For a pre-kindergarten (preK) class, designing a 3-D map of a newly constructed playground offered authentic opportunities to participate, deliberate, and solve an authentic problem. Responding to the compelling question--"How do we build community spaces that are welcoming to, representative of, and sustaining for all community…

The construction and infrastructure of a city provide the foundation of an ideal urban lab for high school students to discover how to dissect the multifaceted layers of a place and make it their own. For six weeks in the winter of 2008, ninth-grade students in Providence, Rhode Island's Hope High School/Hope Arts Community learned to look closely…

Having students make an everyday atlas, a collection of maps, generally of a small area, that illustrates features of particular local interest, is a good way to introduce them to the methods and materials of geography. How to make an atlas is discussed. Two examples are described. (RM)

Describes a college level geography project which focused on land use identification from aerial photographs, land use mapping, and the identification and analysis of land use changes in the field. The project was intended to help students apply geographic skills to real world problems. (AM)

An activity-based curriculum enables intermediate-grade children to pretend to be explorers who have discovered land. Students create a country by constructing a land map, formulating a constitution, determining an appropriate form of rule, and so on. Students learn how each aspect, from terrain to climate, creates ramifications leading to a…

Describes a college urban geography class project studying factors which determine the spacial distribution of the elderly in Baltimore, Maryland, and attributes of desirable housing sites for them. Students discussed problems and needs of the elderly, mapped their population distribution, and did field studies evaluating the adequacy of existing…

Presents instructions for a class project to produce a raised relief map. Reports that students will learn to interpret elevations from contour lines, interpret map symbolization, realize that the area represented is a real area, and redefine the meaning of a map scale. Includes a list of materials needed and details of construction. (DK)

Describes field course which emphasizes mapping techniques and preparation of a field report. Includes course methods/procedures, course schedule (broken down by weeks), grading practices/methods, student response to and performance in the course, nature of field area studied, and comments to those who may want to adapt such a course. (JN)

Mapping Our City is a two-year project in which middle school teachers and students in Boston explore the uses of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in project-based science, environmental education, and geography. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation and is being field tested in three Boston middle school science classrooms.…

A software development collaboration project designed to maximize the skill sets and interests of school children and teachers, educational software technologists and researchers, and college undergraduates is presented. The work brings elementary school children with college seniors and technology consultants to implement a problem-solving…