In this article, we engage with undergraduate geography students' reflections on their geography education. We begin by examining the position of geography within education across the British Isles. Following this, we critically consider how geography education is shaped by "the gap" between school and university geography and…

Separation between human, physical, and GIS geographies is risky to geography's disciplinary survival. How can they be bridged through teaching in higher education? I dwell first upon the separation as rooted in the emergence of modern science and geography, the culture-nature binary, Kant's classification of knowledge, and positivistic science.…

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) represents a major leap forward in AI technology, offering the potential to reshape education in various aspects. This paper explores the transformative potential of GenAI in geography education, focusing on its impacts across curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and fieldwork, through the lens of the…

This essay reviews and builds upon Aníbal Quijano's contribution to decolonial theory to sketch out what I refer to as the geopolitics and coloniality of curriculum, broadly understood as an imperial doctrine and a pedagogical mode of domination aimed at producing a modern/colonial subjectivity. It argues that the geopolitics and coloniality of…

This conceptual paper presents a decolonial critique of Eurocentric epistemic hegemony in South Africa and its impact on the curriculum. We argue that the propagation of knowledge from the Global North as 'universal' through conceptually vague framings of curriculum internationalization is contributing to the maintenance of Eurocentric hegemony.…

Gerrymandering, or more broadly legislative redistricting, is almost unique as a focus of geographic inquiry in that a typical young adult will (a) know what it is, (b) recognize it as geography, and (c) think it is important. These qualities make redistricting an excellent choice for drawing students into the discipline of geography while…

In this article, the authors share a unique and unfolding story about a program in Virginia that allows districts to opt into a series of Inquiry Design Model (IDM) performance assessments in place of the state-developed multiple-choice test. In the Rockingham County School District, this initiative was piloted in ninth-grade World Geography…

The article offers a critique of the Knowledge and Understanding sub-strand of the revised Australian Curriculum: Geography for Years F-6, due to be implemented in Australian schools in 2024. As a foundation for this critique, the article first discusses what should be the aims of geography in primary schools, in order to provide some criteria for…

Big ideas, sometimes referred to as key, core, fundamental or threshold concepts, are widely applicable concepts at the heart of disciplines that are or have been central and influential for their fields. Attention here is particularly directed to meta-concepts common to sister disciplines in the sciences. "Learning thresholds",…

One of the ideas of the GeoCapabilities project(s) is to open up an international debate on the purposes and values of geography education. In line with this, the aim of this article is to examine some central perspectives used in GeoCapabilities, such as curriculum thinking, the teacher as 'curriculum maker' and the perspective of powerful…

Though there has been debate regarding the effectiveness of online teaching and learning as compared to face-to-face or in-person modalities, the online experience has gained credence and momentum (Brenneman and Karpman 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant global lockdown warranted the closing of schools and the adoption of online…

This article makes the case for repositioning values and ethics as central to understanding how curriculum knowledge can be educationally powerful. Disciplinary knowledge can help individuals make sense of the present, explore alternative futures and participate in society, making ethical choices about how to live. This, however, depends on…

This article examines Advanced Placement Human Geography (AP HG) in the context of its place in efforts to reform geography education. It presents a critical analysis of the AP program and its curriculum, asserting that it represents "powerful knowledge" as conceptualized by Young. It concludes with a call for research in AP HG aligned…

Integrated river science provides decision-making life-skills for individuals and communities facing environmental change; it is a variant of critical physical geography through its socio-political dimensions. As an example, the frequency and magnitude of river flooding are amplified by climate change: society needs to understand how to cope…

Recent technological changes in communications, in research and in learning and teaching styles should prompt developments in approaches to physical geography curricula. This paper questions whether there has been sufficient open discussion of such curricula and those that have been set nationally. Developments in England and Wales over more than…