Current pressure on education programs is leading to increased evaluation of course requirements. Alignment with national and state standards and demands for greater accountability are being reflected in teacher certification requirements and graduation proficiencies. There is a great deal of literature that identifies the need and value of…

The topic of the assignment for eighth-grade students was reporting on the forest fires in Indonesia in chronological order, from 26 August to 27 September 1997. The final stage of the assignment was composing a report in essay format. The goal of this presentation was to examine the historical interpretation of the events and to simultaneously…

Geography is at once described as valuable and misunderstood. Its continued place in the curriculum arguably depends on reconciling these contrasting perceptions, and ensuring that curriculum decisions are based on realistic assumptions. This includes students' assumptions about the subject. This research employed synergetic focus groups to…

Expressing the desire that geography should be a more challenging subject that helps pupils to become better learners, a group of academic geographers and geography teachers from northeast England developed teaching strategies to stimulate pupils to think through geography. Teachers in England and the Netherlands report that these strategies are…

The term geohistorical archaeology was adopted to describe the combination of the techniques and concepts of historical geography, historical archaeology, and history. It is suggested that the field offers the potential of enhanced research and instruction as it pertains to the early historical settlement of an area. Particular emphasis is placed…

People have been leaving rural environments and moving into urban environments. By 2007, the most people in the world will live in cities (United Nations 2002). Mexico illustrates this world trend closely. Mexico now publishes data on the Internet that can be used to study the movement of people within the country. A lesson is presented with…

This research was based on an instructional module developed and used to investigate whether GIS can be used to enhance fourth grade students' geographic knowledge and map skills. Another goal was to identify challenges the teacher and the students face using GIS. Findings from the study suggest that using GIS in the classroom helps students…

Building upon a related 2005 panel presentation at the 25th annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, the authors, several tenure-track assistant professors and tenured associate professors who have participated in a Research and Teaching Faculty Learning Community at Bowling Green State University, share their…

The purpose of this guide is to provide teachers with activities that integrate the lessons of geography throughout the broader curriculum, teaching students to appreciate how geography fundamentally shapes all lives. The five themes of geography (location, place, relationships among places, movement, and regions) are the basis for the hundreds of…

During the 1992-93 school year, the leadership of Benjamin Russell High School, located in Alexander City, Alabama, decided to experiment with blocked class periods. Under this option, sometimes referred to as the Copernican System, subjects are taught in double periods rather than in the conventional 50-minute periods normally used in most…

This curriculum unit teaches students about the basic physical and political geography of Europe and introduces or reviews fundamental geographical concepts and vocabulary in a European context. The unit offers a geographic introduction to the changing map of Europe. Each of the unit's five lessons can be integrated into the curriculum where it…

This guide provides activities that have pupils actively involved, obtaining knowledge through cognitive, affective, or kinesthetic approaches to learning. The book is divided into three sections. Section 1, "Map Skills--Physical and Political Features", includes simulations, simulated review games, and problem-solving dilemmas to employ the use…

This book is designed for use in elementary social studies methods classes, as a source for discussion in advanced curriculum classes, and as a personal reference for elementary social studies teachers. This book has four major divisions with each division offering a list of lesson ideas. Part 1, "Contexts for the Social Studies," includes: (1)…

This book is designed to help students use their geography knowledge in real-life situations and explorations. The approach emphasizes problem-solving activities in which students can use higher-level thinking skills together with basic geographical facts. The activities are organized into two groups--Daily Problems and Extended Challenges.…

This booklet provides practical learning activities for parents to use in teaching geography to children under the age of 10. The handbook is organized around the five major themes of geography: (1) physical location; (2) physical and human characteristics of places; (3) relationships among people and places; (4) patterns of movement of people,…