GPS

[Lori Holcomb]

How is geography integrated in today’s curriculum?

Beyond State Capitals: Making a Case for Teaching Geography
This article develops an interesting case for the relevance of geography in the 21st Century curriculum. For a long time, geography has suffered an image problem as “mundane instruction that requires memorization and recitation of obscure geographic facts.” It can be “easily neglected as history and civics continue to anchor the field” of the social studies curriculum. However, with help from today’s geographic technology, “geography can help us teach from a global perspective by illuminating the spatial contexts of local and global issues.”

Discussion question: Read this short article (Beyond State Capitals) and share your thoughts on the state and relevance of geography in the curriculum today. After you read through the rest of this presentation, have your thoughts changed at all?

[Charley Norkus]

I took a 3-day workshop on media & technology in social studies, finishing up two weeks ago, and our final activity was a scavenger hunt using GPS devices - really cool. We had to input our coordinates, go outside, let the satellites lock in, and then off we went to find the first clue. Stuck under a bush, it gave us the next set of coordinates which sent us to a dumpster, then to a mailbox, then to a split tree. Each time, the clue was related to our knowledge of US History, and we had to figure out its answer before we could open the next set of coordinates - very cool. The hand-held GPS devices that we used sell for about $150 each - I'm going to have to join the PTSA so I can apply for a grant. :o) I am all for teaching geography, especially in the high school curriculum. It is sadly amazing how ignorant today's high school students are of geography (and yes, it's true: most high school students really do believe that Alaska and Hawaii are both located southwest of New Mexico and Arizona - thanks to an enclosed block on most maps of the U.S. that include both states there... and teachers just assuming that their students are smarter than that). With the ever more rapidly "flattening" of the world, far away countries are now becoming virtually our neighbors; we MUST help students to learn where these are located, about their climates, cultures, political systems, religion, etc. Their ignorance of geography (from my first-hand experience in my U.S. History and Recent International Relations classes) is epidemic - truly pathetic. I am currently integrating Google Earth into my instruction as much as possible, and once I get hold of some hand-held GPS devices, I'll find ways to utilize them as well.
Btw, if you'd like to read my latest WolfBlog entry, it's entitled "Tatoos, Facebook, MySpace, & Spring Break," and it's located at http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/page/dienekes?entry=tatoos_facebook_myspa....

[Kristy Meyrickk]

I tried to read your blog and this link wouldn't work.

[Kay Pitchford]

Although I think that I incorporate geography themes and concepts into my lessons pretty well, this topic is one that is very important to my husband. He is a seventh grade social studies teacher, and he often complains about his students not really having any idea about geography. I think the social studies curriculum and materials generally do a good job of teaching about geography, if the teachers decide to use them. My husband's text includes multimedia presentations and engaging activities, and he also uses online resources in order to help students make the connections. In elementary school, most of the geography skills are taught in relation to our reading stories, or while we focus on map skills. Reading the article, I did not really see myself in it. I do not focus on just memorizing capitals (although I do believe there may be a place for that), I really try to make it intersting and relevant for my students. I have not, however, ever really used a GIS or GPS system, and would be interested in how to incorporate them into lessons for third graders.

[Jennifer Cable]

I think that currently geography is still taught as a memorization and map reading class. Today’s students do not understand the relevance of other countries in regards to their own location. As we have learned from reading “The World Is Flat”, the world is now connected and we are all linked together. More than ever students need to understand the world’s geography and how it is affecting them. I believe geography still has a place in current curriculum offerings because it is more than just learning where countries are located. As the videos showed, there is so much you can now do with the technology and software we have available. GIS is taking computers to a whole new level for students. As I first read the short article, I believed that geography was still just learning to read maps and locate countries, but it is so much more. One of the goals for Future-Ready Students in the 21st century adopted by the North Carolina State Board of Education is to produce globally competitive students. How can our students be globally competitive if they are not globally aware? Our students must be taught about the world around them and the world beyond them. For this reason, my thoughts on geography have changed. Geography can be a launching pad for students as they begin to prepare themselves to compete in the global environment. The technology and software that is now available can take geography to a completely new dimension. We must do a better job of using the latest technology and software to train our students for the world they are about to enter.

[Lauren Philbeck]

I was first like to say that after reading this article, I am actually embarrassed and ashamed of myself on how little geography I know. Besides longitude and latitude being taught in late elementary school, I am not sure I was ever taught geography. I will admit my ignorance that I seriously doubt I could name all 50 states in the United States and definitely could not name the capitals of all the states. My social studies methods professor at Meredith College was appalled at how little my entire class knew about geography.

This article makes me pleased that geography is even being taught in schools, memorization or not, and also makes me think about the importance of geography in 21st Century Skills. It is true, how can students be globally informed citizens when they have no idea where countries are located or what certain parts of the world specialize in?

What little geography I was taught was memorization, and something is better than nothing, but students and teachers alike may have been more apt to teach and learn geography if such devices like GPS were available back then. I think devices such as these incorporate technology and geography in a way that not only will students want to learn but they will understand the necessity of it within the ever changing world we live in. GPS technology will not only facilitate learning, it will improve learning and make it more exciting to learn geography.

[Kaitlin]

I would agree in that it is sad how little people know about geography and how little they are teaching it in the schools. I was only taught about maps and globes at the elementary level, and it seems that is still what is in the curriculum today. I recently started teaching our geography chapter in our second grade social studies book. The book is only about 100 pages; maybe 5 or 7 are related to geography. It is hard for my students to get a good grasp on geography when I have so few resources. I think using the GPS and the GSI in the classrooms would be great, even in the younger grades. We need something to get students excited about learning geography. They especially need to be taught about geography because of the competitive world that we live in. I tried explaining to my students that in order for me to get a teaching job that I wanted I had to move from New York. Of course, they are only in second grade so did not really understand why that was but it is very interesting to see how little they know about the town, cities, states and countries outside of their town. As a teacher it makes me want to teach them the most I can and try to integrate socials studies into the curriculum as much as possible. I want to be aware of the latest technologies that I can use to teach social studies in my classroom. It is very hard to make social studies enjoyable from a pages from a not so age appropriate text book.

[Natalie]

Before reading the articles for the week, I was excited to see something on this topic. I have a minor in History & like geography. I have always felt geography is relevant because it can be taught in a manner that teaches so much more than maps & where cities, rivers, & mountains are located. If taught properly, it can also help students understand the history and culture of a people.

After reading Beyond State Capitals, I still felt the same. (I had never thought about mapping Twinkie consumption for a project however.) So much more can be taught than teachers & students realize. Ideas may be developed by using concepts/ideas in this article that would challenge conventional thinking.

My ideas did not change even after reading/watching all of the clips for the week. The Barbaboo MIddle School clips are a wonderful way to showcase the use of GIS and how geography is so much more than flat maps & "squiggly" lines in a book. Utilizing GIS & GPS within a geography class would enhance not only technological skills that students need but also helps develop intergrated programs/curricula and facilitates greater learning.

[Jennifer Tingen]

This article made me stop and think about the state of our students’ understanding of geography! The author is correct about the general assumption that geography is simply learning state capitals. Students in the 21st century must have global awareness; they have to leave their ethnocentric mental maps behind, as the balloon activity illustrates. By connecting social issues to maps, students gain a much greater appreciation for geography than the traditional methods of teaching this important field. There was an article in Time magazine not long ago that discussed the geography of obesity. It certainly gave me something to chew on instead of the old and incorrect assumption that obese people are just lazy. If students could begin making these connections at a young age, they could improve their perspective consciousnesses in ways that public education has never before seen.

[Erica Hanlon]

Discussion question: Read this short article (Beyond State Capitals) and share your thoughts on the state and relevance of geography in the curriculum today.
I thought that this article shed a lot of useful information for educators. Much of the information was new to me, so I was in shock through most of the reading. 13% of 18-24 years old in 2002 could accurately locate Iraq on an outline world map. This was a shocking percentage to me because of 9/11 happening just one year before this survey took place. It seemed like so much of our society was engulfed with news and talk of 9/11 and the war. For only 13% of our high school and college students not to be aware of where the War on Terror is taking place is a huge mistake.
Overall, I felt like we should be enhancing our student’s knowledge of geography because we are helping them analyze, raise important questions, explore the world around them without leaving the classroom, examine a map for religious perspectives, examine food consumption, and create maps. GIS allows students to create maps, import census tract data, helps enhance social studies instruction about topics such as immigration and urbanization. The best part is GIS is the essence of Inquiry-Bases Instruction!
After you read through the rest of it, have your thoughts changed at all? (Discussion on Ning)
No, I think that GIS and GPS open the world up in our classrooms and allows our students to explore well beyond the walls of schools!

[Laura Benfield]

Sorry, must point out this fact - Iraq did not attack us on September 11th. I have a hard time convincing my students of this fact. We were attacked by Osama Bin Laden from Afghanistan. We went to war in Iraq in March 2003. …It is just the civics teacher in me :)

[Billy Baker]

Laura, you are correct :)! I'm not a civics teacher, but I do have another little trivia question. How many of the individuals responsible for 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia?

[Laura Benfield]

I believe that they were all from Saudi Arabia, including Bin Laden...;)