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This paper discusses the application of Karl Maton's notion of ‘semantic waves’ to the teaching of geography at the post‐16 phase (A‐level) in England. Drawing on evidence generated through a 2‐year close‐to‐practice case study, it illustrates its potential as a scaffold in two ways. Firstly, one that can help teachers face both ways: Towards their subject discipline, to see it in more naïve forms, and towards their novice students, to make that form explicit and thus accessible to them. Such a deliberative or hermeneutic orientation stands in sharp contrast to the atomistic mode of the technicist orientation to knowledge dominant in English education. Secondly, as a scaffold that can provide a visual language for students which makes explicit the implicit relationship between different components of an essay, and in this sense, helps scaffold for a more relational mode of thinking about the geography itself. Interviews with students suggested semantic waves was: (i) a practical but not a prescriptive tool, (ii) a framework that could extend their thinking and (iii) a scaffold that connects knowledge with essay writing. It appeared to be a useful tool to bring the geographical knowledge and its complexity to the fore by aiding metacognitive thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents two experiences of innovation in primary and secondary education, with the aim of discussing the importance of fieldwork or study visits in the teaching of Geography and History. The innovation consists of incorporating the fieldwork technique in different educational contexts with the aim of allowing students to understand, from a critical perspective, the local reality and act towards its transformation based on problematizing the surroundings, with the aim of building and developing democratic education and citizenship training. The experiments were carried out in different projects, in Brazil and Chile. To cover the presentation of experiences, we first address spatial thinking in the curriculum and fieldwork as a methodological strategy in Geography and History. The specific practices and curricula of each of the schools are presented below. Finally, in the final considerations, we point out the similarities and differences between practices and the importance of initial teacher training and school organization so that Fieldwork, as a methodological tool, can be carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High school geography in the U.S. continues to face many challenges. Recent research argues for increased faculty engagement with teachers and students to broaden participation and promote career opportunities. Here, we sought to better understand teachers' challenges in ninth-grade geography classes in Southeast Texas, including addressing students' negative perceptions of geography from a baseline survey. To address student perceptions, teacher and student focus groups highlighted challenges and interests. Results suggest that student interests do not align with teachers' insights. These data can be used to work with teachers to enhance secondary geography education and improve student perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article presents a systematic review of a substantial body of literature that considers the ways in which the concept of teacher identity has been used to understand and explore teachers' professional lives. The aim of the review was to go beyond the limitations of specific areas of teachers' practice to explore the broad and rich field of teachers' professional lives. Drawing on 412 articles from 2000-2021, the review demonstrates the growth in teacher identity research, particularly since 2010. Results from the review are categorised into seven thematic groups that span key areas related to teachers' professional lives: (1) Models and frameworks of professional lives; (2) Narratives of professional lives; (3) Becoming a teacher; (4) Contexts; (5) Communities; (6) Change, transition and conflict; and (7) Subject specialisms. The review reveals gaps in teacher identity research, such as: few research studies from Global South countries; a limited number of studies focusing on non-core curriculum subjects, including arts, history, geography and physical education; fewer studies focusing on primary school and early years teacher identities; and a divide between identity scholarship and research, and policy and practice. The article concludes with a call for teacher identity research to be expanded and broadened with the aim to facilitate the progress of identity work in scholarship, policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia y Memoria de la Educación is the property of Historia y Memoria de la Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of lnternational Journal of Geography & Geography Education is the property of Marmara University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Training first-year students in the Teacher Training Program and Bachelor's Degree in Geography, through the resources of virtual classrooms, favors their academic literacy because it promotes significant learning in their educational trajectory. From this perspective, it is essential to focus attention on teaching strategies in digital scenarios and this fact questions us: how to be a teacher in a digital classroom? How to redesign virtual classrooms just not to be not a mere repository of documents and become a place of exchanges and debates? This work explores and redefines the use of the virtual campus in relation to the didactic dimension. Its relevance lies in offering a proposal for pedagogical intervention in digital scenarios, as a contribution, to rethink our teaching decisions and, therefore, consider other ways of teaching and learning before the new generations of students who are protagonists of a techno cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Namibian schools, structured and organised outdoor learning opportunities are not accessible to everyone or equally distributed. All Namibian learners do, however, have access to lived experiences outside of school and are exposed to different everyday environments. Learners' lived experiences are not always recognised by teachers as a potential and relevant geographical resource for teaching and learning. The aim of this research was to analyse the reported geographical lived experiences of secondary school learners from Namibia to establish the role of their lived experiences in the acquisition of geographical consciousness. In total, 28 Grade 11 learners from five Namibian government secondary schools in Otavi, Rundu, Keetmanshoop, Walvis Bay and Windhoek were involved in the research. Attention was paid to whether and how exposure to lived experiences led to the visualisation and awareness of geographical place, space, concepts, and processes. The findings revealed that each participant's lived experiences and the interpretations of their lived experiences are unique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries worldwide consider the demand for lowering the qualification level of teachers as a possible solution to the long-term lack of qualified teachers, aging teaching staff, and high teacher drop-out rate. In Czechia, geography is increasingly being taught by non-specialist teachers; therefore, we compared specialized and non-specialized geography teachers' teaching conceptions. Drawing on previous robust qualitative research, we developed a questionnaire measuring teachers' conceptions of geography teaching and surveyed Czech lower secondary in-service geography teachers (n = 530). Path analysis revealed that specialized geography teachers report longer and stronger relationships between the conceptions that may represent a wider range of geographies available to students. Non-specialized teachers demonstrated only a narrow and limited epistemological awareness of the subject. Our research serves as evidence supporting the inevitability of teachers' specialization in the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the preparatory service as a second practical phase of teacher training, German secondary geography teachers often experience a reality shock at the beginning of their teaching careers. Teacher trainers, the teacher educators of the second phase, guide trainee teachers through their transition from university to school. This qualitative study provides beneficial insights on geography trainee teachers' school practice from an expert point of view. Twenty-three teacher trainers from twelve different German states were interviewed. The data material was analysed with Mayring's qualitative content analysis. It was found that trainee teachers' preconditions vary massively, especially in terms of geography didactical knowledge (PCK). However, their average PCK preconditions seem to have improved over the last years. The teacher trainers perceive several subject-specific difficulties in the beginners' lessons, e.g. didactic reduction or applying geography didactical theory. Furthermore, the empirical data reveals the experts' perspectives on competencies of excellent geography trainee teachers. A need for a greater focus on actual teaching in initial teacher training as well as discrepancies between the different phases of geography teacher education are addressed at the end of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the project of the Public Instruction Directorate of the state of Bolívar in the 1870s, which sought to gather geographical information through school teachers in order to reform the official map of the state. The central role of teachers in the production of local knowledge aimed at strengthening cartographic projects in republican political life is highlighted. Additionally, it examines how an attempt was made to fill the void left by the suspension of the work of the Corographic Commission through local cartographic practices. School teachers played a fundamental role in the collection and processing of geographical information, and made adjustments and corrections to existing maps. Furthermore, the importance of centralizing educational aspects in the General Directorate of Public Instruction for the control and registration of teachers in the State of Bolívar is emphasized. [Extracted from the article]

Since the late 1990s, there has been a concern about a growing disconnect between Geography in academia and the Geography taught in the school curriculum. The claim is that School Geography has remained, to some degree, stuck with outdated notions of the discipline, resulting in detrimental effects on those making the transition from School Geography to University Geography. This paper investigates whether these issues are present in Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Geography. Drawing upon curriculum materials, a survey of Geography school teachers, university staff and a handful of follow-up interviews, CfE was evaluated with respect to policy and implementation, course content, pedagogy, and the relationship between Scottish Geography's secondary and tertiary educational sectors. Findings pertained to concerns around non-specialist teaching, and about how transition is impacted by socio-economic inequality between state and independent schools. Significant criticisms were voiced over outdated topics, resulting in declining pupil interest, while issues were identified regarding certain pedagogies and problematic stereotyping of places. A distinct deficit of communication between educational sectors became clear, and it is concluded that there are significant problems with CfE Geography symptomatic of a wider disconnect with University Geography, presenting a serious barrier to transition into Higher Education Geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated geography teachers' views of distance education. The study was conducted in the 2020-2021 academic year. The sample consisted of 12 geography teachers from public (n=6) and private (n=6) schools in the city center of Tokat, Turkey. The study adopted a qualitative case study design. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive analysis. Participants did not consider the geography curriculum completely adequate for distance education. The class attendance rate was higher in private schools than in public schools. Participants who were more prepared for classes were more likely to use different materials. All participants believed that they provided supportive education. According to them, the main issue was whether students were engaged in learning. Participants from private schools stated that student engagement was limited. In other words, students in private schools asked fewer questions and raised their hands less often than those in public schools. According to participants, the eight most important problems regarding distance geography education were as follow: First, they had difficulty explaining complicated and abstract topics. Second, students had screen addiction. Third, classes were not long enough to cover all topics. Fourth, students had communication problems. Fifth, participants faced technical problems during lectures. Sixth, participants experienced Internet connection issues during lectures. Seventh, participants could not use measurement and evaluation tools effectively. Eighth, participants could not measure how well students achieved learning outcomes. We think that all stakeholders should collaborate to make the necessary adjustments to improve distance education in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv is the property of Karlstads universitet, Arbetsvetenskap and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This is an empirical study of teacher experiences with school learners (7–18 years) engaging in cross-curricular environmental science during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focuses on #FieldworkLive, a programme of live-streamed outdoor science lessons produced by the Field Studies Council and Encounter Edu during the UK lockdown (April – May 2020). The experiences of approximately 377,000 teachers and students from 32 countries were captured using an online survey and direct staff consultation. This delivery method allowed us to reach untapped audiences and to provide learners with a virtual fieldwork experience during the constraints of lockdown. Teachers were highly positive about the technology-enhanced learning which provided them with novel perspectives and approaches for the classroom. We propose a model for the affordances provided by this delivery approach based on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework. The Field Studies Council has developed a flexible package of multimedia resources for secondary schools as a route to enriching outdoor experience and learning despite the constraints imposed by the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, geography is taught as a compulsory subject in secondary schools (class 6th to class 10th) affiliated to all of its school boards. The subject is considered as a part of social science, yet many differences can be found in the way it is practiced in schools across the school boards. By using literature survey as well as primary data, the paper provides an overview of geography in secondary schools with particular focus on its place in school curriculum, qualifications of teachers of geography, its pedagogy, teaching aids and resources, and its general image. Further, it identifies major challenges of geography in the opinion of teachers of geography, principals of schools and officials of school boards and State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs), and makes certain recommendations. The paper argues that the variations in the teaching geography in secondary schools of India are essentially due to its vast field and complex nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine a learning model for teaching "Population Geography" to geography education students in universities using international women's migration as a case study to increase their understanding of the material and their curiosity in the learning process. A case study and qualitative approach were adopted in this research with data collected from 15 Geography Education students currently taking Population Geography courses in Department of Geography Education Jakarta, Indonesia. Data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions (FGD) for approximately 120 minutes, three times during the learning process. The results showed that in-depth studies on international women's migration increase engagement and understanding of the course. Furthermore, it enables students to participate actively in the classroom learning process by asking questions, discussing, and giving their opinions. Students are able to give their opinion in the classroom with regard to the international women migration. For example, they are able to determine the use of remittances and the adaptation process after an immigrant returns to Indonesia. They also know about the main reason why some Indonesian women decide to work and migrate to abroad and leave their family. In addition, students' understanding is also visualized in the process of interpreting, giving examples, clarifying, summarizing, drawing conclusions, comparing, and explaining cases of women's international migration. This research is useful for educators, especially Geography Education Teachers and Lecturers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper upholds the relevance of geography as strategic knowledge and as a way of looking at the world, which endorses its usefulness as scholar subject. However, the teaching of geography must be understood as geography education aimed at promoting geographic literacy, which is focused on spatial literacy and the development of spatial thinking that is omnipresent in our daily lives. Geography contributes to this task through cartographic literacy, since maps are powerful instruments to achieve this goal. However, the deficient use of maps in schools is reviewed and the institutional limitations to ensure adequate cartographic literacy among teachers are mentioned. Finally, the need for teachers to receive sufficient training in relation to the necessary competences to conduct the teaching and learning process of cartographic language is stated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to investigate how social studies teachers give information about the immediate environment in lessons and determine course objectives through non-formal school activities. The study sample consisted of 38 social studies teachers working in Kırıkkale province in the 2018-2019 academic year. The data were analyzed with content analysis methods. The data were collected with a semi-structured interview form, were processed in SPSS 17 and Microsoft Excel software and interpreted in relation to the relevant the literature. In the interview form, the teachers were grouped by certain variables: gender, professional experience, and settlement type of school. The study concluded that social studies teachers did not have adequate knowledge about the immediate environment and thus they could not transfer it to students. Although participant social studies teachers claimed to give information and examples during the course, their students expressed that their teachers did not give any examples. The study results also indicated that teachers did not sufficiently organize non-formal school activities to teach the immediate environment. Thusly, it is suggested that social studies teachers should be assisted in learning the immediate environment and should participate in training on non-formal teaching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of McGill Journal of Education is the property of McGill Journal of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Constructing the syllabus of a school subject could be a highly contested exercise given the fact that it must cater for the concerns of competing stakeholders and pressures to incorporate all possible aspects of that discipline. For geography, whose field of study is extremely vast, and its nature is not clearly defined, developing its syllabus is particularly challenging. This paper discusses some key issues concerning the status of the geography syllabus in the secondary schools in India. The central theme of the paper is built on the study of documentary sources, research works, as well as on the survey of schoolteachers and geography experts from some school boards. The paper concludes that the educational value of school geography can only be realized by incorporating both physical and human aspects of the Earth in the syllabus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outdoor education is a teaching strategy that is considered an integral component of geography education. This article deals with the benefits of outdoor education as perceived by teachers, pupils, and parents for learner development in the areas of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and interpersonal relationships. To obtain the data, the semi-structured interviews with 18 elementary school teachers were realized. Then, based on the interview results, one model school was chosen to conduct a questionnaire survey among the pupils and their parents. The research shows that teachers see the benefits of outdoor education in both the cognitive area and the affective aspect of education and know that learners gain certain skills and knowledge during outdoor education. Conversely, parents see the greatest benefit in the area of attitudes and interpersonal relationships. Finally, learners perceive outdoor education as entertainment and time spent outside the classroom rather than a learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geography Education in the Digital World: Linking Theory and Practice: edited by Nicola Walshe and Grace Healy, New York, Routledge, 2021, 192 pp. Curriculum making, teacher agency and choice, and innovative practices using digital technologies are at the forefront of this book. Specifically, I considered what more I could do as a teacher educator to encourage educators to engage in current discourse, examine and construct their professional identities, learn new technologies, and investigate pedagogical best practices for integrating technologies into the taught curriculum. [Extracted from the article]

Teachers should have the necessary assessment knowledge and skills to contribute to students' learning. This study provides insight into how a professional development program for teachers contributed to the achievement of higher mastery levels of assessment literacy. This study used Xu and Brown's TALiP (Teacher Assessment Literacy in Practice) framework to achieve these higher levels. To evaluate the extent to which teachers demonstrated professional growth regarding their assessment literacy, teachers' practices were evaluated through a content analysis of summative assessments. Potential changes in teachers' knowledge, skills, and beliefs were measured through questionnaires and interviews. The outcomes showed that reflection on educational goals and on teachers' beliefs, collaborative practice, and peer feedback played an important role in fostering higher mastery levels in assessment literacy. The outcomes of this study support the value of the TALiP framework and support the idea that professional growth could be fostered via diverse growth pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Didáctica Geográfica is the property of Grupo de Didactica de la Geografia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Russia experienced a considerable lack of teachers. In this situation, foreign migrants became Russia's preferred teachers for more than a century. Foreigners were particularly welcome to teach languages and a whole range of other subjects such as history, geography, and mathematics. All teaching was done in a foreign language. Foreigners became important actors in cultural transfers from Western Europe to Russia. Social elites (the nobility, particularly its upper strata) became the main clients of these foreign teachers. This process ended up producing several generations of aristocracy possessing a sort of hybrid culture, both Russian and Western-European with a particular predominance of French culture starting from the generation of the middle of the eighteenth century. In my paper I will first analyse the national composition of the teaching staff in some major Russian educational institutions, first and foremost the institutions for the nobility or in which noble students were present, and in private education; then I will give a brief overview of the geographical origin of the students in these institutions. I will finally analyse the positive aspects as well as the problems caused by this situation and will show what reactions the predominance of foreign teaching staff in Russia provoked in Russian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest school curriculum offering in South Africa, has been the introduction of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in 2011 and this has logically been followed by the production of new textbooks in 2013 aligned to the current education syllabus requirements. This paper examines the use of the Geography grade 11 and 12 CAPS textbooks and the challenges experienced by teachers (as articulated by them) in their use in two poor provinces that lie on the eastern coast of South Africa. The data emanates from a northern and southern hemisphere Geography Textbook and Pedagogy mixed methods study involving Norway, South Africa (SA), Swaziland and Zimbabwe. This paper utilizes the data generated from two instruments namely questionnaires and interviews from the South African data sets in the following two poor provinces: Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Selected theoretical filaments deriving from Bates and Poole's (2003) SECTIONS model (a refinement from Bates, 1995, ACTIONS model) and Kasule's (2011) 'readability' of a textbook, were of significance. The findings on the CAPS textbook use reveal an immense dissatisfaction amongst the Geography teachers. They bemoaned the lack of learner access to textbooks. It was evident that textbook shortages negatively impacted on effective teaching and learning thereby affecting learner performance in the final years of schooling. Teachers also expressed their disappointment at many of the textbooks' quality with respect to inadequate and insufficient geographic content, decontextualised material, extraneous examples and some incorrect information. There were concerns that some of the current textbooks did not adequately acknowledge the needs of learners for whom English is a second language in these provinces. The authors recommend a reimagining of the CAPS textbooks by stakeholders to address some of the existing challenges in their use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work shares a time-sensitive framework for teaching GIS to educators of all levels and disciplines. Existing relationships with teachers enabled the addition of GIS content in professional development activities. The amount of time devoted to GIS-related content varied depending on time made available for interaction with the audience. Content audiences included geography, history, social studies, science, agriculture, religion, and math teachers. The framework was developed, tested, and refined over a period of six years, during thirty-six trainings, and with 580 educators. Use of this framework emphasizes that not one size fits all in GIS education and that GIS can work for any teacher, their content, their classroom, and their time availability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study was carried out to investigate the primary education teachers' self-efficacy regarding geography education, their beliefs regarding the classroom learning environment, and how these beliefs were related to each other and to teachers' background characteristics. Questionnaire data were collected from 489 Dutch primary school teachers. Primary education teachers displayed moderately strong self-efficacy for teaching geography. The overall results suggested that teachers believed that surface learning is relatively an important parameter of teaching geography. The study found out that support from their colleagues was considered less important by teachers in promoting geography education. Teachers' beliefs concerning geography education quality and students' attitudes and motivation were the most important predictor variables for explaining differences in teachers' self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature suggests that owing to profound difficulties with high school geography curricula, teachers play a vital role in stimulating student interest and in providing a platform for continuation in the study of geography at university. Yet, with little empirical evidence offered in support, it is unclear why students select geography at university and if their high school experience informs their decision. Through a survey of students enrolled in an introductory geography course at an Ontario university, this research questions the relationship between students' high school experience and their enrollment in the course and ponders the implications for the health of the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the past fifteen years, AP Human Geography has grown in numbers and spread to almost every state. This article synopsizes the early history of the subject, summarizes the course and the exam, highlights positive impacts on the discipline of geography, and focuses on the following three issues: teachers who come to the course having majored in other subjects, the large numbers of students taking the exam as ninth graders, and the need to incorporate more geospatial technologies and critical geography into the course outline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1940s, Guatemala was in the midst of its Ten Years of Spring, and school teachers were enthusiastically creating materials to teach new generations of schoolchildren about their Guatemalan past, present, and future. One model was the Geografía elemental de Guatemala (1936) written by Argentine-trained educator and future president Juan José Arévalo. But Arévalo's book, while filled with interesting maps and cutting-edge statistics and encouraging teachers to engage students with hands-on exercises, was both expensive and perhaps too demanding. Enter high school teachers Julio and Oralia Piedra Santa, who began selling 1-cent "mapitas" to schoolchildren in 1947. Arévalo's book is now a rarity and poorly known. The Editorial Piedra Santa, run today by their daughter and granddaughter, is a thriving publishing business which still sells mapitas in its store in downtown Guatemala City. It's also been a pioneer in a range of school materials, and since the 1950s has been selling geography and other schoolbooks, including since 1976 the Geografía Visualizada series. This essay looks at the mapmaking traditions of Don Julio and his successors, and how the publications of the Editorial Piedra Santa consistently seek to enhance geographic knowledge of Guatemala and beyond at all ages and levels of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geography's disciplinary canon may appear a ‘top-down’ enterprise, focused on the formal educational spaces of the academy and the sole or joint authored monograph. This paper argues for a supplementary critical examination of the most widely encountered form of geographical education, school geography, and an associated ‘counter-canon’ of grey publishing literature to which geographers, educators, and geography educators have contributed. The paper suggests that such material serves to simultaneously disrupt and enliven narratives of the subject's identity and its canonicity. This paper's empirical focus is the school teacher initiated, geography and education journal, Contemporary Issues in Geography and Education (1983 – 1991), a literary endeavour of critical vibrancy informing the dissenting activities of geographers across schools and higher education during the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the second part of a two pronged qualitative investigation that examines the ways in which Australian primary teachers conceptualise geography and geography teaching. In the first part of the project, 47 pre-service primary teachers were surveyed. In this paper, I draw on interviews with six in-service primary teachers to explore their experiences, conceptions and perceptions of geography. The findings indicate a noticeable difference between the conceptions of geography held by experienced teachers and those of early career, in-service teachers. Similar to the pre-service teachers studied in part one of this study, the early career teachers had a narrow, information-oriented conception of geography and geography education. Conversely, the experienced teachers portrayed more complex, relational and process-oriented perspectives. The paper concludes by exploring some of the implications for the implementation of the new National geography curriculum in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a study that explored the level of knowledge integration in secondary school geography content at the micro-level of classroom practice with a view to identifying any possible change in the subject following an environmental education project-oriented curriculum reform in Lesotho. The study adopted a case study approach involving 11 teachers, teaching geography in five secondary/high schools located in different parts of the country. The analysis focused on integration of environmental issues, interdisciplinary relations and inter-discursive relations as analytical categories derived from Bernstein's theoretical concept of classification. The findings illustrate that while there is a high level of knowledge integration with respect to environmental issues, the power of geography disciplinary knowledge undermined the idea of integrating relevant content from other school subjects and everyday knowledge of the learners. It is argued that unless there is change in structures influencing teachers' work, little will be achieved in school subjects such as geography in terms of making them more contextually relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Primary geography education is an important part of initial teacher education. The importance of prior experiences in the development of student teachers has long been recognised and there is growing evidence of the nature of those experiences in areas such as geography. This paper reports the findings of research conducted with one cohort of undergraduate primary student teachers in every college of education in Ireland. The research explores the prior experiences of student teachers as learners of geography and their perceptions of the subject. While there were differences between student teachers from the Republic of Ireland and from Northern Ireland, attitudes towards geography were predominantly positive. Positive experiences focused on interesting and enthusiastic teachers and active and participatory learning approaches. Negative experiences of geography centred on the dominance of textbook-based teaching and the requirement to memorise content. The article argues that by providing positive and negative images of practice in the teaching of geography, students’ prior experiences can prompt insight into practices that promote deep learning, facilitate the integration of the personal and the professional dimensions of teaching and provide a starting point for the development of a vocabulary of critique and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the concept of 'geographical imaginaries' in New Zealand geography. It reflects on the genealogy of the concept and on the work it might perform in the world. At a time when the purpose and contribution of geography in schools is under question and the discipline is under severe strain at universities, we ask whether the idea of 'geographical imaginaries' offers a conceptual platform for demonstrating the potential for geography to offer meaning in the complex world of 21st-century New Zealand and whether it will help teachers to foster geographic thought in classrooms. In short, we argue for the merits of working with the idea of geographical imaginaries in classrooms and for utilising it to interrogate accounts of the geographical gaze and its values. This, we argue, offers opportunities to catalyse geographical thought, highlight the potential of thinking geographically, and open up a thinking space in which geography teachers can examine their pedagogy and enhance the purpose of their work. This would provide a platform for building a more imaginative and more politically and culturally relevant geography at school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the results of a case study that employed user-centered design to develop training tutorials for helping middle school social studies teachers use Web-based GIS in their classrooms. This study placed teachers in the center of the design process in planning, designing, and developing the tutorials. This article describes how teacher input was used to develop the tutorials and their ratings of the final tutorials. It also reports how many teachers ultimately used the tutorials in their classrooms. In this study, 20 percent of the participants implemented Web-based GIS in their classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aims to determine where and how to use the Google Earth program in terms of the social studies acquisitions and learning strands that are related to geography issues, and to reveal their thoughts about using Google Earth in social studies lessons. The research is in a basic character, document analysis and interviews were used as qualitative research methods. Working group consists of 10 social studies teachers who serve within the borders of Kastamonu Province in the state primary schools during 2011-2012 academic year. The working group was selected with maximum diversity sampling method and the data was obtained through semi-structured interview form. The results show that Google Earth can be used in lessons based on teacher opinions. In addition, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th grade Social Studies Curricula were examined, the subjects which were found to comply with the use of Google Earth were determined, and activity examples were given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Primary Geography Quality Mark (PGQM) is a support mechanism for the development of successful school geography, which uses evaluative criteria to help subject leaders plan and lead the subject. Evidence from schools that have used the PGQM shows that whilst core knowledge is a necessary ingredient of geography, the knowledge and skill of teachers as ‘curriculum-makers’ is essential in blending other aspects of this dynamic subject together to ensure successful geographical experiences. Furthermore, schools find such a framework a powerful and enabling tool for curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]