An important question for geography teachers all over the world is how to define, stimulate and test geographic literacy. Although modern technology is no guarantee of quality, it offers new possibilities for teaching and testing, as can be seen in contemporary geography learning/teaching units using digital maps and interactive tests. Tests such…

A field-based course at the University of Arizona called Sense of Place (SOP) covers the geology, ecology and cultural history of the Tucson area. SOP was quantitatively assessed for pedagogical effectiveness. Students of the Spring 2008 course were given pre- and post-course word association surveys in order to assess awareness and comprehension…

The Turkish education system has undergone radical changes since 2004 in all educational curricula, including social studies at the primary and secondary levels. Today, almost six years after its inception, an assessment is needed as to whether the reforms of 2004 affected beneficial changes in the social studies program. If not, it is important…

The Association of American Geographers' Center for Global Geography Education (CGGE) offers online learning modules that support international collaborations in post-secondary geography with the aim of promoting international dialogue on relevant geographic issues. Through the module's collaborative learning activities, students have an…

Geographical education in Portugal has undergone many reforms since the late 1970s. Reforms have affected mainly the content and the goals of the discipline's national curriculum, in a process designed to reflect the evolution of geography at academic level. However, the reforms seem to have had little effect on what teachers believe geography and…

Geographic information systems (GIS) offer many possibilities for supporting student research projects. This paper deals with the results of the first phase of a design study on student research projects that combine (quantitative) data collection in the field with data visualisation, manipulation and analysis in GIS. In this study, we try to…

While the application of geoinformation (GI) in German schools is becoming increasingly important, a systematic integration in school curricula, arranged in a cumulative and competence-oriented manner, is still lacking. Here the authors discuss existing approaches to the problem and propose a learning strategy based on the stepwise gain of GI…

When discussing the topic "Hunger in Africa" with students, incorrect and biased ideas on the causes for hunger are revealed. In order to change the students' personal concepts it is necessary to become acquainted with their mental models. Therefore, a survey of Geography students' different personal theories concerning "Hunger in Africa" was…

This paper relates developments in the use of Internet-based communication technologies to contemporary exchanges of geographical ideas and content. A brief history of the Internet provides the basis for a review of uses of broadband Internet in contemporary Geography. Two themes are explored: the first is the concept of virtual communities of…

Collaborating with universities in Hong Kong, Finland, the United Kingdom and Australia the research project outlined in this paper takes up one of the key initial findings related to the importance of children's online spaces away from school. The project brings together complementary strengths from each partner nation to assist our mutual need…

This study aims at introducing, explaining and evaluating the revised secondary school (high school) geography lesson curriculum in Turkey. Preliminary studies on the new curriculum started in 2002, and it was implemented in 2005. In this context, the article will focus on the programme development process and approaches, principle components of…

This paper describes an investigation of the interaction between teaching method and school locality in aligning student environmental beliefs, attitudes and intentions. Data for this study were collected from 236 adolescent upper secondary school students and chemistry teachers in Indonesia who were completing environmental topics from the local…

This comprehensive study involved the use of the what is happening in this class? (WIHIC) questionnaire among 2310 Singaporean Grade 10 students (aged 15 years) in 75 geography and mathematics classes in 38 schools. A seven-scale factor structure was strongly supported and the alpha reliability of each scale was high. An investigation of…

It is believed that the possibilities of integrating environmental issues into the formal and nonformal education programs depend on the capacity of teachers who put such programs into effect. A pilot project, aimed at building the capacity of schools in Ethiopia to address key environmental issues, was initiated in 2004. Among the major…

This study focused on how democratic values and citizenship education are promoted through environmental education in Costa Rica. Data were collected through the examination of textbook and curriculum guides and interviews with classroom teachers. The qualitative study utilized Bowers' (2001) and Gruenewald's (2003) theories of eco-justice and…