ways, also suggests opportunities for advocates of geography to engage with agendas around general education reform and accreditation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparing learners for the future requires twenty-first-century teaching that integrates professional tools in the classroom. Geospatial technologies (GST), which represent geographical professional technologies, lack robust integration in high school geography. Researchers continue to ask why educators teach about rather than with GST. Understanding teacher decisions is paramount. This mixed methods study examined commonalities among teachers who use GST using Mishra and Koehler's (2006) Technological, Pedagogical, Content Knowledge (TPCK) framework as a theoretical lens. This investigation examined whether geography teachers who exhibit stronger geospatial TPCK used GST more frequently than other teachers who exhibited a less developed knowledge base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formal opportunity to learn geography in the United States is unevenly distributed across space, creating possible geography deserts. Data on the number of exams taken in Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) and bachelor's degrees earned in geography are mapped at the state and regional scales. Normalized rates are ranked and grouped into quintiles. For APHG exams, states in the southeastern region of the United States are in the uppermost quintiles while states in the northeastern region are in the lowermost quintiles. The pattern for bachelor's degrees in geography is somewhat the spatial inverse of that for APHG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zombies are in many ways the quintessential metaphor for contemporary security threats: They come seemingly out of nowhere, and assault and disperse without respect for national borders. This article details an undergraduate college course in geopolitics that combines a focus on popular geopolitics and international studies with zombies using Max Brooks's bestselling horror novel World War Z. The global political order is becoming increasingly complex and rapid shifts in policy challenge students' ability to connect theory with world events. Popular culture tropes, like zombies, can help explain theory and convoluted political relations in a way that students can understand and apply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social studies professionals advocate linking discipline-based content to citizenship learning goals. However, research suggests that students rarely encounter inquiry-based instruction in their geography coursework and have few opportunities to explore how geography impacts civic decision making. In this article, we present a problem-based geographic inquiry model that organizes geography instruction around civic problems that require ethical decision making. This model is being used as the basis for a lesson study professional development project called the Bridging Divides Project. A curricular exemplar on population change illustrates how the design process results in a product that supports learners in reasoning about a social issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study illuminates the effects of graduate education on primary teachers' awareness of geography. Data were collected through interviews with twenty-one teachers who held M.A. or Ph.D. degrees in geography and analyzed using Straussian-grounded theory. The participants were categorized into four types. Many teachers (type A) showed meaningful refinement in their awareness of geography, and some of them (type B and C) identified themselves as experts in primary geography. However, a few participants (type D) showed only marginal development of their geographic knowledge. These results suggest the potential for improvements to graduate education in primary geography and for primary teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the findings of a study to determine the degree of consistency in what is taught and learned in high school and college-level introductory courses in geographic information science and technology (GIS&T). A content analysis identified sixteen topics that are generally representative of the knowledge, skills, and abilities developed in introductory undergraduate courses. The findings were used to propose a standard college-level survey course in GIS&T that could inform future efforts to introduce more academically rigorous GIS&T coursework in high schools, such as through the Advanced Placement Program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]