Instruction in cartographic or map literacy in technical communication courses can support pedagogies promoting social change. Students must develop an ability to read, understand, interpret, use, and critique maps in technical communication contexts. This article argues that attention to cartographic literacy can build on existing visual…

To foster students' meaningful learning of science, we designed and implemented a unit for five third-grade students that allowed them to understand Carbon Footprint (CF) in a public school in North Texas. The unit lasted seven weeks, where students identified the effects of distance traveled and packaging on the CF of certain consumable products.…

Although social studies or language arts classes may offer more natural settings for "global studies," the author's students have engaged in projects demonstrating that mathematical topics can work well at furthering the goal of increasing students' cultural literacy. The author describes one project here, where students working in…

A new method is proposed here aimed at eliciting the mechanisms which maintain the relational positioning of people and places within social space. This 'mapping tool' is inherently relational by design and involves participants creating visual representations of their geographic imaginaries, encompassing their perceptions and preferences of…

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unanticipated event that has exposed human fragility in an interconnected and interdependent world. While impacts are of a global magnitude, they have been felt at the most local of levels. Across the world pupils' daily lives and experiences have been directly impacted by government-imposed measures and restrictions…

Understanding the spatial nature of the world is necessary in everyday life. Not only do people move about in 3D space, but spatial thinking is also important in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This may be especially true in the geosciences, where learners often encounter unique spatial reasoning…

Knowledge of geography is one of the main elements in solving problems such as urbanization, socio-economic inequalities, disease, migration, natural disasters. It is also seen that importance is given to the acquisition of geographical skills in educational programs. The spatial thinking skill that provides geospatial information is a geographic…

Students in the early republic commonly stitched, drew, and painted maps of their states, nation, and world as part of their educations. Map drawing and geography were regarded as particularly appropriate subjects for girls, both as a pathway to literacy and as a means of demonstrating accomplishment. Many young girls exposed to map work in their…

The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to asset mapping as a systematic approach to facilitating increased family and community involvement in comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAP). It includes a brief summary of the literature related to the importance of family and community in children's physical activity…

New technologies are changing the ways that children navigate, find places, make and use maps, and explore the world. This is the geospatial revolution. Children live in a world of rapid technological innovation bringing new opportunities for cognitive development in school geography. Geography learning is an important component of primary school…

The lesson described in this article meets several needs for Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG®) teachers. In the interest of preserving time in the classroom, this lesson is intended to be a capstone assignment, allowing students to synthesize several concepts of the APHG® curriculum, such as demography, economic development, and cultural…

The Welikeia project and the corresponding free online tool Visionmaker. NYC focus on the historical landscape ecologies of New York City. This article provides a brief introduction to online participatory tools, describes the Visionmaker tool in detail, and offers suggested ways to use the tool for Extension professionals based in and outside New…

National Geography Standard 1 requires that students learn:"How to use maps and other geographic representations, geospatial technologies, and spatial thinking to understand and communicate information" (Heffron and Downs 2012). These concepts have real-world applicability. For example, elevation contour maps are common in many…

Software programs such as Tinkerplots ® or Geometer's Sketchpad ® can help students solve problems in mathematics classes, but may not be available to them after high school. In contrast, many students who become familiar with Internet tools and programs in office packages (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) may use them daily to enhance their…

The Giant Traveling Map program is a collection of very large, flat maps, each with an accompanying set of teaching resources. The maps are available for rent to U.S. schools and community organizations for exploring world geography. The Giant Traveling Map program provides students with a unique kinesthetic learning experience that captures their…