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?

[Donia Winslow]

I agree with you. Cost will always be a factor in the public school system. When there are free opportunities awaiting, we must be proactive and take the opportunity to offer more engaging lessons to our students by utilizing these technologies!

[Katrina Benton Donham]

Unfortunately, geography has been pushed aside to make room for more civics, more politics, more legal language in a social studies classroom. Personally, I grew up memorizing the states and capitals and learning about our world's physical being, and I believe that that education has given me a better understanding of our globe. The statistics about young people not knowing about geography is daunting. With that said, we all need to give geography some attention in order to remedy this problem of geographical illiteracy. Geography could be brought into every classroom, not just social studies settings. As I mentioned before in the Google Maps discussion, I could use geography as a means of explaining a physical location of an important literary or current event's location. Geography, the sense of place, gives so much depth to a discussion. Speaking about abstract concepts in an unknown literary (or real) world is like walking a blind person through a cave without lights. It's almost impossible for the see-er and the blind, the teacher and the students. I hope that educators find more value in teaching geography and will begin to integrate this important aspect into their lessons and units. Geography creates a physical experience/memory for someone, who may never have one (i.e. kids who've never been to the beach or mountains, out of the country, etc.).

[Scott Jewitt]

I really like the point Kenreich makes in his article about getting past this mundane notion of place-name location and about redefining the word map. The traditional idea of a map, in my mind at least, is a two-dimensional representation showing names and locations. However, Kenreich focuses on a second meaning of map, the verb form: to chart something--statistically or physically. Through the use of GIS technology it is possible to track the amount and location of lynchings in the US and present the opportunity for research and discussion. Also, being able to map the immigration of people, it would be interesting to study the African American (or other ethnicity's) diaspora. I think that if we consider geography on these terms--comprised of contextualized culture and history, rather than name-place recognition, its utility in the classroom is greatly increased and encompasses a more holistic definition of social studies.

[Donia Winslow]

The articles this week provided a lot of useful information for educators. I think that when students think "Geography", they zone in on a "map reading class." I would have to say that Geography has always been important, but today I think that today Geography is even more critical. As our previous reading, "The World Is Flat", it emphasizes how the world is much more connected today. I can recall the time in high school, where we had to complete a project on the countries, and all we had to access were textbooks, an atlas, a globe and encyclopedias. Now, with GIS, GPS, and other technology, the possibilities are endless. It is truely amazing how these tools can enhance students' learning. Geography GIS provides students with the opportunity to create maps, explore the world around them without having to leave their classrooms, and certainly serves as a supplement to instruction. Another important component of GIS, is Inquiry Based Instruction. Integrating GIS and GPS into the curriculum has the potential to motivate and engage our students. Sure the globe provides a visual, however with the new technolgies presented, 3-D modals, visual of terrain and tours could certainly be more engaging!
As Educators, we must be proactive and utilize the available technology out there. This will equip our students to be prepared for competition globally. Although I do not teach social studies, I can certainly see where social studies teachers would be so excited about these tools and would integrate them into their curriculum!

[Jenny Buelin]

This article reminded me of a few years ago, when I taught at a small charter school with NO budget for textbooks, and I got an email from a very confused parent of a student in my homeroom. Her son had been assigned to do a research project on Zaire, but they were having trouble finding information. This was in 2001 I think—lots of people had internet access for email, etc., but there was no Wikipedia and people still used books! Anyway, my teammate, the social studies teacher, was using outdated materials and didn’t know that Zaire didn’t actually exist any more, and the student & parent weren’t able to figure it out . . . it was frustrating in several ways. Meanwhile, I was including map design activities in art class and had several angry emails and calls from parents about why their kids should NOT be required to learn the geography of the Middle East in art class! Funny.
I really like the idea of “perspective consciousness.” I think could offer a great approach to teaching art history—how and why artists made the objects they did at a given time and place. . . why we do what we do in this particular time & place. I think the GPS cashe quest might be a good format for making art history more fun, relevant, and accessible.
The author reminds us of the boring outline map tests that have sort of defined the study of geography for many students. There's a place for those still, I think. But it's great to see such fresh and authentic ways of getting to mastery of those tests.