Geographic information systems (GIS) consist of robust hardware, software, data, and a thinking operator. Together, they provide powerful tools for automated cartography and extensive analysis of information about places. Recent improvements in computer hardware and software allow the powers of GIS to move effectively and affordably into the…

This book includes a listing of literature for students that discusses explorers and exploration. The volume divides the last one thousand years into ten periods, each characterized by either geographical location or time frame. The progression is not smoothly chronological. Each chapter contains a brief narrative of the period as well as an…

This curriculum unit was prepared for senior high classroom use to teach geography, history, and environmental issues. The objective of the lesson is to illustrate the historical man/river relationship between Egypt and the Nile River, and the impact of the Aswan dam on the agricultural and economic needs of the country today. The lesson requires…

Geography is a key to understanding and acting effectively in our world. It is the subject that, more than any other, enables people to comprehend the earth and its environment, and to appreciate the delicate balances between the human and physical elements that bind people to this planet. However, more than half the children of the United States…

This mediagraphy lists 236 audiovisual materials on New Jersey subjects. The media presented include film, filmstrips, video and audio cassettes, records, and slides. History and geography are emphasized, but subject areas include the social and natural sciences, arts and letters, medicine, and ecology. Entries are listed alphabetically by title,…

A classroom activity designed to explore local culture and community development by collecting, mapping, and analyzing migration patterns and ethnicity is described. (DE)

A course using English literature and urban geography to study the development and lifestyle of the city is described. (DE)

This course uses urban geography and literature to involve students in the urban environment. Six humanities units on the topics of individual identity in the city, history and growth, form and fiction, urban living, urban problems, and individual creativity in the city are described. (DE)

There is an important relationship between history and geography that needs greater emphasis in the social studies curriculum. By emphasizing the temporal and spatial relationships in geography and history, geographers can help develop curriculum that focuses upon the fundamental themes in geography, the relationship of the themes to the study of…

A study investigated the use of verbo-visual content in geography textbooks of various countries. Secondary school geography textbooks from Australia, Greece, Japan, Sweden, and the United States were examined. For each of the selected books, empirical data about the amount of texts, pictures, maps, and tables was gathered; contents were assessed;…

This Digest explores the nature of geographic literacy. Part 1 discusses fundamental themes of geography, including absolute and relative location, the natural and cultural characteristics of place, the development of human-environment relationships and their consequences, human movement and interaction, and the formation and change of regions.…

Exercises were developed using tornado statistics to provide students with a better understanding of the spatial and temporal characteristics of these phenomena in the United States. Four categories of exercises were considered beginning with the simplest and progressing to the more complex. The first set of exercises required students to…

This textbook evaluation instrument is provided to assess (1) content properties; (2) instructional properties; (3) physical properties; (4) readability; and (5) other properties such as cultural mix, organization of text, and suitability for various grade levels in secondary level world geography and global studies textbooks. For the first three…

The 20th anniversary of the establishment of the information and Documentation Center for the Geography of the Netherlands (IDG) occurred on September 21, 1984. To mark this anniversary, the 1983/84 issue of the "IDG Bulletin" is devoted to a review of the past 20 years. The first section consists of four review articles by specialists:…

This ERIC Digest examines: (1) the meaning of the term "Pacific Rim"; (2) reasons for emphasizing the Pacific Rim in the social studies curriculum; and (3) useful strategies for teaching about this part of the world. The terms, Pacific Rim and Pacific Basin, are used. interchangeably; however, the "Rim" refers to those nations…