Shows and discusses the results of a test on the "mental representations" of Italy in pupils (11-14 years) living in different Italian towns. The results reveal some common psycho-special features that are independent of the dwelling localities. (Author)

Presents two lesson plans exemplifying analytical geography. The first lesson shows how medical geography can be used to track the silent route of cholera. The second lesson about the Bermuda Triangle is an exercise in fundamental mapping skills and teaches children a valuable lesson in double-checking facts. (RLC)

Multimedia instruction, which combines visual images, video clips, music, voice, and text, is a compelling way to engage students' interest in geography. The computer, telecommunications, and multimedia are tools that today's students will use in their adult working lives. The National Geographic Society can enhance geography instruction with two…

Discusses the geographic information system (GIS), a database that permits the integration, management, and analysis of diverse geographical information. Reports that the GIS has brought gains in cartography and remote sensing but also has brought problems. Identifies the need to balance instruction in technical developments and mainstream…

Activities in which students build their own simulations of fossils, using seashells, chicken bones, toy dinosaurs, or leaves as models and plaster of paris, sand, mud, clay, or a mixture of gravel and clay as a matrix are presented. Curriculum extensions are included. (KR)

Presents a checklist for evaluating commercially available mapping software. Analyzes software features by general categories including range of map types, availability and flexibility of data files, and program evaluation. Discusses ease of operation, the manual, tutorial, screens and help, error handling, design flexibility, hard copy output,…

Provides a guide to writing research reports in geography and the environmental sciences. Outlines some of the reasons for writing research reports and then goes on to discuss general layout and content. Concludes with some comments on matters of presentation and written expression. (DSK)

Discusses the importance of harnessing children's natural tendency to make maps. Argues for a geographic curriculum based on building a relationship between the structure of the local landscape and the shape of children's lives. Lists mapping activities that can be used with various age groups. (CCM)

Notes the contribution of an earlier article to a geographic study of composition; extends that contribution by using concepts from postmodern geography to explore how spaces/places are socially produced through discourse and how these constructed spaces can then deny their connections to material reality or mask material conditions. Interprets…

Presents an annotated and categorized bibliography to foster an explicit concern with the geography of children. Includes articles on (de)constructing children, children in the environment, designing environments for children, environmental hazards, indirect experience of place, social issues, citizenship and agency, and children's geographical…

Explains how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) influences geography curricula and how project-based learning can be applied to GIS experiences. Introduces a project investigating non-geography college students' design and implementation of a environmental GIS application. (Contains 16 references.) (YDS)

How, where and why GIS is taught has been debated heavily in the geography literature. This article is a contribution to that debate, because it offers a new perspective from which to teach GIS: problem-based learning. In a problem-based learning classroom, theoretical foundations and the real world of problems are understood as constitutive of…

In the mid-1980s Spanish geography seemed to be a success story in relation to gender and geography (Garcia-Ramon et al. , 1988 ). But in recent years this positive aspect has been less marked, at least in Catalan geography. The total percentage of women staff has remained quite steady but the male:female ratio has significantly increased among…

Geographers are fully engaged in the debate surrounding the impact of new information and communication technologies (ICT) and there has been a proliferation of research on the impact of ICT on geographical education. This includes analyses of how ICT may affect geographical learning paradigms (Hill & Solem, 1999; Rich et al., 2000; Solem, 2000)…

This article describes an alternative way of teaching about biomes by having students become expert biogeographers. In order to become experts students need to first find out what a biogeographer does. Doing an online search lets students find out for themselves what the responsibilities are of people who work in this field. A good place to visit…