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This paper argues for increased attention to quantitative literacy in undergraduate critical human geography curriculum. The rationale is twofold: On the one hand, it is increasingly easy to integrate quantitative material into curriculum, given the widespread availability of open-source or low-cost platforms for interpreting data. On the other hand, it is increasingly important to develop quantitative literacy informed by critical theory in a political era of anti-science rhetoric and resurgent propaganda. The paper reviews recent scholarship on quantitative methods in critical human geography, highlighting a shift toward methodological pluralism in both research and pedagogy. This creates opportunities for enhancing human geography curriculum, for instance, by applying technical skills while thinking critically about the social construction of data. This is explored with a case study on quantitative exercises in introductory Human Geography curriculum at a public university in the United States, evaluating strategies for integrating critical spatial theory with quantitative data analysis, and tools for assessing the educational value added by their integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates how teacher trainees in higher education geography and external, non-scientific partners perceive and experience collaborations in an active teaching and learning approach. Such formats are recommended in education for sustainable development (ESD) but are likely to be challenging experiences for all actors involved. The study analysed two transdisciplinary-oriented courses, where future teachers in geography and primary social and science education collaborated with civil society partners. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 24 students and partners; course evaluations complemented the database. The analysis identified several approaches to collaboration and aspects that either led to intensive collaboration or challenged its transdisciplinary character. Furthermore, the study revealed the interdependencies between the external partners' expectations, their motives and the perceived effects of the collaborations. The partners anticipated a wide range of expectations, some of which went beyond what the students could reasonably deliver. Our analysis also showed that the collaborations enabled students to learn, experience and reflect on an active teaching and learning approach to ESD. We conclude that transdisciplinary-oriented courses can oscillate along the spectrum between "nice try" and "valuable initiative". The paper ends with recommendations for shaping and delivering transdisciplinary-oriented courses effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the student experience of multidisciplinarity within the undergraduate Geography curriculum. It considers the drivers that have underpinned this development before considering the findings of research into student experiences in two universities in the south of England. The results suggest that most students view this development positively and recognize a number of advantages that it brings, citing expanded opportunities for learning, working with people from other disciplines, expansion of perspectives and perceived benefits to employability. However, for a minority this development is more problematic. The research points here to issues with specialist knowledge and disciplinary pedagogies, social issues within the classroom and class organization and some reservations regarding groupwork. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A geographical education offers more than skills, subject knowledge and generic attributes. It also develops a set of discipline-specific capabilities that contribute to a graduate’s future learning and experience, granting them special ways of thinking for lifelong development and for contributing to the welfare of themselves, their community and their world. This paper considers the broader purposes and values of disciplinary teaching in contributing to individual human development. Set in the context of recent debates concerning the role of the university and the neo-liberalisation of higher education this paper explores approaches to developing the geography curriculum in ways that re-assert the educational value of geographical thinking for students. Using international examples of teaching and learning practice in geography, we recognise five geocapabilities: use of the geographical imagination; ethical subject-hood with respect to the impacts of geographical processes; integrative thinking about society-environment relationships; spatial thinking; and the structured exploration of places. A capabilities approach offers a productive and resilient response to the threats of pedagogic frailty and increasingly generic learning in higher education. Finally, a framework to stimulate dialogue about curriculum development and the role of geocapabilities in the higher education curriculum is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflecting on a previous article, I evaluate changes encountered around teaching sexuality over the past 22 years in different geo-political settings. This article examines the ways in which my teaching practices, as an academic committed to equality, have developed in relation to different academic and political contexts. This personal pathway through learning and teaching work linked to sexuality has been, and still is, embedded within social, and feminist geography modules based on a political focus on social justice and injustice. I worked in two UK universities during the time when the Civil Partnership Act 2004 was enacted but left the UK prior to the Equality Act of 2010 and the Marriage (same sex couples) Act of 2013. I now teach in Singapore where Penal Code 377A still exists. This British colonial code criminalizes sex between consenting adult men in private or in public. This paper discusses my commitment to integrate sexuality into the curriculum and analyses the ways in which styles of delivery, content and engagement between and with students has varied across what I define as two 'eras of teaching geographies of sexuality/sexualities'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of culturally and social inclusive curricula is an important aspect of teaching geography. In countries such as Australia with a history of colonial oppression and dispossession the need to acknowledge Indigenous history and peoples in teaching is vital. This paper reports on the lessons learned from being part of the Indigenous Enrichment of Curricula Project (IECP) for geography curricula at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Drawing on advice from an Indigenous Reference Group, this project trialled the use of visual and aural delivery mechanisms, the development of country-based assessments, the use of "co-run conversations in safe spaces" and embedding of key narratives and storylines to provoke student learning and cultural reflexivity. Challenges are reported on, including working out how to decolonize curricula without adopting binary and essentialist constructions of Indigeneity, how to involve Indigenous colleagues without overburdening them, and how to represent Indigenous knowledge. The paper concludes that Indigenizing or enriching curricula must go beyond a content focus and avoid superficially gilding the lily (by the addition of culturally palatable and romanticized "nuggets" of Indigenous knowledge) but build towards a drastic re-structuring in practice of entire course frameworks consistent with Indigenous ways of doing and seeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve a deep and wide implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into all forms of education, the capacity of educators and trainers needs to be increased. This paper describes the curricular architecture of a master’s program in Geography with an emphasis on ESD. Based on a first feedback given by graduates, the paper discusses both strengths and weaknesses of the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student-led movements have called for the decolonization of the Higher Education (HE) system in the UK, as well as elsewhere. Much of the onus within British geography has been on decolonizing geographical knowledges, recognizing the role of the discipline in the colonial project. This paper expands on these literatures by examining how work on critical pedagogies can deepen the decolonizing agenda within geography. In other words, it is not only what we teach that matters, but how. Using the perspectives of undergraduate geography and international development students at the University of Sussex taking a module entitled "Decolonial Movements", I reflect on how to decolonize the way the subject is taught within the classroom. I make six tentative suggestions: ensuring a diversity of teaching staff, not just reading lists; enabling decolonial pedagogies; encouraging social justice, liberation and decolonization; using creative and innovative teaching tools; decolonizing assessment criteria; and embedding decolonization across the curriculum. To be clear, the aim is not to produce any kind of standardized curriculum but to spark debate over meaningful forms of decolonizing pedagogies in undergraduate geography, as well as to reflect on some of the challenges of implementing a decolonizing praxis within UK universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students in geographic information systems and science (GIS) require significant experience outside of spatial analysis, cartography, and other traditional geographic topics. Computer science knowledge, skills, and practices exist as essential components of GIS practice, but coursework in this area is not universally offered in geography or GIS degrees. To support those interested in developing such courses, this paper describes the design and implementation of a server-focused course in WebGIS at Texas A&M University. We provide an in-depth discussion of the equipment and resources required to build and operate an on-premise CyberGIS server infrastructure suitable for supporting such classes, providing comparisons with an equivalent solution built on Amazon Web Services (AWS). We consider the comparative costs of these systems, including benefits and drawbacks of each. In comparing these deployment options, we outline the technical expertise, monetary investments, operational expenses, and organizational strategies necessary to run server-based CyberGIS courses. Finally, we reflect on assignments and feedback from students and consider their experiences in a course of this nature. This article provides a resource for GIS instructors, academic departments, or other academic units to consider during infrastructure investment, curriculum redesign, the addition of courses in degree plans, or for the development of CyberGIS components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A principal focus in GIS higher education has been with developing curricula or accommodating new technologies to reflect the needs of the developing discipline. Pedagogy has largely reflected traditional metaphors of acquisition and transfer in the context of formal education, and this extends to preparation of students for the workplace. In this paper, the authors explore the potential for communities of practice, and in particular virtual communities of practice as a complement to more formal GIS education to provide a route to more situated, participatory learning. In so doing, the emphasis towards creating a GIS professional community of practice offers both the recognition of the role of situated knowledge in developing professional GIS expertise, and provides an important bridge from higher education to the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The status of geography as a separate school subject in Czechia is being increasingly questioned as pupils' interest in it is declining. Pre-service teachers (i.e. teacher trainees at universities) are key players in recontextualizing geography education in the future. Therefore, understanding pre-service teachers' conceptions of geography and its teaching are crucial. This article reports on the results of a survey of Czech secondary pre-service teachers' conceptions regarding geography and its teaching. Our contribution to the literature extends existing knowledge by using a latent class analysis providing deep insight into the conceptions of geography and its teaching. The survey was conducted among a group of 114 secondary pre-service geography teachers studying at five universities in Czechia. A classification of conceptions of geography and its teaching developed by Simon Catling served as an analytical framework. The findings indicate that a majority of Czech pre-service geography teachers had a descriptive, information-oriented, and non-relational conception of geography and its teaching. The research results showed two homogenous groups of pre-service geography teachers: knowledge-oriented essentialists and learner-centred progressivists. This paper concludes by suggesting implications for pre-service geography teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial provides an introduction to the Journal of Geography in Higher Education Symposium on "Teaching geographies of sexualities: 20 years on". This edited collection revisits the Symposium "Teaching sexualities in geography" (Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Volume 23 [1999], Issue 1) and the earlier Arena Symposium essay series "Teaching sexual geographies" (Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Volume 21 [1997], Issue 3). The contributions to this updated anthology trace the evolvement and provide original critiques of the current state of sexualities (and, in extension, gender and intersectionality) education in geography curricula in transnational context. These interconnecting papers allow for a more in-depth understanding of the diverse possibilities and challenges facing the teaching of sexualities within geography in a contemporary international climate and identify opportunities for expanded provision. This editorial concludes with critical pointers to champion teaching-inflected sexualities scholarship that traverse disciplinary and geographical borders of pedagogical inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students in the mid-2010s have grown up with social media and digital research technologies. They have welfare concerns not seen in the past, and know that the workplace is changing and unpredictable as digital solutions and automation increases. A HE teachers role as a collator and interpreter of information from many library based sources into a lecture with supporting Reading List, is overtaken by the Internet making information available to everyone. This technology has potentially transformed the role of the academic, freeing up time for research, co-research and co-production of knowledge with students. Students have the tools to search and collate, to be more active learners, rather than passive receivers of information in lectures. These factors, amongst others, lead to questions about the characteristics of an appropriate and challenging geography higher education (HE) curriculum, and the teaching pedagogies which support students to be excellent in their discipline, develop critical enquiry skills alongside the skills of excellent researchers and workplace professionals. This paper seeks to identify some of these challenges and asks the reader to consider how these circumstances should influence the design of the academic curriculum and broader student experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the process of changing the student experience in response to changes in the wider world. Topics discussed include role of Internationalization in universities stimulated by the generation of fees from international students and branding; outcome of an internationalized curriculum; and importance of Transnational Education (TNE) in universities for establishing satellite campuses in other countries.

Australia is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. Since World War II, seven million immigrants from more than 150 countries have settled in Australia. Since that time, Federal governmental changes to its policies on immigration has recognized the importance of cultural diversity in its population. Educational institutions have also responded by initiating a variety of strategies and developing curricula aimed at achieving equitable education and social outcomes and promote the acceptance of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds. This paper first examines how Australia has developed policy that has enabled education to become its third largest export market worth more than AUD$18 billion in 2014–2015. It focuses on some of the state and federal government policies that have encouraged the internationalization within the primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors and then gives an overview of some of the institutional strategies and policies that have been implemented at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) at university level and geospatial science undergraduate discipline level. A range of challenges at the governmental, institutional and discipline level faced by those individual academics wishing to incorporate internationalization into their respective curricula are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Documentary films have often taken a pivotal role in strategies to internationalize (geography) curricula and classrooms, being used as a method of bringing the world to the classroom. These documentaries overwhelmingly take ethnographic form. Problematically, the documentary gaze is characteristically that of an outside film crew and narrator mediating relationships between the “subjects” of the documentary and the ways they are heard and seen. Yet other forms of documentary also exist, including those offering autoethnographic perspectives to viewers. Autoethnographic documentaries offer a highly promising resource for internationalization of the geography curriculum, providing careful, analytic, theoretically-informed understandings of documentarians’ own worlds – which may be in the next neighbourhood or on the other side of the planet. This paper reviews documentaries as curriculum-internationalizing learning-and-teaching resources before going on to examine the flaws of “traditional” ethnographic documentary in this endeavour. It makes the case for greater – though not necessarily exclusive – use of autoethnographic films in our work to educate global citizens and provides some preliminary resources for locating and evaluating this form of film. As such it contributes not only to critical pedagogy surrounding internationalization of the geography curriculum but also to filmic geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper chronicles the experience of academic staff in developing a course to enhance the critical thinking skills of environmental management undergraduates. We outline our considerations and process for course development, discuss insights from course evaluations, and reflect on the challenges encountered. We believe these perspectives will be useful for others who are developing critical thinking skills curricula, especially first year courses. Aspects of the course design which were considered particularly effective were the use of scaffolded assessment, the application of threshold concepts, and well-structured collaborative learning activities paired with quality tutors. The key learning for the authors from the evaluation of the course was that while the tools and strategies developed were very useful, interweaving these tools into year 2 and 3 courses would help students see the ongoing value of critical thinking in their work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

University students who do not declare geography as their major are at risk of poor motivation to learn in an introductory geography class. However, research exploring the role of non-majors' motivation is lacking. This study examines motivational factors impacting non-geography students' engagement and performance. The findings suggest that non-geography majors demonstrate deep engagement when they focus on mastering the content and value geography. Also, when students feel confident of learning geography, they are more likely to demonstrate a high level of achievement. The paper concludes with practical suggestions for enhancing non-geography students' motivation and engagement in an introductory geography class. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Big ideas, sometimes referred to as key, core, fundamental or threshold concepts, are widely applicable concepts at the heart of disciplines that are or have been central and influential for their fields. Attention here is particularly directed to meta-concepts common to sister disciplines in the sciences. "Learning thresholds", "powerful knowledge" and their meanings are singled out for discussion having become widely relevant to geography. Other empowering big ideas for geography are identified; collectively these can be close to the global concerns that new learners may have, giving them motivation for their learning. Developing global challenges, from coronavirus infections to climate change, are geographically varied in their reach and impacts. Student engagement can be enhanced as concepts are addressed and they embark on the methodological and factual knowledge and skills that give new value to HE learning. Fresh concepts can also be realized from students' individual projects or enquiries. In these ways big ideas can provide motivational stimuli for progressing enterprising research through such learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of the common good underlies much policy making in geography. There are two reasons for evaluating geography's impact on the common good for the university curriculum. First, by working within the various theoretical paradigms that have influenced policy, students will learn to argue from different perspectives such as social democracy or neo-liberalism. Second, asking them to assess the effectiveness of policies in meeting the common good, produces employable graduates with skills in critical thinking and problem solving. This is especially true because the concept is often not fully developed and varies with each perspective. Initially students undertake a case study of an area that allows them to follow the logic of intervention during all its historical twists and turns. A further stage sees students arguing not just within but between different theoretical frameworks, comparing the various approaches in order to discover the most appropriate one for understanding the processes in the locality and for pursuing the common good. In the final stage students investigate the politics of knowledge, again using data from the same locality, looking at how the knowledge used in geographic policy making becomes an agent of socio-economic change through being absorbed by society's dominant paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geography lecturers face increasing teaching challenges from the state, institution, department, and students to better equip undergraduates for their subsequent careers. I argue that the primary objective in geography curriculum should be exposing undergraduates to a mixture of both applied and theoretical perspectives, which, among other benefits such as acquiring and developing their disciplinary knowledge, would allow them to best transfer their skills and knowledge to the workplace. The former is crucial for students as they need to embark the workplace in broadly knowing how to approach matters realistically in applied measures (second-order thinking), whilst the latter will prove useful in enabling them to frame issues in a wider manner (first-order thinking). Using a research proposal project as an example in a field studies module offered by a geography department in a Singaporean university conducted in Thailand, I reflect on this engagement via the consultation and guidance and grading their assignment. Whilst field-based modules arguably offer better first-hand experience for students, I conclude by suggesting how we could take this combination of applied and critical geographies for students to experience back in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the current state of the geography discipline in Spanish Universities after putting into action the European Higher Education Area. After decades of geography teaching, following theoretical and expository discourse models, the so-calledBologna Processhas been a great opportunity to reflect what geography should be taught, how geography should be taught and why geography should be taught. Aspects such as competences, employability, learning methodologies, assessment, Geographical Information Systems domain have been incorporated into the renewal of geography teaching in Spanish higher education, which has contributed to the strengthening of geography in a context of geospatial technologies revolution and public awareness of spatial challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Competing influences and pressures on areas of HE and the content of new AL syllabi suggest a need for curriculum reconsideration. We analyse, from institutional website data, the present provision of physical geography in 77 UK institutions providing undergraduate learning in geography. The extent of compulsory modules gives an indication of programme structure: compulsory modules average 65%, no first-year choice is offered in 58% of programmes, all but four require a compulsory dissertation, and on average 28% of compulsory modules were in physical geography. Overall there is a spectrum of provision, with courses solely in human or physical geography at the extremes, and, in between, a variety of programmes: some afford a strong provision of concepts and major themes in physical geography (22%), some emphasize skills (25%) or applied aspects (5%), and others offer a course "cafeteria" from which the student freely selects unless constrained by advised learning pathways. Questions arising include whether sufficient attention is accorded to all aspects of physical environment, to some neglected components of physical geography, and to those physical environments necessary for understanding contemporary rapid environmental change across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential field courses are important and should be designed and delivered to maximize their value to students, staff and institutions. In this context, we use a novel approach involving analysis of the daily affective and conative reflections of students immersed in the field course experience to better understand student engagement with fieldwork. We show that students base their field course choice on a range of factors (costs and benefits) and that these choices subsequently influence student expectations and motivation to engage with fieldwork. We also show that the motivation of students to engage with fieldwork-based learning varies from person to person and from day to day. Our findings suggest that having a more nuanced understanding of the decisions students make when deciding which field course to enrol upon would enhance our ability to design attractive, accessible and useful field courses; that having an awareness of the expectations of students around field courses would enable us to better prepare them to undertake them; and that students are more motivated when they are afforded an opportunity to work independently and perceive themselves to have ownership of their learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationalization has been an important concept in higher education over the past two decades. The way that internationalization is manifest has consequences to academic disciplines, including geography. A new system of liberal arts colleges in the Netherlands has created opportunities for interdisciplinary education, representing a departure from the traditional model of European higher education. At Leiden University College the focus on global challenges created an opportunity for geography to be integrated into a diverse interdisciplinary and international curriculum. The positioning of geography into the curriculum, however, occurred because its adaptability and breadth, which enabled it to be incorporated into diverse facets of the overall teaching programme. To be successful, however, geographers should be cognizant of specific facets of the discipline suited for an international context. The case study herein reviewed highlights important differences between the U.S. and Dutch (European) context. Additionally, important points for academic geographers (academics) who are in interdisciplinary programmes (i.e. not a geography department) are emphasized, which relates to the development of course materials to suit an international context. The identification of key thematic and methodological disciplinary strands serves as bridges to interdisciplinary opportunities, which was essential to geography’s successful establishment within an international curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into geography provision in primary initial teacher education [ITE] courses in the United Kingdom and worldwide is very limited. England educates pre-service primary teachers of 5–11 year olds to be “generalists” who teach the full range of curriculum subjects, including geography. This article identifies that the provision of teaching time for geography is low and declining in England’s primary ITE courses. It presents a picture which may not seem dissimilar in other parts of the world. With only about half of pre-service primary teachers in England having studied geography after age 14, their subject knowledge appears weak. University-based ITE subject sessions rarely extend beyond introducing them to England’s primary geography requirements and to some approaches to teaching geography. Prospective primary teachers observe and teach limited, if any, geography in primary schools. Developing their geographical understanding and teaching capability is highly challenging for tutors. There are concerns that the current situation may well decline further. Encouragement exists to develop geography provision in primary ITE but the opportunities to achieve this appear increasingly constrained as the pre-service environment moves from university-led to school-led provision. International comparative research is essential to understand better pre-service primary teachers’ learning to teach geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian universities are increasingly embedding Indigenous content and perspectives within curriculum to promote Indigenous cultural competency. We present teaching challenges in an Indigenous geography course designed to present an engaged, intercultural learning experience. We critically reflect on student evaluations, informal discussions and observations to complement scholarly debates. Course design and delivery was seen as stimulating and illuminating in terms of course content. While diversity of student cohorts, backgrounds and learning styles remain challenging, the romanticism of some students can override critical engagement with the geographical context of the course material and their positionality. There remains a tendency in both student constructions and the geographical literature to create an Indigenous/non-Indigenous binary that not only essentializes both, but can be culturally unsafe for Indigenous students. Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students may share a sense of pessimism in confronting apparently unstoppable development and environmental destruction. We argue for scholarship around the fundamentally intercultural nature of coexistence to contextualize the spatial diversity of Indigenous lives in landscapes, currently obscured by dominant constructions of Indigeneity. Critical reflection on settler educators’ and learners’ positionalities with respect to neocolonial structures will help to transcend both essentialism and pessimism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]