The lack of geographic knowledge and cultural dynamics should not surprise educators. Geography is no longer required as a separate discipline in many school districts and indeed often is dropped from the curriculum after elementary school where it is studied on a limited scale--usually in the third and fourth grades. Few students have the ability…

Geography is not what it used to be. Nowadays, that subject is often buried--and therefore inadequately covered--in a social studies curriculum itself under siege because of the extended commitment in schools to reading and math. But geographical knowledge also is not what it used to be. It has become essential to understanding a brave new world…

In this study done at a community college in South Florida, the achievements of students who spoke English as their second language who had attended their K-12 education outside the United States in their home countries, in a U.S. college course on world geography are compared with the achievements of students in the same classes who spoke English…

This article examines whether questions embedded in geography textbooks address three components of spatial thinking: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning. A three-dimensional taxonomy of spatial thinking was developed and used to evaluate questions in four high school level geography textbooks. The results…

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are becoming increasingly popular in online education environments and have multiple pedagogical advantages over more traditional approaches to education. VLEs include 3D worlds where students can engage in simulated learning activities such as Second Life. According to Claudia L'Amoreaux at Linden Lab, "at…

PlacesOnLine.org is a Web portal that provides easy access to high quality Web sites that focus on places from around the world. It is intended for use by a wide range of people, including professional geographers, teachers and students at all levels, and the general public. This article explores the potential uses of PlacesOnLine as an…

Films are often used in schools to illustrate geography, but doing so may favor mainly passive learning. An experiment with twenty-eight pupils aged thirteen years (a whole class) had the aim of using cinema to promote active geographical learning. First, it was ascertained what the dominant geographical stereotypes were among the pupils and the…

The study of geography affords excellent opportunities for the exercise of judgment, generalization, inference, and comparison. This textbook is designed for the pupils who are completing a course of elementary studies, the special purpose has been to secure the exercise of these powers. It aims to give pupils clear and broad views of human life…

The authors share a successful Fulbright Group Projects Abroad grant award. The purpose of the grant was to enhance American educators' experience and knowledge of South Africa, in particular, and sub-Saharan Africa more generally. Toward that end, participants experienced a multifaceted view of South Africa's geographical diversity, both physical…

Based on an ethnographic case study done in an all-white, rural middle school, this article examines the students' experience with and interpretation of an international education program implemented with a hope of providing more global/international contents to the curriculum. The study shows that these students interpreted other cultures…