Theory and Research in Geography Education

Abstract

This issue stems from a belief that a dialogue is needed within geography education circles that involves a substantive discussion of educational theory and its applicability to geography education. While geography educators have made the bridge into cognitive development theory, there is a large body of education theory still to be mined. Geog- raphy educators need to be informed by education theory in developing a working pedagogy within which to frame our teaching and research. There is a perceived crisis in geography education. Brown (1999) contends that geography graduate students and faculty hesitate to con- duct geography education research, discuss geography education theo- ry, and publish in journals other than those specifically designed for geography education. Warf (1999) notes that the field is contemptuously dismissed by some geographers. We contend that this is because much geography education work is based on limited empirical data (Downs 1994) and, in many cases, is not grounded in a rigorous body of critical analytical literature. Brown (1999) charges that ”scholarship” is rarely engaged in by the geography education community and that much of the published work in the field takes the form of either instructional strategy materials or informational articles relative to teaching particu- lar topics that are descriptive and applied in nature rather than empiri- cal, critical, or theoretical centered pieces of research. While the merits of these arguments can be debated, we argue that to address this perceived crisis we need to develop and maintain a very active dialogue between college faculty and graduate students and K-12 teachers. We also need to provide the necessary teaching tools, devel- oped and honed through thorough theoretically guided empirical research, so that both K-12 and college instructors can be more effective teachers and develop a greater appreciation of and interest in geogra- phy, and impart that appreciation and interest to their students. Many of the best geography educators, whether K-12 or college level, have become great educators through trial and error, rather than through building their teaching practices on the base that education the- ory provides. This is due, in large part, to the fact that much of educa- tion theory has not been brought into geography education research.