As social and postmodern ontologies continue to shape our definition of space, undergraduate instructors have struggled to incorporate these paradigms in the geography classroom. Recent research suggests that practical applications using field work, qualitative research, and geographic information science can augment students' understanding of…

Advocates that geography teachers undertake field studies of human systems with their students. Describes a learning process in which teachers take students to a human system (supermarket, hotel) and guide them through exploration and analysis of the system with the goal of building skills that can transfer to other geographic tasks. (MJP)

A family-oriented geography field course about the southwestern United States was conducted in 1978 by a community college in Michigan (Delta College). Course activities took place in Colorado. The major purpose of the field experience was to offer learning experiences to family groups rather than to individual students. For purposes of the field…