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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...

Marsh et al.’s tests of appropriate spatial relationship concepts were administered to groups of college students to determine whether learning GIS enhances students’ overall ability to generate an...

Few studies, if any, have systematically investigated the connection or relationship between geography curriculum and scientific literacy. With this realization, in this article, we examined the po...

Target Audience: High SchoolActivity: Students: Students work with web-based maps to understand fossil fuel dependency and growing energy demand.Time: 45 minutesC3 Framework Standards • D2.Geo.1.9-...

Although geography education researchers in both China and Korea acknowledge that the education of spatial thinking and the development of teachers’ dispositions toward teaching spatial thinking ar...

This chapter examines the status of spatial citizenship education in secondary geography, particularly as it appears in the curriculum. Research on spatial citizenship identifies specific sets of core competences, with which a spatial citizen should be equipped, and which provide focus for spatial citizenship education. Spatial citizenship involves three complementary competence areas: technology and methodology; reflection and reflexivity; and communication, participation, and negotiation. The reflection and reflectivity component of spatial citizenship is associated more with the "consumption aspect" of spatial representations. The competency area of spatial citizenship refers to the active communication and participation strategies regarding the uses of spatial information and representations. The Spatial Citizenship project provides insights into addressing some of these challenges, providing a sound model for the development of curriculum for spatial citizenship in secondary education. The lack of prior research related to spatial citizenship education with Geographic Information System at the secondary level is somewhat expected.

Twenty-four pre-service teachers participated in a workshop designed to provide explicit opportunities to learn what spatial thinking is and how to incorporate it into teaching practice. The objectives of this paper are to: (1) examine the educational effect of the workshop on pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and (2) provide geographers who prepare teachers in higher education with insights into effective ways to address PCK to teach spatial thinking in teacher preparation programs. The findings of this study indicate that explicit instruction in teaching spatial thinking is necessary and effective to develop pre-service teachers' PCK.

The primary objectives of this article are: (1) to conceptualize teacher dispositions related to teaching spatial thinking in geography classrooms; and (2) to propose an exemplar assessment that can be used to prepare teachers who are disposed toward teaching spatial thinking through geography. A detailed description of the construction procedures and potential uses of the assessment are presented with suggestions for future research and applications.

A nationwide survey was conducted to examine the perceptions of geography educators regarding students' college readiness for geography. A total of 260 high school teachers and 93 professors who teach introductory human or world regional geography in the United States participated in the survey. Significant differences were found between the professors and the teachers in their perceptions on the relative importance of college readiness goals and the profi- ciency of their students. It was concluded that college readiness for geography is hindered due to both the different curri- cular priorities and perceptions on stu- dents' prior knowledge held by profes- sors and teachers.

This study investigates the location and varying spatiality of questions in geography textbooks. The results show that study questions posed in page margins address the three components of spatial thinking—concepts of space, using tools of representation, and processes of reasoning—more than questions in other locations within the text. Three practices are particularly recommended to help students develop spatial thinking skills through answering textbook questions: (1) utilize page-margin questions; (2) select questions around spatial representations; and (3) focus on higher-level cognitive processes.

One measure of the impact of a new idea in geography education is how well it is incorporated into teachers' everyday practice. Spatial thinking is not really a new idea in geography education; spa...

This article examines whether questions embedded in geography textbooks address three components of spatial thinking: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning. A three-dimensional taxonomy of spatial thinking was developed and used to evaluate questions in four high school level geography textbooks. The results indicate that textbook questions focus on low-level spatial concepts more frequently than high-level spatial concepts; few questions require students to create various kinds of spatial representations; and textbook questions only rarely encourage higher-order cognitive skills. The study provides insights on the design and use of textbook questions to foster learning to think spatially.

Recent advances in geospatial technologies (GST), wide availability of geospatial data, and a growing interest in the use of GST in education call for a comprehensive model for teaching and learning with GST. We propose a curricular model that can serve as a guide for integral geography education with GST, where spatial abilities and geospatial integrative skills constitute the two key pillars. Learning opportunities for students to acquire spatial concepts knowledge and to practice higher-level cognitive processes with GST must be critical components of this new approach. Instructional and assessment practices using GST should be designed in a way that can facilitate spatial thinking and geographic inquiry. Focusing on students’ understanding of concepts, ability to utilize a variety of tools of representations, and practice of problem solving through spatial analysis and reasoning in an authentic context can be an effective strategy. A challenge is preparing teachers who are capable of designing and implementing GST-supported inquiry-based instruction and authentic assessment. More research that focus on knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to teaching with GST should shed light on this matter.