Undergraduate Geography Curriculum Research Articles

What can cultural geography offer to the employability agenda? A reflection on powerful knowledge

ABSTRACT This article explores the relevance and value of cultural geography within the undergraduate geography curriculum in light of graduate employability. The article is based on the assertion that employability is an objective to which universities are required to engage, and yet, cultural geography, as a sub-discipline, may be more challenging to map against the prevailing neoliberal employability discourse. To bridge this gap, I propose the use of “powerful knowledge” as a conceptual frame in order to demonstrate specific skills and knowledges cultural geography can and does offer the employability agenda. I briefly demonstrate how visual and ethnographic methods are deployed on two current geography courses in the UK in order to engage students with cultural geography. I end by proposing three key forms of powerful knowledge cultural geography has the potential to generate in graduates. These are: 1) situated knowledge and reflexivity; 2) thinking beyond the human, and; 3) a consideration of cultural landscapes.

Art and Argument: Indigitization of a Kiowa Historical Map for Teaching and Research

How might we teach undergraduate students about Indigenous geographies using historical maps? This paper describes processes associated with the bridging of a historical Kiowa map with computerized geographic information systems (GIS) and undergraduate geography curriculum. The authors applied an indigital framework as an approach for melding Indigenous and Western knowledge systems into a third kind of construct for teaching undergraduate students about historical/contemporary spatial issues. Indigital is the blending of Indigenous knowledge systems, such as storytelling, language, calendar keeping, dance, and songs, with computerized systems. We present an origin story about the indigitization of a historical Kiowa pictorial map, known as the Chál-ko-gái map, at the University of Missouri, USA. Undergraduate student engagement with the map resulted in new questions about Indigenous geographies, particularly map projections, place names, and the meaning of Kiowa symbols.

Beyond “traditional geographies”: Integrating urban political ecology and cultural sustainability into undergraduate geographical education in Nigeria

ABSTRACTThis study utilized qualitative methods and the urban political ecology (UPE) framework to situate changes in scope and content of undergraduate geography curriculum in Nigeria within the domain of education for sustainability. It was stimulated by significant curriculum-related events in the geography department of the University of Nigeria, and strategic policy developments in research governance in the university. Having cultural sustainability as its overarching concern, the reform initiative focused on solid waste management (SWM), a challenge with roots in cultural activity. While engaging with students and linking cultural sustainability with SWM, it is argued that integrating SWM topics into new and existing geography courses represents new possibilities for urban sustainable development and geographical education in Nigeria.

Student experiences of multidisciplinarity in the undergraduate geography curriculum

This paper explores the student experience of multidisciplinarity within the undergraduate Geography curriculum. It considers the drivers that have underpinned this development before considering the findings of research into student experiences in two universities in the south of England. The results suggest that most students view this development positively and recognize a number of advantages that it brings, citing expanded opportunities for learning, working with people from other disciplines, expansion of perspectives and perceived benefits to employability. However, for a minority this development is more problematic. The research points here to issues with specialist knowledge and disciplinary pedagogies, social issues within the classroom and class organization and some reservations regarding groupwork. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations.

“Riding the rip”: an experiential and integrated human–physical geography curriculum in Costa Rica

Integrating research into short-term study abroad programs is challenging because of language, fieldwork logistics, and traditional learning models based on passive classroom experiences. Experiential learning often makes use of research as experience, but relatively few examples integrate human and physical geography. Here, we describe an experiential and integrated human–physical undergraduate geography curriculum in Costa Rica. We combine rip current morphodynamics, beach-user surveys, and cultural landscape in a 3-week program in Costa Rica. Emotions associated with the direct and indirect experience of “riding the rip” positively influenced the cognitive domain of student learning.

Embedding Research-Based Learning Early in the Undergraduate Geography Curriculum

This article considers the rationale for embedding research and enquiry skills early in the undergraduate geography curriculum and for making these skills explicit to students. A survey of 52 international geography faculty identified critical thinking, framing research questions, reflectivity and creativity as the most challenging research skills to teach early in the undergraduate curriculum. This article provides a range of practical examples illustrating research skill teaching from geography courses internationally. The case studies demonstrate that by embedding research skill development early, scaffolding provided throughout a degree programme can support geography students as they become producers of knowledge.

Gauging Disciplinary Engagement with Internationalization: A Survey of Geographers in the United States

As higher education institutions worldwide seek to internationalize academic programmes, questions arise as to how institutions can effectively involve and support faculty in that process. The present study rests on the premise that professional development can play a decisive role in advancing two important components of internationalization—specifically international collaboration and the teaching of global perspectives by geography faculty. To explore this proposition, the AAG conducted a survey to determine how and why American geography professors have (a) pursued international collaboration in their work, and (b) incorporated global learning outcomes into the undergraduate geography curriculum. The analysis presented shows that faculty members who practise international collaboration and support global perspectives in their courses are more likely to do so when those practices are perceived to enhance the quality of teaching and research. Geographers who practice international collaboration also benefit from access to international networks and professional development activities that offer opportunities to gain experience in collaborative teaching and research. It was also found that departments and institutions play an important role in creating an academic climate that provides incentives for faculty to participate as agents in internationalization.

Enterprise education in Geography: the case of the Plymouth Dragons

This paper outlines an approach to embedding enterprise education in the undergraduate geography curriculum which has proved particularly successful, both locally in Plymouth and on the national st...

Using the ‘Grieving’ Process and Learning Journals to Evaluate Students' Responses to Problem-Based Learning in an Undergraduate Geography Curriculum

Problem-based learning (PBL) works with a series of problems that form the syllabus for a course or the basis of a curriculum. Learning occurs through the definition of the problem and its attempted resolution. PBL is challenging but offers much potential for geography with its interdisciplinary character. The challenge to geography lecturers is to become facilitators of student learning. This paper outlines an approach to PBL in a single module in the first year of an undergraduate degree programme. The approach involved cycles of learning and employed learning journals as a means of encouraging student reflection. These journals show how students struggled to come to terms with PBL and how it challenged their conceptions of learning. Woods's (1994) ‘grieving process’ is a helpful way of understanding this process. The students did seem to make the transition from ‘teach me’ to ‘help me to learn’ and to appreciate the benefits of PBL.

Mathophobic students' perspectives on quantitative material in the undergraduate geography curriculum

Results are presented of a series of focus‐group sessions held at Lancaster University during May 2002. Participants consisted of 12 undergraduate geography students chosen from amongst those identified as having strong antipathy towards quantitative material. The intention was to mine these students' perspectives on courses covering quantitative techniques in geography degrees, in order to deduce ways of making such courses more effective. Primary findings included a need for (i) textual equivalents of algebraic equations; (ii) vivid and relevant examples; (iii) thorough explanation of all mathematical jargon; (iv) face‐to‐face tutorials; and (v) worked examples and exercises as stepping stones to more advanced, problem‐based learning type approaches to assessment.

The problems with fieldwork: a group‐based approach towards integrating fieldwork into the undergraduate geography curriculum

Abstract Field study, widely regarded as an essential part of geographical higher education, is under severe pressure due to its high cost, resource demands and a legacy of poor educational practices that have left it on the fringes of the curriculum. This paper outlines a case study of an undergraduate module, framed around a field course, which seeks to integrate fieldwork into the curriculum by combining training in field study with training in research and presentation skills. The module employs group‐based project work throughout, with no items assessed individually. The paper concludes by pointing to the pedagogic and tactical advantages of the approach adopted, but warns against the overuse of group work.

Teaching GIS in Geography ∗

Although numerous courses in geographic information systems (GIS) have been introduced into the geography curriculum over the past few years, there has been remarkably little debate over the issues involved. This paper first discusses the arguments for geography as an appropriate disciplinary setting for GIS teaching at the undergraduate level. This is followed by a discussion of the nature of GIS courses and their appropriate place in the undergraduate geography curriculum. The final section of the paper describes the NCGIA Core Curriculum project and examines its significance in this broader context.

Computing in the geography degree: limitations and objectives

Abstract That computing, in a variety of guises, will play an increasing role in undergraduate geography is a welcome inevitability. Experience of teaching aspects of computing to geography students, however, suggests that enthusiasm for the introduction of computer‐based skills needs to be tempered by a realistic assessment of what is possible and, indeed, desirable within the context of a balanced geography degree. A ladder of computing skills is outlined as a contribution towards the identification of an appropriate role for computing in the undergraduate geography curriculum.

Quantitative Methods in the Undergraduate Geography Curriculum

Quantitative Methods in the Undergraduate Geography Curriculum