The Center for Global Geography Education (CGGE) is a set of online modules exploring geographic issues, which allow collaborative analysis and discussion between international teams of undergraduates. Using data from trials held in 10 countries, the modules' effectiveness in improving student understanding of geographic concepts and appreciation…

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…

This paper illustrates how sports can be used to teach geographic concepts, using illustrative examples from the Kansas City area. Given the global popularity of sport and its impacts and links to environment, economy, and culture, it is surprising that more attention has not been paid to sport as a vehicle for the conceptualization and teaching…

Learning science includes learning to argue with "inscriptions": images used to symbolize information persuasively. This study examined sixth-graders learning to invest inscriptions with representational status, in a geographic information system (GIS)-based science investigation. Learning to reason with inscriptions was studied in emergent…

This article describes a design partnership that investigated how to integrate Google Earth, remotely sensed satellite and aerial imagery, with other instructional resources to investigate ground cover and land use in diverse middle school classrooms. Data analysis from the implementation study revealed that students acquired skills for…

The authors share a successful Fulbright Group Projects Abroad grant award. The purpose of the grant was to enhance American educators' experience and knowledge of South Africa, in particular, and sub-Saharan Africa more generally. Toward that end, participants experienced a multifaceted view of South Africa's geographical diversity, both physical…

Discusses a study undertaken to determine the ecological effects of off-road vehicles, such as four-wheel drive trucks and dirt bikes in the Big Cottonwood Canyon area near Salt Lake City. Applications of the study to other investigations of off-road vehicles are discussed. (DB)

Geography was virtually absent from the secondary school curriculum from the mid-1950s well into the 1980s--despite America's rediscovery of the earth in the 1970s. The 1984 instructional "Guidelines for Geographic Education" stress five interrelated themes (location, place, relationships within places, movement, and regions), forming a sound…

Describes a California State water project intended to transport water from the northern half of the state to the southern half. Assesses major features of the project, explains agricultural uses of the water, identifies other project activities, and surveys problems affecting the project. Explains the stances of various environmental groups,…

Recommends ways in which teachers of geography on the high school and college level can decide which parts of the world are particularly suitable for study and can select appropriate issues and events to meet course objectives. Presents a list of 50 topics which are suitable for study from 1981 to 2000. (DB)

Details the rationale, evaluation and implementation of use scenarios-structured narrative descriptions of envisioned system use-in the development of the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT). Discusses the strengths of the scenario approach, obstacles to their use, and lessons learned in the overall development process. (Author/AEF)

As a means of helping students build map skills, the article presents information on how the energy crisis affects poor people in developing nations (lack of firewood, disappearing forests, erosion due to removal of ground cover). Presents a global map showing the extension of desert conditions and includes questions to help students analyze the…

An analysis of 14 introductory physical geography textbooks yielded 121 core concepts (basic concepts appearing in 7-10 books). The authors suggest that the trend toward overspecialization in introductory geography classes can be reversed if teachers agree to stress core concepts and their relationships to geography as a whole. (AM)

This Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA), Chapter II project combined acquisition of instructional equipment with teacher training to improve the geographic skills of students in grades six through eight in the Dade County Public Schools, Florida. Map and globe materials from three different publishers (the George F. Cram Company,…

Identifies factors which render geography an ill-defined field of study on all educational levels. Topics discussed include geography curricula, historical development of the discipline, various approaches to the discipline, and major objectives. (DB)