Geographic Literacy Research Articles

What Young People Outside the Arab World Know about It: Some Lessons from the 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey

What Young People Outside the Arab World Know about It: Some Lessons from the 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey

A Case for Teaching Geographic Visualization without GIS

This article argues for the value of teaching geographic visualization to non-geography majors by having them make maps manually, using punched mylar, colored pencils, and light tables instead of computerbased geographic information systems or mapping programs. The essay contrasts the experiences of attempting to teach principles of geographic visualization using ArcView GIS in an introductory human geography course and using manual methods in an upper-level research methods course in history. Several conclusions emerge: (1) using manual methods to visualize spatial information quickly gets students thinking geographically; (2) the ease of learning the fundamental concepts and techniques of geographic visualization using manual methods makes it possible to integrate visualization into courses outside the discipline of geography; (3) geographic visualization can tremendously enrich the study of history, prompting students to think in ways they might not otherwise; and (4) teaching visualization with mylar has distinct advantages for history courses because physical map layers reinforce the notion that places are palimpsests of change. Manual methods make it possible to teach geographic visualization at colleges and universities that have no geography department or GIS courses. Their use should be encouraged as an adaptable, inexpensive, effective way to promote geographic learning and geographic literacy in U.S. higher education.

Paitee Library, Penn State University and The Association of Research Libraries Geographic Information Systems Literacy Project

Paitee Library, Penn State University and The Association of Research Libraries Geographic Information Systems Literacy Project

World Patterns of Geographic Literacy Based on Sketch Map Quality

This paper discusses world patterns of geographic literacy and illiteracy based on the quality of sketch maps of the world drawn by university students in first-year geography classes. The study, sponsored by the International Geographical Union and funded by the National Geographic Society, contains 3,568 sketch maps of the world collected from 75 sites in 52 countries. For the purposes of this paper, geographic literacy is equated with the number of nations and continents included on the sketch maps. The individual map scores are aggregated to determine the average number of items per map for each site and nation. Our set of maps provides a baseline of world variations in geographic literacy just prior to the end of the Cold War. The sketch map techniques can be used to monitor changes in geographic literacy.

Fostering geographic literacy from early childhood: The contributions of interdisciplinary research

A disturbing level of geographic ignorance in both children and adults has been well documented in recent years. We argue that educational programs to remedy this ignorance will be successful only if they draw upon an interdisciplinary approach combining the fields of geography and developmental psychology. After discussing the value of this approach in general, we describe some empirical data showing the links between children's developing projective spatial concepts and their ability to produce and use maps of familiar environments. We illustrate the value of this approach by discussing sample classroom activities, and urge the importance of developing pregeographic or premapping skills during the preschool years.

Mapping Out Geography: An Example of Epistemology and Education

Geography has recently emerged as a topic of considerable interest among educators, but there is little consensus about either content or pedagogy in the precollegiate geography curriculum. However, geography education is essential if students are to develop a sense of “geographic literacy” and an ability to reason spatially. A major problem is that many teachers who never studied geography are now being asked to teach it. This literature review discusses the epistemology of geography and the rationale for including it in the curriculum. Research about geography learning and teaching is then reviewed. Finally, a previous, unsuccessful attempt to reinstate geography into the high school curriculum is examined in the light of today’s geography education reform efforts. Without an understanding of both the core epistemological themes and concepts of geography and the problems that students face as learners, the five themes currently being proposed for use in the K–12 curriculum are of limited use.

Geographic Illiteracy among College Students

Over 300 college students were given a survey assessing four aspects of geographic knowledge, which included cultural, spatial, and map reading considerations. A variety of demographic and academic factors were compared to levels of geographic literacy as measured by the survey. Weak relationships were found between some of the academic factors and geographic competence. However, very powerful relationships were evident between geographic literacy and race, age, and especially gender.

Mapping out Geography: An Example of Epistemology and Education

Geography has recently emerged as a topic of considerable interest among educators, but there is little consensus about either content or pedagogy in the precollegiate geography curriculum. However, geography education is essential if students are to develop a sense of “geographic literacy” and an ability to reason spatially. A major problem is that many teachers who never studied geography are now being asked to teach it. This literature review discusses the epistemology of geography and the rationale for including it in the curriculum. Research about geography learning and teaching is then reviewed. Finally, a previous, unsuccessful attempt to reinstate geography into the high school curriculum is examined in the light of today’s geography education reform efforts. Without an understanding of both the core epistemological themes and concepts of geography and the problems that students face as learners, the five themes currently being proposed for use in the K–12 curriculum are of limited use.

Teaching Geography WithHyperCard

Abstract As computers become more common in geography classrooms, teachers should consider the use of authoring systems such as HyperCard to teach geography. Its ease of use and capability to link visual, verbal, and auditory information in a nonsequential manner that mimics human thought make it very useful. Both teacher- and student-authored stacks can improve geographic literacy, sharpen research skills, motivate and stimulate students, and address topics ignored by commercial software. Positive reinforcement, remediation loops, animation, sound, and links to CD-ROMs and laserdiscs can all be used to produce custom-designed geography programs, or “stacks.”

Mental Maps: Preservice Teachers' Awareness of the World

Abstract The central issue raised in this article relates to teachers' geographic literacy. One aspect of geographic literacy is an individual's knowledge of the world map as represented in a sketch map. This study represents a preliminary effort to assess the cognitive status of preservice social studies teachers' mental maps of the world. Using a Likert Scale to assess the students' sketch maps, a variety of tests were used to analyze the data gathered. In general, all students had problems constructing a mental map of the world. The article concludes with suggestions on ways to improve the mental maps of teachers and students.

Geography Is Children's Literature, Math, Science, Art and a Whole World of Activities

Abstract Classroom teachers and school librarians can utilize realistic picture story books as well as folk and tall tales to convey geographic concepts and thereby improve student's geographic literacy. Both the text and the illustrations of stories set in a specific locality reveal interrelationships between the people and the environment, such as the type of climate, crops grown, foods eaten, kinds of dwellings, clothing worn, methods of transportation, occupations, flora and fauna, recreational activities, etc. Picture book stories can also strengthen geographic themes or concepts of place, location, movement, and regions. This article contains a representative listing of fictional children's literature titles which relate to these geographic concepts. It also suggests specific classroom and media center activities appropriate for young children and strategies for teachers to integrate geography with the curriculum areas of math, language arts, movement and dance, art, and science.

Midwifery management of premature rupture of the membranes at term

The purpose of this article is to describe efforts to improve disaster knowledge in senior high school students through geographic literacy. This is in line with the objectives of the curriculum 2013 (The National Curriculum in Indonesia) that specify the achievement of learning should motivate students to take action and provide solutions in order to build disaster preparedness. One of the forms of geographic literacy which is used as teaching material contains disaster knowledge aspect covering material of disaster related on geography subject of high school level. The teaching materials contain perspective geography to strengthen disaster knowledge on students. The data of increasing the knowledge of disaster on the students is obtained by doing classroom action research on senior high school students of 11th Grade in Banda Aceh City, Indonesia. The results showed that there was an increase of knowledge and understanding of students by 91.6% through geographic literacy given in student learning on the material of disaster-related theme. Therefore, teachers are expected to use teaching materials based on geographical perspective to support learning of disaster risk reduction. So that students have good disaster response skills and find the solution for natural damage and reduce its negative side effects.

The Preparation of Elementary-School Teachers in Geography

The United States is now in a position of global leadership. The effectiveness of that leadership is greatly dependent on the ability of the American people to learn to think in global terms. Policies adopted must be based upon clear geographical thinking that grows out of a sound knowledge of the world in which we live. Policies originating from geographical ignorance can only lead to catastrophe. If the people of our nation learn to think geographically, it will be because the schools of the nation accept the responsibility for developing geographical literacy. This makes the problem, then, truly a race between education and catastrophe. Geographical literacy is, to a large extent, dependent on how well the beginnings of geographical understandings are developed in the elementary school. This in turn is dependent upon how well the elementary-school teacher is prepared in geography. Little is known about the geographical preparation that prospective elementary-school teachers are receiving in teacher-education institutions throughout the nation.