Browsing by Subject "geography education"
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Item Teaching the tool of the trade: an exploration of teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and practices about maps(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Acheson, GillianMaps are the integral tool of geography. The importance of maps to geographic literacy is reflected in the National Geography Standards (Geography Education Implementation Project 1994): the first essential element, the World in Spatial Terms, details the significance of map comprehension to spatial thinking. Despite that centrality, there is little research which tells us how maps are used in the classroom. This study considers Texas teachers' instructional practices with regards to maps. The following questions are addressed: (1) what are teachers' beliefs and knowledge about maps; (2) what are teachers' practices regarding their use; and, (3) to what extent do teachers understand the curricular requirements related to maps? The study was conducted in two phases. During Phase I, a survey was completed by eighty-eight teacher-members of the Texas Alliance for Geographic Education. In Phase II, eleven teachers were selected from the pool of survey respondents for interviews and classroom observations. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative techniques. Analysis included evaluation of teachers' practices along a map skills continuum, which was adapted from National Assessment of Educational Progress' (NAEP) standards in geography, the National Geography Standards, and the state curriculum, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The continuum evaluated teachers by grade (elementary, middle, or high school) and proficiency (basic, proficient, or advanced). Teachers in Phase II were representative of the grade and proficiency levels of the survey respondents. Results indicate that map instruction focuses on learning cartographic terminology, performing basic map tasks, and identifying locations. The more advanced tasks illustrated in the continuum are largely absent. The teachers in this study generally had a limited conceptualization of maps and their uses; that limited conceptualization constrained their practices and their understanding of the curricular requirements regarding map skills. Consequently, map instruction does not occur in the rich way conceptualized by the Standards, NAEP, or the TEKS. The implication is that teachers' conceptualization of maps must be improved. This goal could be accomplished by providing teachers with professional development experiences and curricular tools that will enhance their understanding of maps and their many uses.Item The Development of an Academically-Based Entertainment-Education (ABEE) Model: Co-opting Behavioral Change Efficacy of Entertainment-Education for Academic Learning Targeting the Societal Landscape of U.S. Geographic Illiteracy(2011-07-22) Simms, MichelleEducators and scholars continue to lament United States citizens' geographic illiteracy and are calling on Congress to address the crisis. However, despite recent public attention, a lack of national commitment to teaching geography in all public school grade levels persists. Therefore, non-formal educational avenues need to be pursued to address this crisis. One such avenue may be Entertainment-Education (E-E). E-E interventions have been used outside of the U.S. to impact social problems and detrimental behaviors by presenting positive role models in entertainment products designed to stimulate changes in viewers' behavior. For example, soap operas promote condoms use as a HIV prevention strategy (Tanzania), model culturally-sensitive actions to stop domestic violence (South Africa), and promote infant oral-rehydration therapy (Egypt). This study posits academic learning can be facilitated in a similar fashion as behavior change through an E-E methodology. Beginning with an examination of the E-E field by indexing E-E literature found in scholarly publication databases, this study demonstrates the 30-year health message focus of the field and presents a catalogue of E-E interventions cross-referenced by name and target country. The combination of these two products illuminates how U.S. audiences and non-behaviorally based outcomes have not been targeted, leaving academic subject learning as an area into which E-E can expand. The expansion of E-E methodology into geography education (or any other subject) requires understanding of how academic concepts interact with the structure of fictional narratives. Using a grounded theory approach, this study analyzes the U.S. television series NUMB3RS, which uses math to drive the story (as opposed to simply serving as context), to develop an Academically-Based Entertainment-Education (ABEE) model. ABEE is then applied to Google Earth, exploring how to leverage non-linear and visually dependent narratives as well as develop user-driven learning experiences. The implications of research presented here and through future refinement of the ABEE model may potentially (1) develop educative entertainment products supporting formal education and (2) bring geographic knowledge into the realm of popular culture through mass media, thereby impacting geographic literacy at a societal level in the U.S. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2011-05-9128.Item To Whom Are We Listening? Measuring the Pulse of Geography Education Research, 2010(Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education, 2017) Albert, Donald Patrick; Cassidy, Erin DorrisThis study analyzes citations from thirty-six articles published in volume 34 (2010) of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education (JGHE). This is one of the dominant publications in the suite of international journals focusing on geography education. Our purpose is to explore the question, to whom are “we” – the geography education community – listening? Citations from these articles were categorized as originating from the journal subject categories geography education, geography, or non-geography. Simple count and percent summaries of citations from individual journals within subject categories, and overall across categories were extracted from the thirty-six articles. The quality of these citations were assessed using each journal’s SCImago Journal Ranking (SJR) score and quartile standing for 2010. Weighted citation values were calculated to rank the leading contributing journals to the JGHE. The results indicated that the JGHE is underpinned by a diversity of high-impact journals from all three categories including the Journal of Geography in Higher Education (self-cites), Science Education, Progress in Human Geography, and The Professional Geographer. Our data revealed that this volume of JGHE cited articles from a diverse range of journals with 47.5% from geography (30.3% geography education and 17.2 percent geography) and 52.5% from non-geography journals. Education journals comprised 62.5% of the citations from the non-geography category. These statistics suggest the scholars in geography education are reaching within and across the discipline to enhance and propel their research activities.