Presents an allegory based on the development and dissemination of the National Geography Standards. Uses the allegory to introduce a series of articles dealing with the Standards. Suggests that geography teachers acquire and use the Standards, entitled "Geography for Life: National Geography Standards." (CFR)

Asserts that the 1994 National Geography Standards provide a new and valuable resource for teachers who want to improve geography instruction. Presents a sampler of additional geography instructional materials developed during this same period of educational reform. (CFR)

Describes the efforts of the Alaska Department of Education and geography educators to develop standards based on the National Geography Standards model. Discusses the statewide public consensus process and includes a chronological table of events. Provides six sample standards and performance criteria from the Alaska 2000 geography standards.…

Maintains that the National Geography Standards provide teachers with a geographic perspective that will help them teach improved geography content. Asserts that teachers can make connections between the Geography Standards and their own classrooms. Presents five suggested classroom activities based on the National Geography Standards. (CFR)

Asserts that the National Geography Standards identify what students should know and be able to do as a result of geography instruction. Identifies the action verbs used in the Standards' activity statements. Discusses these verbs in the context of Blooms cognitive taxonomy. (CFR)

Maintains that children love books, and through carefully selected books, geographic concepts can be taught. Explains how children's literature encourages geographic thinking, builds geographic skills, and develops lasting mental maps of places and regions. Discusses 14 suggested books. (CFR)

Maintains that with the publication of the National Geography Standards geography has taken a major stride toward demonstrating to teachers the breadth and significance of the discipline. Focuses on three aspects of geographic reality in the lives of teachers and students. Concludes that geographic knowledge is part of every person's life. (CFR)

Reports the effectiveness of nine in-service summer institutes designed to improve geography instruction. Discusses strengths and weaknesses of the workshops and the institutes' long-term effectiveness. Finds that participants not only made substantive changes in how they taught geography, but also conducted high-level inservice programs. (CFR)

Presents a role playing lesson on Meriweather Lewis and George Rogers Clark's exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. Emphasizes integration of the five fundamental themes of geography: location, place, human environment interactions, movement, and regions. Suggests evaluation procedures, extension lessons, and materials and resources. Calls upon…

Presents a lesson for teaching geography and science by concentrating on the oceans. Includes topography, wave dynamics, and ratio of ocean to land mass. Focuses on geographic themes of location, place, and region. Suggests that students will visualize and manipulate information as they are introduced to concepts in physics and earth science. (DK)

Presents lessons on geographic concepts concerning migration and population change. Suggests student analysis of census data. Focuses on the recent influx of Hispanic immigrants through concepts of assimilation, discrimination, and time decay. Observes that Hispanics, the oldest U.S. immigrant group, are presently viewed as the newest. Examines…

Presents a sampling of items from the ERIC database concerning the teaching of human geography. Includes documents dealing with Africa, Asia, the United States, Canada, Antarctica, and geographic concepts. Explains how to obtain ERIC documents. (SG)

Discusses software that educators can use to teach about distortions associated with alternative map projections. Examines the Projection, MicroCAM, World, and Atlas-GIS software programs. Suggests using the software in either introductory or more advanced courses dealing with map design or thematic cartography. Explains how to obtain the…

Discusses the strengths and weaknesses of geographers' temporal strategies for research. Suggests diagrammatic interpretations and examples of the strategies. Presents classroom activities for increasing student understanding of the organization of time in the study of geography. (SG)

Explores the use of the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) computer program by undergraduate geography students. Argues that, through place name mapping, students can integrate geographic concepts and explore geographic themes in an atmosphere of self-discovery. Offers as an example a GNIS exploration of Wisconsin's valleys. (SG)