The authors propose an instructional use for Google Earth (a GIS application) as an anchoring tool for knowledge integration. Google Earth can be used to support student explorations of world geography based on Wikipedia articles on earth science and history topics. We asked 66 Taiwanese high-school freshmen to make place marks with explanatory…

From the perspective of German colonial supporters and authorities, appropriate white education in the settler colony of Southwest Africa (SWA) was essential for maintaining German hegemony in the territory. In order to reach this objective, the German colonial administration in SWA, with assistance from pedagogues and institutions in Germany,…

This article traces the history of the expanding communities approach, the leading organizational structure for elementary social studies education since the 1930s. Since its introduction into the curriculum, educators have argued about the approach's effectiveness and suitability. Critics claim it lacks intellectual rigor and is redundant in that…

The brain perceives, recognizes, interprets, comprehends, appreciates, and remembers experiences that are both text and non-text or verbal and nonverbal. This article discusses Dual- encoding as a proven method of teaching that increases student learning retention and incorporates multiple learning styles. Students learn both subjects better when…

This article explores a two-year professional development initiative with four state geographic alliances. Professional development planners, whether planning for a large- or small-scale initiative or one with unlimited or limited funding, will benefit from learning about this successful professional development activity and how the impact in the…

After fifteen years of geographic education efforts, a baseline geography skills test was repeated in Indiana. In 2002, 2,278 students in college freshman geography courses were tested with a revision of the National Council for Geographic Education Competency-Based Geography Test, Secondary Level Form II. The test measured geographic ability in…

Internationally, recognition is growing that the transition between post-primary and higher education is raising a number of challenges for both students and educators. Simultaneously with growing class sizes, resources have become more constrained and there is a new set of expectations from the "net generation" (Mohanna, 2007, p. 211…

Aerial imagery has a great capacity to engage and maintain student interest while providing a contextual setting to strengthen their ability to reason proportionally. Free, on-demand, high-resolution, large-scale aerial photography provides both a bird's eye view of the world and a new perspective on one's own community. This article presents an…

Recent work on the history of education has been registering a "spatial turn" in its historiography. These reflections from a historical geographer working on the spatiality of knowledge enterprises (science in particular) reviews some recent developments in the field before turning to three themes--landscape agency, geographies of textuality, and…

This research has been seeking an answer to the question about what kind of image of the Islam is conveyed by the most popular and densely used textbooks to students. In the course of analysis, primary and secondary schools textbooks were examined via quantitative and qualitative methods. The objective demonstration of the research results aims to…

The author truly believes that the marginalization of social studies is not only harming the profession, it is jeopardizing the democracy. But if social studies is in jeopardy, consider the colleagues in the arts and music. Art and music programs have been reduced or eliminated in thousands of schools throughout the nation. Marginalizing art and…

New Zealander Sylvia Ashton-Warner, a teacher in remote rural Maori schools in the 1940s-1950s, became internationally renowned as a novelist and educational theorist. Earlier commentators portrayed her educational theory as in conflict with those of her time and place, but recent studies conceptualise them as enabled by it. While space/place has…

This paper examines the history of the "International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education" (IRGEE) journal in terms of its sustainable future. The development of geographical and environmental education is evaluated, as reflected from the papers published in the journal "IRGEE". A content analysis of all papers and forum sections…

Over 3,900 trees on a university campus were inventoried by an instructor-led team of geography undergraduates in order to quantify the carbon sequestration associated with biomass growth. The setting of the project is described, together with its logistics, methodology, outcomes, and benefits. This hands-on project provided a team of students…

Google Earth is an exciting way to engage students in scientific inquiry--the foundation of science education standards and reforms. The National Science Education Standards identify inquiry as an active process that incorporates questioning, gathering and analyzing data, and thinking critically about the interplay of evidence and explanations.…