Describes a college course which uses field studies to examine communities and small urban places. The course is designed for undergraduate students with little or no field experience and is offered as an intensive two-week session between semesters. (RM)

The handbook is a text and organizational framework for developing and teaching a graduate level course on state geography. This paper describes how the handbook can be used in a geography course for teacher education. (Author/RM)

Guided design involves an instructor in developing a problem that students are expected to solve and then leading them, step by step, through the problem to its solution. This teaching method was used to help students explore how individuals, small groups, and then larger numbers of people in larger areas interact to form the Muncie (Indiana)…

Information on unit objectives, materials needed, teaching strategies, and activites is given for a model unit focusing on geographical concepts of spatial association and accessibility, changing landscapes, and the local community. (SM)

Explains how studying a floodplain can help students analyze the interactions between humans and the physical environment. Analyzes data from two cities in California to demonstrate that housing prices did not rebound after a flood. (GG)

This activity, designed for secondary school geography students, provides reinforcement of skill development in the uses of census data and offers students a greater understanding of the socio-economic structure of their community. Students convert raw census data into percentages, develop quartile ranges, and construct choropleth maps to…

Describes instructional strategies for stimulating student awareness of their membership in global society. Included are learning objectives, required materials, sample letters to parents and community members, and explanations of 22 activities students might undertake in an inventory of global links in their home, school, and community.…

Four map skill lessons for use with intermediate grade students are presented. They deal with map evaluation, orientation, making a photomap, and making a community resource map. (RM)

Undergraduate students increase their understanding of human geography and become aware of their community's health ecology by examining the degree and geographical pattern of dog-associated health hazards in Athens, Georgia, and by studying the behavioral patterns and attitudes of Athens's residents that might be causally related to these health…

Discusses cooperative learning as a means of teaching geography. Urges production of a positive classroom climate by using group builders and cooperative projects. Suggests projects involving maps, community study, and bulletin boards. Argues that students in cooperative learning become more involved in the subject and more motivated to learn…

University students participated in a research project on communities and conservation on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Students contributed by gathering data with various methods that will be compiled in a GIS. Living in three villages at different elevations on the mountain, students facilitated GPS mapping, a random survey of over 90…

Describes a community study project that uses history and the five fundamental themes of geography as a framework. The project involves organizing committees to study the need for a traffic signal in a small town. By studying various dimensions of the issue, the committees are able to demonstrate the need for a signal. (KO)