Welcome to the second diary in the new Geography! series. This week the topic is geographic education and I continue the discussion about the article "Bring Back Geography!" which describes the current state of geography education in the United States.
The main points I cover today include 1) the state of geography education in primary and secondary schools (including the effect of NCLB), 2) the state of geography education in colleges and universities in the United States, and 3) some ways we can help reintegrate geography education.
Note – I leave for Greece on Monday for two weeks. I plan to continue posting while I am gone, but will not be able to comment much. If I can't post the next diary in this series, I will at least post pictures so you can all see what I have to endure in Greece. =)
Geography education in primary and secondary schools
As with many other subjects in this age of NCLB, geography is being left behind as students are prepped for testing in other subjects.
Meanwhile, geographic education has been nearly eliminated from K–12 curricula in the United States. In elementary school, it has been lost in a mishmash called "social studies" that neglects physical geography and spatial thinking. Each semester, I ask my students in a large introductory class how many of them have ever had a geography course before at any level, and less than 10 percent raise their hands. Advanced Placement (AP) enrollments in geography are rising in high school, but the absolute number remains small (21,000 in 2006). Most matriculating students do not even know it is possible to earn a college degree in geography. The No Child Left Behind program provides funds to improve the teaching of all the essential subjects identified—except geography. Congress said geography is essential and then provided not a single dollar for it.
This excerpt from the "Bring Geography Back" article by Dr. Jerome E. Dobson, does make the current state of geographic education in primary and secondary schools seem dire. Because I am not an elementary or high school teacher and I finished school pre-NCLB, I have no personal experience with the changes to geography education that follow the legislation.
My personal experience is that I was required to take a geography course in 7th grade, along with the rest of my class. In this course, the focus was only on learning geographic locations and not on developing spatial awareness or other skills related to geography.
I do not know if my experience is typical, but according to The National Council for Geographic Education
Surveys show that United States students' geography knowledge ranks far below students in such countries as Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada. Even worse, geographical knowledge has declined over the years so now many children cannot read maps or locate state, cities, or important physical features, even in the United States.
Even as access to maps and geographic tools, such as GIS is increasing, due in part to the internet, school children are less able to use these resources. This lack of geographic knowledge exists even with 18 National Standards which would ensure that students obtain a grasp of basic geographic concepts. National Geographic even has suggested lesson plans for students of all levels available for teachers on their website. The resources are there, now we need to ensure that primary and secondary teachers are allowed and encouraged to teach geography.
Geography education in colleges and universities
From the poll in last week’s diary which asked "How much geographic education have you had?", the percentage of 89 respondents at each level is as follows:
Percentage Level of Geographic Education
10% Never had a geography class
12% Geography class(es) only in primary school
30% Geography class(es) last in secondary school
31% Geography class(es) in college
6% Working on or have a Geography major/minor
3% Working on or have a Masters degree in Geography
1% Working on or have a Ph.D. in Geography
4% Other – various experiences
Over half (52%) of respondents have not had geographic education past high school. I’m not sure how the percentages of my poll correspond to levels of geographic education in the United States, but according to Professor Dobson, the geographic education in college has been on the decline.
Soon after World War II, however, geography was purged in the United States, and the impact continues today. From 1948 to 1988, the discipline was expunged at the University of Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, the University of Michigan, Northwestern, Stanford, Yale, and other esteemed American universities, oddly even during periods when universities were expanding faster than at any other time before or since. In truth, nobody knows why geography was targeted on such a broad scale. For decades, there have been no geography departments in the Ivy League, except Dartmouth's undergraduate department. Of the top 20 private universities in the United States, only two currently have geography departments, though 15 of the top 20 public universities do. The purge was an American phenomenon. In the United Kingdom to this day, Oxford and Cambridge universities continue to have strong academic programs offering doctoral degrees in geography.
Lately, geography is enjoying a resurgence due to the phenomenal success of GIS and the need for better understanding of foreign lands and peoples in this age of globalization and geopolitical turmoil. Peers in other disciplines now respect, and some are adopting, our hallmarks—spatial analysis, place-based research, and scientific integration. What this resurgence means is that existing geography departments are adding faculty and new graduate degrees. Unfortunately, however, only four new undergraduate degree programs have been added in the past 10 years, and only one new department is being discussed at present in a serious way. As incredible as it may seem, the purge continues, and there will be a net loss this year as Southern Oregon University closes its geography department.
The number of geography departments are declining even as demand for GIS (Geographic Information Systems) education is increasing. At the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, the Geography and Anthropology departments have been merged administratively, so they can share resources, while each department retains separate degrees. Where there is an upsurge in interest for teaching GIS, the result is not necessarily helping geography departments.
Again from the "Bring Back Geography!" article:
In 2005, Harvard University announced that it will reintroduce GIS but not geography. The new Center for Geographic Analysis recognizes the demand for GIS throughout all disciplines without granting academic stature to its home discipline. That's much like building a word processing center without an English department, and it's a mistake the university has made before. Harvard was one of a handful of key centers advancing GIS in the 1970s. Lacking an academic home, however, its groundbreaking GIS developments were mislabeled "computer graphics," and a grand opportunity was lost.
...
My first point is that geography has an essential viewpoint and methodology that are at least as important as those of other disciplines. Geography was purged, aliased, and fragmented, and none of the fragments add up to the whole. Area studies programs, for instance, bring together specialists of all sorts who know much about each region, but they do not inherently contain the glue that holds those regions together. Their faculties do not inherently think about space and define it as geographers do. That's why, despite all the federal dollars they have received since 1958, area studies programs were not major contributors to GIS development while geographers were.
GIS skills are in high demand in the workforce. GIS is being implemented to help store and analyze data in a variety of fields including local, state, and national governments, utilities, and more. Yet GIS training without also learning the background geographic techniques is like learning the vocabulary of a foreign language without learning the necessary grammar. You may be able to make yourself understood, but you can’t express complex ideas.
We need to preserve geography as a separate discipline to ensure that students learn the techniques and theoretical viewpoints that comprise geography. A geographical education teaches students how cultures and physical environments interact. This is especially important in light of the current Global Warming crisis.
What we can do to help geographic education
Professor Dobson has a few suggestions:
Say the word—Nowadays, there is a conspicuous reluctance to say the G word. Spatial or geospatial are more acceptable than geography or geographic. When geographers discover anything new, they are likely to be identified with the closest thematic discipline rather than geography, even if geographic methods were absolutely essential to the discovery. Geographers are routinely misidentified as geologists, though only 10 percent of them claim physical specialties that could possibly be confused with geology.
Tell people what geography really is—The vast majority of geographers define their discipline based on spatial perspective and methods rather than content. Tell everybody that geography is to space what history is to time. No one would seriously suggest that a university should exist without a history department. Why should any exist without geography?
Make administrators accountable—If your favorite university does not have a geography department, ask why. If it has one but it's combined with another discipline, ask administrators to explain the reasoning behind its placement. ...
Lobby for a rational legislative agenda—Funding for geographic education, development, and research must be increased by at least two orders of magnitude, partly to solve the labor shortage in GIS and partly to educate the general public. These funds are needed to fulfill six modest principles:
1. Every elementary and high school student must have the opportunity to learn basic geography and experience GIS technology.
2. At a minimum, every freshman should reach college knowing that geography is a viable major with solid career prospects after graduation.
3. Every college student must have access to a full geographic curriculum—thematic, regional, methodological, and technological—within the set of college destinations among which he or she normally would choose.
4. Scholarships must be available to support the best and brightest students who choose to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in geography.
5. Research grants must be available to encourage substantially increased geographic research, including fieldwork, both foreign and domestic, by faculty and students.
6. Development grants must be available to upgrade or create geography faculties throughout the nation; to ensure topical, regional, methodological, and technological coverage; to upgrade GIS facilities; and to promote community outreach.
Aim big—In a rational world, Congress would urgently fund a crash educational program to rush society ahead in this vital discipline as it did for science and math in the 1950s. Instead, the powers that be in the highest realms of education, science, and science policy have done precisely the opposite for six decades. Now change is coming, but will it be enough? Will it happen fast enough? Will geographers and GIS professionals have much influence on the outcome?
National Geographic has a few more suggestions for primary and secondary schools.
Implement Geography for Life: National Geography Standards
Concern over lack of geographical knowledge in the United States has been expressed by all branches of government. Geography is included among the core subjects in the Goals 2000 program to improve United States education. As a result of this initiative and others, national geography standards have been published and are being voluntarily adopted around the country. These geography standards are benchmarks against which the content of geography courses at all grade levels can be measured. Standards will affect the education of all children in the United States, and they should be a part of your school's program.
Encourage geography learning
Nation-wide geography contests such as the NCGE's National Geography Olympiad and the National Geographic Geography Bee offer geography students the opportunity for recognition. Students in your school(s) should have an opportunity to participate in the contests.
Work with teachers to make geography an integral part of the total educational package. Encourage the use of suitable maps and the introduction of application geography concepts in history, economics, government, biology, and other classes where they can enhance students' learning opportunities.
Encourage school decision-makers and teachers to set aside certain days or weeks for the study of specific geographic areas such as a state or region within the United States or a foreign country or region. Activities might include preparing posters and maps, presenting facts about the area, or bringing typical articles such as clothing, handicrafts, or foods to school. Foreign-born students can be encouraged to present information about their homeland. Outside speakers could be invited to talk about certain countries, as well.
Hire qualified teachers
Look for teachers with formal geography training; do not assume that any teacher can pick up enough geography to teach the subject. Teachers with training in geography should know their subject and should be enthusiastic about teaching it. Would you hire a teacher with no math courses to teach math? Why hire teachers without geography training to teach geography.
Provide opportunities for teachers to upgrade their geography knowledge
There are many ways for teachers with a limited geography background to improve their knowledge or for those with training to stay abreast of new developments. Every state has a state geographic alliance, with produces teaching materials and holds meetings, training sessions, and summer institutes on geography teaching. Encourage geography teachers to become affiliated with the state geographic alliance (alliance coordinators and addresses may be obtained from N.G.S., Geography Education Program, 1145 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036-4688). Encourage teachers to enroll for summer or evening courses in geography at a local university, college, or community college. Make sure school libraries subscribe to important publications for geography education such as NCGE's Journal of Geography and the Pathways in Geography Series.
Insure that geography classes have proper equipment
All classrooms where geography is taught should be equipped with up-to-date globes, atlases, and wall maps of the world, the United States, and world regions or continents. Simple maps and atlases will do for lower grades, but middle and high school classrooms require more advanced materials. Depending on the grade level and the type of geography being taught, flat maps of various types such as United State Geological Survey topographic quadrangles may be needed. A modern geography classroom should also be equipped with at least one computer with appropriate programs. For lower grades, this might include simple computer geography games and map programs. For upper grade levels more complex programs with mapping and database manipulation functions and network access are needed.
Make learning geography interesting and exciting for student
Encourage teachers to use creative approaches to teaching geography. Use examples from the school area in teaching and for student projects. For example, geography students might make maps showing local flood plain areas, indicating the directions in which the city or town is growing or showing land uses along highways or major streets as an aid to understanding how cities develop. In class, games can be created to help students learn to identify places on a map or to identify areas that are in the news such as Japan, Mexico, or Bosnia. Hold a school district or regional geography fair to encourage students to explore geographical topics in depth.
I’m doing my part by writing this series. What are you doing?