The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's Implementation Study, which uses interview and survey…

Communities across the country are grappling with different approaches to improving their schools. Introducing or expanding charter schools is one of the approaches that states and school districts have considered or implemented. Charter schools serve more than 5 percent of public school students nationwide and make up close to 7 percent of all…

An activity designed to increase map skills by having students map the location, distance, direction, scale, and time zones of the travelling done by athletic teams is described. (DE)

A simulation game designed to increase knowledge of basic place location is described. Preparation, materials, and variations of the game are included in the description. (DE)

Discusses teaching about the impact of weather and climate on societies and human activity. Suggests that this impact be demonstrated with study of the Dominican Republic during its formation. Presents several instructional strategies for consideration: focus on climate, historical events, and weather. Includes books to be used in each approach.…

The drawing of schematic maps from memory is a useful instructional technique for providing students with a conceptual mental framework of world geography. (DE)

Place names alone can provide an illuminating picture of Manitoba's (Canada) history. Discusses settlements of native cultures, the Hudson Bay Company, and various ethnic groups, including the French, English, Mennonites, Icelanders, and Ukrainians. (RM)

Describes an innovative geographic location activity in which students trace and correct a mimeographed map of the United States two times. The first time, the state names are given. The second time, the student must fill in and correctly spell the name of each state. (Author/DB)

Provides an annotated bibliography of 11 books from children's literature that can be used to help teach geographic location. Categorizes the books by both geographic skills and grade levels. (CFR)

The paper suggests that the five fundamental themes of geography can serve as a good starting point for understanding how geography affects lives everyday in every way. Geography serves to remind people how interwoven geographic concepts are in individuals' lives. Ten activities are suggested to incorporate the five fundamental themes into a…

A distance perception survey was used to get college students enrolled in a human geography course involved and interested in the topic of perception. Students were asked to arrange 12 European capitals in sequence according to their distance from Amsterdam. Survey results are presented. (RM)

Identifies themes necessary for geographical literacy: location, place, relationships within places, movement and interaction, and regions. Discusses three traditional social studies approaches to organizing geographic instruction: topical, social science, and reflective. Illustrates the richness and depth created by combining all three approaches…

Describes a hands-on geography activity that is designed to teach longitude and latitude to fifth-grade students. Children create a scale model of the earth from a 300 gram weather balloon. This activity incorporates geography, mathematics, science, art, and homework. Provides information for obtaining materials. (KO)

This program presents a method for improving geographic literacy in a logical and meaningful way and for inclusion of geography in every social studies class. The third grade program utilizes six questions per week over a period of 32 weeks and is designed to be used during the first five minutes of each social studies class. The program focuses…

This program provides a way to enhance student understanding of social studies subjects by increasing their basic knowledge of geographic information. It enables teachers to make geography a part of every social studies class and is designed to be used during the first five minutes of each class period. An important aspect of the program is to…