Notes the various and evolving definitions of the term "frontier" as it applies to border regions, advance settlements, and developing areas. Traces the idea of frontier back to its original meaning, provides a critical perspective on experiments for redefinitions of frontiers, and draws some conclusions from these redefinitions. (MJP)

This paper addresses the neglect of social justice a social change in the undergraduate general education curriculum at a community college. The intended audience of this paper is community college instructors with heavy teaching loads of mostly general education courses. Without pretending to be a rigorous analysis of theories of radical pedagogy…

Chronicles the geographic and historical locational changes of the textile industry of the U.S. South. Economics of scope, flexible production, and quality of output characterize the contemporary textile industry. Provides basic geographic content enabling a teacher to develop a unit by applying geography to interpret the past and present. (CMK)

Explains the theory and educational utility of field-based instruction. Discusses an effective field-course structure, focusing on the planning process, pre- and post-trip meetings, and student activities and assignments. Describes a field course on resource management in national parks based at Oklahoma State University. (CMK)

This article offers video lessons that interweave visual and written materials in order to introduce university undergraduates (who may or may not be geography majors) to some recent shifts in geographic inquiry. What is often described as the "cultural turn" in human geography invites us to examine more closely the politics of representation,…

This article addresses the lack of outcome-based research on the integration of technology into pedagogy at the undergraduate college level. It describes a study performed at a Midwestern university, testing the relative effectiveness of paper and electronic topographic maps for teaching map-reading skills, and considers the relationship between…

Examines issues concerning the initial setup and the everyday operational problems of managing a computer teaching laboratory. Addresses such issues as setting policies on laboratory access, dealing with a high student-per-machine ratio, provisions for maintenance, obtaining hardware and software upgrades, staffing, data security, and networking…

Describes a writing assignment designed to educate students about an ethnic group different than their own. Students first wrote a factual account of how their family arrived at the local region. They then wrote an account from the perspective of a fictional student from a different ethnic group. (MJP)

Profiles an Introduction to Geography course that integrates first year experience (FYE) materials into the curriculum. FYE programs are designed to aid students in the transition to college, develop study skills, increase awareness of useful resources, help students understand the community of the university, and encourage critical thinking. (MJP)

Describes an instructional activity in which students collected and analyzed data from an urban environment. Explains that students developed an "urban attractiveness scale" and used it to rate different urban areas. Concludes that the exercise was effective as a learning activity. (CFR)

Advocates that geography teachers undertake field studies of human systems with their students. Describes a learning process in which teachers take students to a human system (supermarket, hotel) and guide them through exploration and analysis of the system with the goal of building skills that can transfer to other geographic tasks. (MJP)

Outlines a number of activities to be conducted with a stream table (large wooden box filled with sediment and designed for water to pass through) in class. Activities illustrate such fluvial processes as stream meandering, erosion, transportation, and deposition. Includes a diagram for constructing a stream table. (MJP)

Maintains that region familiarity is an important prerequisite in the instructional use of cartograms. Cartograms are value-by-area maps that increase or decrease areas in order to illustrate various data (e.g. book reading in the western United States). Discusses necessary cognitive processes for the visualization of data. (MJP)

Introduces global positioning system (GPS) technology to nonspecialist geographers and recommends a framework for implementing GPS instructional modules in college geography courses. GPS was developed as a worldwide satellite-based system by the U.S. Department of Defense to simplify and improve military and civilian navigation and positioning.…

Describes a college level course in which computer mapping is incorporated into the geography curriculum. Discusses problems associated with using commercial mapping software in the general geography classroom. Concludes that students have reduced computer anxiety and a better understanding of geographic concepts as a result of the computer…