Relates how a blunder about the Arctic Ocean and the polar ice cap made by the author in his first year of teaching led to a successful learning experience. Lists five important discussion topics that social studies teachers should use to teach about this remote, but strategic, part of the world. (LS)

Described is a game which provides a method for teaching students to locate cities and towns on a map. Students are provided with a list of descriptive phrases which stand for the name of a city, e.g., hot weather town (Summerville, Georgia); a chocolate candy bar (Hershey, Pennsylvania). Using a map, students must then try to find the name of a…

This curriculum packet about maps, with seven accompanying lessons, is appropriate for students in grades K-3. Students learn basic concepts for visualizing objects from different perspectives and how to understand and use maps. Lessons in the packet center on a story about a little girl, Nikki, who rides in a hot-air balloon that gives her, and…

To introduce primary grade children to the five themes in geography, a play about the United States is presented as a musical. The five themes are location, place, human environment interaction, region, and movement. The play is designed to help students understand the multicultural nature of U.S. history. Eleven states are located on a map and…

These learning activities involve secondary geography students in making a turf map, using map grids, solving problems dealing with map scale, and making a map scale. Complete teacher instructions are provided. (RM)

Contends that the introduction of the Five Themes of Geography has revitalized geography in the K-12 curriculum. Argues that physical geography is left out of the "Movement" theme. Presents a set of physical geography ideas to help teachers implement the theme. (CFR)

Elementary school students learn about the continents and the oceans by completing a variety of activities, games, and puzzles. Students learn to spell the names of the oceans and continents; recognize the locations, sizes, and shapes of the continents; and use directions on maps by completing a pretest, word searches, mazes, crossword puzzles,…

Instructors at all levels can draw on a large number of geography software programs for use on microcomputers. This annotated listing describes some of these software programs. (RM)

Five approaches--self discovery, reading, writing, oral presentation, and visual literacy--were used to teach high school students about the physiographic landmarks of Latin America. The course is described. (RM)

This teaching guide offers educators glimpses into the value of remote sensing, the process of observing and analyzing the earth from a distance. Remote sensing provides information in forms to see spatial patterns over large areas in a more realistic way than thematic maps and allows a macro-scale look at global problems. The six instructional…

Summarizes methods from a high school geography class that used examples from local geography to teach basic geographic concepts. Maintains that these illustrative examples can be used even in courses where the content is not local geography. Provides examples of local landscapes illustrating concepts applicable to the Brazilian rain forest. (MJP)

This interdisciplinary packet of materials on mapping is intended for grades 7-12. The lessons are organized around themes: location, navigation, information, and exploration. Each lesson has an introductory text and two main activities. Students learn basic mapmaking and map-reading skills and see how maps help answer fundamental geographic…

A packet of resources for helping students develop map skills is presented. The packet includes: 18 stencil masters of mapping exercises for elementary students; an aerial photograph; the course guide, entitled "A Course to Understand Maps," designed to help secondary students understand maps through problem solving; and a teacher's…

Social Studies textbooks from grades 1-4 published by Macmillan (1985), Scott Foresman (1986), and Silver Burdett & Ginn (1988) were selected for review to assess the position given by these books to geographic place vocabulary. Each was evaluated on the basis of frequency and continuity of places named, the attention to stressing place name…

Designed for students in grades 7 through 10, this teaching unit presents illustrative resource materials depicting the multi-factor nature of a geographic region. The unit focuses not only on climatic factors, but also on introducing other regional factors in an informal way. A blackboard summary of a class discussion of the different regions is…