Alternative grading schemes are gaining in popularity in higher education. Review of the literature reveals little in the way of geography-specific examples involving these grading mechanisms. Specifications Based Grading offers many purported benefits from time savings to an increased emphasis on learning. This paper explores the use of…

There is an increasing urgency, driven by global geopolitical, ecological and climate crises, for geography teachers to use their subject expertise as agents of change to empower children and young people with the knowledge and skills needed to think geographically and better understand our complex and rapidly changing world. This paper brings our…

To tackle the growing challenges facing our societies, such as climate change, we need to understand scientific knowledge and methods. Developing scientific literacy in schools is therefore necessary. To do so, we need to be able to assess competencies associated with scientific literacy. Secondly, educators need meaningful tools which can be…

The global outbreak of COVID-19 brought an unprecedented influx of official and semiofficial geographic information to individuals worldwide, primarily in the form of geospatial and numerical data. Maps specifically played a key role in the conveying of information and guidelines to the public in relation to the pandemic. Yet to fully understand…

This paper has its origins in the EU Comenius funded GeoCapabilities project. From its outset, the project developed and researched the notion of powerful disciplinary knowledge (PDK) as an underlying principle of curriculum making in the context of secondary school geography teaching. The work, led from the UCL Institute of Education and…

The background and resources presented in this article support teaching about two Tent/Freedom Cities--in Fayette County, Tennessee, and in Lowndes County, Alabama--that were built as a form of civil rights resistance and for housing Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers evicted by oppressive white landlords for marching, attending mass…

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is used to describe the knowledge teachers use to teach a specific subject to a specific audience. Although PCK is linked to student success and motivation, relatively little is known about the PCK of geography teachers. Through a mixed methods approach, we surveyed a group of 73 Dutch pre-service teachers in…

Problem-solving skills are often considered to be the key skills in today's world, and their importance in geography education is widely recognized. However, empirical evidence analyzing whether and how teachers develop problem-solving skills during geography lessons is especially scarce in the context of preservice teachers. Accordingly, we…

The role of geographic information systems (GIS) in education is vital. Geospatial skills have been shown to correlate with improved performance of general spatial thinking (Lee and Bednarz 2009) as well as specific geography-related content (Hall-Wallace and McAuliffe 2002). As students are exposed to more GIS, they gain skills that are desired…

Spatial thinking is essential for nurturing spatially literate graduates in tertiary education. However, there is limited research on individual differences in cognitive processes and their impact on spatial problem solving in disciplinary contexts. This study aimed to investigate cognitive processes involved in spatial thinking in geography…

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is a valuable approach for managing classroom heterogeneity by providing feedback tailored to students' individual needs. While previous research has primarily focused on the cognitive mechanisms underlying CAI's effectiveness, it has often overlooked the social-cognitive processes that may contribute to its…

In the 21st century, the idea that students should have opportunities to develop powerful knowledge has been influential in educational research. Social realism as an educational philosophy, and a focus on knowledge derived from academic disciplines, have been advanced as an alternative to social constructivism and traditionalism as a basis for…

This article explores the nexus among research methodology, classroom data and instructional policy enactment through content analysis of lesson transcripts. It is a multiple-case research of four Zimbabwean secondary school geography teachers' classroom practices. Coded lesson-transcripts and post-lesson teacher-interview transcripts subjected to…

Despite Hungary's nearly quarter-century membership in the European Union (EU), less than half of its citizens hold a positive mental image of the EU. Education plays a crucial role in fostering and reinforcing a sense of European identity and awareness among students, with textbooks serving as key tools in shaping students' understanding of…

Field study and field courses are integral to the discipline of geography. While there are many forms that a field course might take, in this paper we draw on two university-level field courses in the U.S. Southwest to propose a road trip pedagogy for field study. We reflect on the particular resonance of the road trip in the American West and how…