Latin America is a popularly accepted world region. A systematic review of geographic interpretations of Latin America reveals that the origin of the term goes back to the mid-nineteenth century and that the region's boundaries have shifted over time. This article argues that four basic principles operate in the formation of world regions such as…

The purpose of this article is to describe a capstone course in undergraduate student geographical research in which GIS and other geospatial tools were used to teach undergraduate students basic geographical principles. The course uses the "cooperative learning" pedagogical approach to address one of a number of client-supplied research projects,…

This article describes a series of data-based Green Map learning exercises positioned within a problem-based framework and examines the appropriateness of projects like these as a form of geography education. Problem-based learning (PBL) is an educational technique that engages students in learning through activities that require creative problem…

During academic year 1999-2000, the Geography Department at Michigan State University (MSU) launched a program of online geography courses. Since then, four undergraduate online geography courses have been collectively developed and delivered to over 4,500 domestic and international students in association with MSU's Virtual University Design and…

Undergraduate geography field courses are relatively rare at American universities, though they can exemplify well the fundamental tenets of learner-centered education. This article reports on an intensive three-week field analysis course taught at Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff, within the Department of Geography, Planning, and…

Findings related to the background knowledge, writing, and reading of disadvantaged students in a South African university geography department are discussed. The notion "academic discourse community" is used as an analytical framework. Findings indicate that students and instructors alike face several extreme challenges. (Contains 6…

Teaching GIS is relatively simple, a matter of helping students develop familiarity with the software. Mapping as an aid to thinking is harder to instruct. This article presents a laboratory and lecture package developed to teach the utility of mapping in a course on spatial data analysis. Following a historical review of the use of surface…

This article explores the implementation of critical pedagogic practices into a graduate level landscape seminar Web site. Critical pedagogy seeks to reconfigure student-teacher relationships and disrupt embedded power regimes within academia and society. Critical pedagogic practices create a dialogue amongst learners, where everyone has a stake…

Following an integrative model that shows the complex connections of recruitment, retention, and placement, this first paper in a three-part series explores the challenging endeavor of attracting students to undertake geography as their undergraduate major. Survey data of incoming students are indispensable in constructing successful recruitment…

A call for combining the strengths of geographic education with environmental education to produce an "education for sustainability" addresses local problems for sustainable development. A place-based approach encourages civic responsibility among students. Using service-learning to extend education beyond the classroom in this case study…

Following an integrative model that shows the complex connections of recruitment, retention, and placement, this second paper in a three-part series explores the exigent endeavor of retaining students who undertake geography as their undergraduate major. Survey data of graduating students are requisite in constructing successful retention plans.…

National Geography Standards for the middle school years generally stress the teaching of latitude and longitude. There are many creative ways to explain the great grid that encircles our planet, but the author has found that students in his college-level geography courses especially enjoy human-interest stories associated with lines of latitude…

This article describes the results of a study of a concept model for optimizing contact time between the Geography educator and the student teacher within a learner-centered teaching paradigm. A quasi-experimental time series approach was used in order to change aspects of the model as the research progressed. Changes to the model were made on the…

Vision and mission statements are the foundation for the types of undergraduate degrees departments confer as well as other types of academic programs such as pre-major, certificate, and distance education curricula. Critical to each department should be careful administration of course selections and offerings and management of academic majors,…

This paper describes collaborative student research on waste management that first compiled home interviews with women professors in Oxford, Ohio, USA, and Beijing, China, on household reuse for a graduate thesis and then communicated the findings in a handbook for undergraduate students. The women participants described diverse household reuse…