Based on "Virtual Reality" (VR), this study constructed a teaching software of glacier terrain, which allows students to explore freely in virtual environment and the effect of different learning modes. This study also collected students' spatial ability and geographical learning achievement, and explored whether students' spatial…

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",…

Flexibility in course provision is needed more than ever. Blended learning, flipped classroom approaches and experiential learning, re-envisioned within hyflex environments, offer mechanisms for addressing current challenges in tertiary education provision. Today, universities are more intensely considering online study as a way to diversify…

This article presents a study evaluating student perceptions of learning experiences creating ArcGIS StoryMaps. The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives ("Bloom's Taxonomy") provides a framework for organising, analysing, and interpreting a survey completed by 154 students from high school to postgraduate. Using a mix of quantitative and…

This situated case study outlines how a place-based landscape template provided an integrative platform for the environmental arm of a cross-disciplinary international education initiative, the Three Brothers Project, wherein geographers at the University of Auckland worked alongside engineers at Tsinghua University in Beijing to support…

Completing a PhD is difficult. Add a major earthquake sequence and general stress levels become much higher. Caring for some of the nonacademic needs of doctoral scholars in this environment becomes critical to their scholarly success. Yet academic supervisors, who are in the same challenging environment, may already be stretched to capacity. How…

"Wicked problems" are complex to understand and challenging to teach. Our experience of teaching about environmental concerns in Aotearoa New Zealand suggests how these concepts are taught is more important for student learning than the nature of wicked problems themselves. By offering opportunities for students to co-develop their own…

Scholars, practitioners and educators propose video games as innovative teaching methods to engage geography students. A methodological framework, informed by constructivist learning theory, explored the ability of 'serious' disaster video games to foster student participation in learning within four New Zealand schools. The findings indicate the…

Advances in technology have created opportunities for collaborative multi-institution programme delivery which are increasingly attractive within a constrained financial environment. This paper details the development of a cross-institution collaboratively delivered masters and postgraduate diploma programme in Geographical Information Science in…

Before graduating from my year as a student in an initial teacher education programme, I am tasked with demonstrating my ability to show how I am able to achieve equitable outcomes for 'priority student groups'. My success or failure in this hinges on a number of factors. Arguably, the most important factor is the quality of practice I observe…

This article is a reflection on the challenges faced by school geography teachers in New Zealand. After a brief description of how the geography curriculum is currently organised, it provides a short statement about the current curriculum settlement in New Zealand. This leads to the main argument that much of the twentieth century school geography…

Field trips are recognized as an essential component of the study of geography. They are popular with learners and teachers, but their value as learning experiences is largely assumed. What is needed are interactive and relevant learning activities like "drawing in the sand," a participatory learning activity that has been introduced…

This paper complements debates around use of new technologies and literacy in education by proposing a focus on "classroom-ness." It highlights the significance of incidental, everyday and ephemeral practices associated with classroom technology-use. Using examples from a study of primary pupils' interactions around digital texts, it…

In an era of rapid geographical data acquisition, interpretations of remote sensing products are an integral part of many undergraduate geography degree schemes but there are fewer opportunities for collection and processing of primary remote sensing data. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) provide a relatively inexpensive opportunity to introduce…

This article uses findings from a project on engagement with graduate outcomes across higher education institutions in New Zealand to produce a toolkit for implementing graduate attributes in geography curricula. Key facets include strong leadership; academic developers to facilitate conversations about graduate attributes and teaching towards…