Teaching for Geographic Literacy: Our Afterschool Geography Club

Thomas-Brown, Karen

doi:10.1080/00377996.2010.509373

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Thomas-Brown [48] believes that enrolling students in an afterschool Geography Club can significantly affect and improve their love and motivation for geography as a discipline and their levels of geographic literacy. In particular, she states that such a program can foster place recognition, application of geographic theory, establishment of connections between geographic facts and the students' daily lives, and awareness of other cultures [48]. Lukinbeal and Craine [28] recommend using media literacy strategies to foster geographic knowledge and learning, especially owing to the fact that new media plays such an important role in what we pay attention to.…”

Section: Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Review of Geographic Illiteracy in the United States: A Multifaceted Analysis

McFarlane

2024

JGEESI

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This paper explores the concept of geographic illiteracy in general, and specifically in the United States over the last several decades. The researcher sets out by placing geographic literacy concerns and challenges within the context of the broader literacy challenges raised in the United States in the last quarter of the previous century via the 1983 published landmark education report, A Nation At Risk. Geography illiteracy, also called ‘geo-illiteracy’ is demonstrated from reports and statistics comparing geographic achievements internationally among nations in certain cohorts, and the state of geographic education nationally, is examined. The importance of geography education-literacy is highlighted, and the researcher explores several authoritative sources including organizations, scholars, and writers on the subject, and then from an analysis of the extant literature, devises “Five Theses” as to the causes of geographic illiteracy (culture value thesis, curricular thesis, corporate-economic value thesis, and perceptions of geography thesis). The consequences of geographic illiteracy are then examined under “Five Themes” referred to as ‘challenges’ (environmental-sustainability challenge, economic challenge, national competitiveness challenge, threat to national security challenge, and well-being and happiness challenge). Finally, the researcher presents several recommendations for improving geographic literacy across the United States, noting that a public policy effort by the federal and state governments must ultimately be the most viable solution to improving the geographic knowledge and skills of American citizens.

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Section: Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Review of Geographic Illiteracy in the United States: A Multifaceted Analysis

McFarlane

2024

JGEESI

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“…In spite of the numerous prospects, Murphy (2006) believes that the impact of geographical scholarship on public debate is, for the most part, small. Research works have shown that geography is saddled with the problem of identity and recognition as a useful academic discipline across the globe (Harvey and Forster 2004;Helen 2007;Smith 2009;Gaite 2011;Thomas-Brown 2011;Mukesh and Sarita 2015;Fatima 2016). Harvey and Forster (2004) and Smith (2009) point out that the declining status of geography poses a great danger and is likely to affect the attitudes of students and their parents when making choices about university courses in terms of their relevance, employability and currency for the modern world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Geography Among Ghanaian Senior High School Students: A Phenomenological Study

Opoku

2019

Lnternational Journal of Geography and Geography Education

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This qualitative phenomenological study aimed at exploring the perceptions of geography among Ghanaian senior high school students. A total of 48 students comprising 24 males and 24 females were selected from two different public senior high schools in the Kumasi metropolis of Ghana to participate in the study. Data were obtained using in-depth interview and results were processed and presented using the thematic analysis approach with reference to the research objectives. Results from the study revealed that more than half of the students interviewed had positive perception of geography in terms of its relevance to people in the society. Regarding the definition and scope of geography, the overwhelming majority of the student respondents perceived geography as a description of the physical environment such as rivers, rocks, the universe, weather and climates, formation of landforms, among others. Others also perceived geography as the drawing of maps to show earth's features. Interestingly, more than half of the students expressed keener interest in physical geography with reasons being that physical geography lessons are more interesting and practical. More so, the majority of the students viewed geography lessons to be very interesting but difficult as compared to other social science disciplines. Significantly too, most of the students ranked geography as either second or third choice in considering programmes for higher education. The study recommends a further research into how students' perception of employment prospects in geography influence their attitudes towards geography.

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“…There are also relevant studies about the use and advantages of tablets and laptops in education (Smith, Valliappa, 2006;Whitmeyer, 2012;Fabian, Maclean, 2014), about the role of digital literacy (Hall, Atkins, Fraser, 2014) and of geographical literacy (Thomas-Brown, 2011;Chou, Block, Jesness, 2012) in achieving the objectives of geographical education, as well as more focused studies on Google Earth as a resource (Lisle, 2006) and as more than a Geography education tool (Patterson, 2007) and its usefulness in interpreting geographical phenomena, alongside satellite imagery (Sato, Harp, 2009), and in landscape visualisation (Sheppard, Cizek, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Laptop Computers, Tablets and Google Earth/Google Maps Applications During Geography Club Seminars

Galbin¹

2015

Romanian Review of Geographical Education

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In the current study, we aim to investigate the use of Google Earth and Google Maps Applications on tablet and laptop computers. The research was carried out during the Geography Club seminars organized at "Radu Petrescu" High School in the 2013-2014 school year. The research involved 13 students in various gymnasium and high school grades. The activities included: navigation with Google Earth/Maps, image capturing techniques, virtual tours, measuring distances or river lengths, identifying relief forms, and locating geographical components of the environment. In order to retrieve students' opinions regarding the use of tablets and laptop computers with these two applications, they were asked to respond to a questionnaire after the activities took place. Conclusions revealed that students enjoyed using these applications with laptops and tablets and that the learning process during Geography classes became more interesting.

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Teaching for Geographic Literacy: Our Afterschool Geography Club

Cited by 13 publications

References 13 publications

Critical Review of Geographic Illiteracy in the United States: A Multifaceted Analysis

Critical Review of Geographic Illiteracy in the United States: A Multifaceted Analysis

Perceptions of Geography Among Ghanaian Senior High School Students: A Phenomenological Study

The Use of Laptop Computers, Tablets and Google Earth/Google Maps Applications During Geography Club Seminars

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