To help plan effective teaching strategies, it is important to determine students' existing knowledge about the topic to be taught. Interviews with New Zealand students showed that they hold nonscientific ideas about soil. These student views should be respected by teachers. They should be discussed and compared with scientific viewpoints. (RM)

Maintains that misperceptions or incorrect mental images about relative location and size are common in geography. Reports on a study of 708 students ranging in age from junior high school through undergraduate school. Finds that misperceptions are widespread and exist across grade levels. (CFR)

This document summarizes the results of a national survey that tested 4th, 8th, and 12th graders' ability to analyze geographic data in a variety of formats; explain complex geographic phenomena and processes; and show knowledge of relationships between human and geographic events. The survey tested three content dimensions: space and place,…