Disciplinary concern with career options and opportunities has fluctuated over the years. Not surprisingly, geography continues to be incorrectly stereotyped as a field of study offering limited employment prospects. While geographic education has long focused on content, it must also embrace the importance of educating instructors, students, and…

Global positioning system (GPS) has many uses. They include navigation, location finding, vehicle tracking, surveying, autonomous control of highway construction equipment, scientific activities, asset location and entertainment. The GPS is a constellation of 24 satellites located in a 10,000-mile radius orbit in a way that allows for at least six…

Often students are naive or have misconceptions regarding physical geography because of little or no exposure to the discipline; therefore it might be beneficial to relate content to their other experiences and interests. Students have an interest in some type of music, and by tapping into this, students can further explore geographic concepts.…

Geography learning places a high demand on children's vocabulary development because they know so few words useful for analyzing geographic phenomena and processes. Research shows that multiple experiences with new words are needed if children are to use them fluently in conversation, reading, and writing. This paper describes a variety of …

Debates concerning how to engage students with economic geography have ignored the important role of field teaching. This paper argues that fieldwork must remain a key component of economic geographical teaching and that it offers a variety of advantages to overcoming student disinterest in the sub-discipline. It goes on to argue that field…

While some geographers have embraced active learning as a means to engage students in a course, many others stick to conventional teaching methods. They are often deterred by suggestions that it can be difficult to implement active learning where students have no prior knowledge of a subject, that active learning requires too much work of…

The Olympiad movement has a long history in Estonia, and the national system developed several decades ago. The first Olympiad for gifted and talented students was held in mathematics in 1950. Now there are more than 20 different fields of competition for basic school and gymnasium students. In 2005/2006, Estonian teams participated in 18…

This article discusses how poetry can be used for teaching geography. The rational for using and writing poetry, its relationship to the National Standards for Geography, grade levels, pedagogical concerns associated with poetry writing, and subject integration are discussed. There are also classroom activities, sample discussion questions, lesson…

This booklet describes map-making in a step-by-step process with illustrations of each procedure. The volume contains the following chapters or sections: (1) "The Making of a World Map"; (2) "The World Map Key"; (3) "Appendix I: Map-making Workshop"; and (4) "Appendix II: Project Evaluation." (EH)

This book is based on the belief that children's literature and geography should be linked in elementary classrooms. The book has three major sections. The first section, "Using Literature to Teach the Five Themes of Geography," provides a brief overview of the five themes of geography (location, place, relationships within place,…

This volume examines the history of the State of Hawaii. The book is organized, as most history books are, chronologically; however, it also is arranged thematically. Four aspects of Hawaiian history are divided into three time periods. Unit 1, "Precontact to 1900," addresses that era from the political, economic, social, and land…

This pamphlet explains the importance of geography in the curriculum of primary, middle, and secondary schools. The pamphlet is intended for education decision-makers and advocates the importance of supporting geography education. The article explains what geography is, relates how U.S. students compare to students in other nations in geographic…

This resource book is intended to aid parents of children aged 2 to 5 years in teaching geography. The book offers ideas about how to encourage and give direction to enable young children to develop the vocabulary, awareness, and curiosity necessary to lay the foundation for the study of geography. Suggested activities are included and are…

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…