This literature review focuses on geography instruction and summarizes the most important information teachers should know. The review suggests that there are four main areas of concern in geographic education: defining geography; developing systematic, sequential curriculum; training geographically literate teachers; and developing tests that…

This booklet examines the subject of fresh water and the ways in which it affects every aspect of human life. The document includes an introduction and seven sections: (1) "Agriculture"; (2) "Transportation"; (3) "Culture"; (4) "Engineering"; (5) "Health and Domestic Use"; (6) "Politics and Economics"; and (7) "Industry." Inside each section is an…

The results of a national census are too often viewed as of little use except for allocating seats in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress. This essay argues that a broader view of census data should be taken; the data can prove valuable for instructional use across the secondary school curriculum. An overview of population education…

Piagetian stages of cognitive development are reviewed, and what teachers of geography skills, particularly map skills, can do to make use of Piaget's theory of child development is discussed. Piaget describes children at four different stages: (1) sensorimotor stage--birth to 2 years, (2) preoperational stage--ages 2-7, (3) concrete operational…

Elementary school teachers are provided with materials and instructions for using a variety of social studies games. The 15 games described are: charades, checker states, hollywood squares, states guessing game, index relay, jeopardy, the match game, the money game, password, the states game, sequence, stump the students, track meet, famous person…

The unit mastery learning system is a method of individualized, self-paced learning which, through repeatable testing, enables students to attain a mastery of the content of one unit before proceeding to the next in the program. This article describes the unit mastery learning system and its application in an introductory geography course at Hilo…

The Americas conventionally are divided into two continents, North and South America, with the place of demarcation at the border between Panama and Colombia. Yet a generation of students is growing up with the broad but imprecise term Latin America, referring to all of those countries south of the United States, while North America has come to…

This publication is designed to provide guidance to secondary teachers, curriculum developers, and geographic educators responsible for selecting appropriate text materials in geography and the social sciences. The most commonly used geography textbooks for grades 7 through 12 are reviewed. The reviews identify major components of sound geography…

This booklet focuses on the Kansas City (Missouri) Chiefs professional football team and is designed to teach geography through the use of newspapers. In Section 1, "The Local Scene," the instructional activities help students to learn about the Kansas City metropolitan area through collecting news stories and advertisements. Section 2,…

This resource packet contains materials and suggestions to integrate National Geography Awareness Week for 1987 and 1988 into elementary and secondary education in Texas. The materials for 1987 include: (1) a pamphlet for a balloon release; (2) a collection of ideas for student activities; (3) a description of two field experiences; (4) a…

This document explains the curriculum development notation system for the Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada) schools to ensure that the legal requirements for education are met. Tenth grade geography is used to explain how to cluster the notations into a coherent system that provides curriculum area, course title, unit title, and generalization. This…

Introductory college level geography textbooks can be enhanced by using scatter diagrams and double criteria classifications, both of which reveal generalizations and specific facts about location. Scatter diagrams, a series of dots on a graph, illustrate relationships among phenomena that covary, e.g., national birth and infant mortality rates.…

Four articles bear on the dissemination of new approaches to content and instruction for the High School Geography Project, elaborating a resource personnel workshop, a teacher-oriented implementation strategy, and learning experience via curriculum development. (Author/KM)

Six challenges to prepare future geographers to respond to new goals resulting from a growing interest in social and economic problems are presented. (KM)

This paper presents a summary of curriculum guidelines in geography. The three elements of curriculum development -- objectives, learning experiences, and evaluation -- are sumarized, and a large number of questions on each element are listed as a checklist for teachers and curriculum developers. (Author/JR)