Research indicates that textbooks play an important role in determining course content and influencing students' impressions of a discipline. Photographs are particularly powerful because they appear as actual representations, and students can often recall them better than text. This study examines the photographs of six introductory human…

This study introduces the Listening to Others' Voices (LOV) project, an empowering strategy in geography education. This research aims to create a dataset detailing the perspectives of negatively stereotyped countries with respect to how their countries are portrayed in geography textbooks and to investigate the pedagogical effects of the LOV…

Geography textbooks contain chapter or review questions that may engage students in spatial thinking. This research used Jo and Bednarz's (2009) "Taxonomy of Spatial Thinking" to evaluate the percentage of spatial thinking questions in four university-level world geography course textbooks. The results from this study were then…

The 2001 Geography Standards for Junior Secondary Schools are the first national standards for geographic education since the founding of Communist China. The standards heralded several new ideas for geographic education, and textbook assessments are one important way for understanding their impact. This study examines the changes in assessments…

This article draws upon the author's experiences with designing and teaching a lower-level undergraduate course, Geography and Gender. It is proposed that there is a relative lack of resources available for conducting geography courses on gender, feminism, and/or sexuality and as such, this article addresses issues of text selection, course…

This article examines whether questions embedded in geography textbooks address three components of spatial thinking: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning. A three-dimensional taxonomy of spatial thinking was developed and used to evaluate questions in four high school level geography textbooks. The results…

The geographical analyses and descriptions of Appalachia "not only reflect reality, but they help to constitute this reality." This work first analyzes the status of the North American (United States and Canada) regional courses in the 210 geography degree-granting institutions listed in the Association of American Geographers…

An examination of geography textbooks and scholarly journals reveals that with few exceptions they give inadequate treatment of Black Americans. Omission of any mention of blacks is characteristic. Where Blacks are mentioned, problems are slighted. (NH)

Examines the strengths and weaknesses of an 1828 geography textbook for children, specifically in relation to other textbooks. Jesse Olney's text deviated from the norm by introducing the students to activities focused on community and local geography. Ethnocentrism and racism occasionally marred the lavishly illustrated text. (MJP)

Describes how a water atlas can be used as a tool in conservation courses. Presents a three stage approach to a classroom exercise. Includes textbook study of a significance of water as a resource, student preparation of a list of local and state of Ohio environmental issues, and collection or creation of maps to create an atlas. (DK)

Discusses the need to increase emphasis upon European countries, particularly Germany, in geography and social studies instruction. Cites research indicating that postwar Germany has been ignored in the classroom. Expects textbook coverage of Germany to increase, but recommends student and teacher exchanges to broaden U.S. awareness of Germany.…

Evaluates 24 introductory college textbooks in human and regional geography in light of their presentation of traditional approaches and contemporary research themes and assesses their reading level. Findings show that many approaches to introducing knowledge are used, information presented lags behind current research, and reading levels are…

Examines the status of regional geography in Canadian elementary and secondary schools. How the geography of Canada is presented in textbooks is also examined. (RM)

An analysis of textbooks revealed three major trends: an increase in emphasis on human interaction with the physical environment, a tendency to discuss weather and climate early in the texts, and more interest in interrelating the materials content of physical geography through unifying approaches such as systems analysis. (RM)

An analysis of 14 introductory physical geography textbooks yielded 121 core concepts (basic concepts appearing in 7-10 books). The authors suggest that the trend toward overspecialization in introductory geography classes can be reversed if teachers agree to stress core concepts and their relationships to geography as a whole. (AM)