This is the first in a series of six articles about how spatial reasoning can help children "read" maps, graphs, and geographic texts. Since the late 1900s, neuroscientists and psychologists have used new brain-scanning and eye-tracking technologies to do a "lot" of research about visual perception and spatial thinking. One key…

The main objective of this experimental study was to reveal the importance and effectiveness of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based materials in the course of the earthquake topic to high school 10th grade students. The selected topic of the study was "The relationship between faults, plate movements and earthquakes in…

Field trips have been acknowledged as valuable learning experiences in geography. This article uses Kolb's (1984) experiential learning model to discuss how students learn and how field trips can help enhance learning. Using Kolb's experiential learning theory as a guide in the design of field trips helps ensure that field trips contribute to…

This article describes the benefits of combining field-based learning within the context of a competitive setting in the geography curriculum. Findings and data are presented based on experiences gathered from teaching an upper-level university geography course that combined geographic techniques and theory into a game of capture-the-flag.…

Aerial imagery has a great capacity to engage and maintain student interest while providing a contextual setting to strengthen their ability to reason proportionally. Free, on-demand, high-resolution, large-scale aerial photography provides both a bird's eye view of the world and a new perspective on one's own community. This article presents an…

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…

Fifteen maps of Florida, each containing errors to be corrected by students, are presented for use in teaching Florida geography. Among the error maps included are Florida's borders today, the rivers of Florida, cities in the Grapefruit League, and Florida's European explorers. Teachers are encouraged to reproduce the maps and students to use the…

Examines potential uses of mental maps in the classroom by reviewing research efforts, providing an example of the differences between mental maps of two student groups, and suggesting how to use mental maps in the geography curriculum. Mental mapping (or cognitive mapping) refers to individuals' processes of collecting, storing, and retrieving…

Discusses the educational benefits of map usage in social studies classrooms. Recommends approaches to teaching map skills, including instruction in location, distance, scale, and direction. Presents activities which utilize neighborhood resources. Describes an activity in which students devise maps of their local community. (RW)

This monograph discusses the importance of maps and mapping techniques for students in elementary and secondary school geography classes. Maps are interpreted to include plotter print outs, space and aerial photographs, plastic three-dimensional relief models, spatial images on cathode ray tubes, and holographs (images produced by laser beams).…

Fourteen hundred entries of British works on geography in education comprise this bibliography intended for teachers at the elementary, secondary, and college levels, for students, and for research workers in all branches of education. The purpose is to provide a guide to extensive literature that records a century of progress and achievement in…

Activities designed for primary children to develop the geographic concepts of spatial arrangement and location, as well as to build basic map skills, are outlined. (Author/KM)

This document demonstrates how social cartography can be used in social research to include individuals and cultural clusters who want their own narratives included in the social discourse. Social cartography is defined as the creation of maps addressing questions of location in the social milieu. Visual images, depicting on the two dimensional…