DOCUMENT RESUME ED 383 626 SO 024 987 AUTHOR Slater, Frances TITLE Learning through Geography. Pathways in Geography Series, Title No. 7. INSTITUTION National Council for Geographic Education. REPORT NO ISBN-0-9627379-7-6 PUB DATE 93 NOTE 245p. AVAILABLE FROMNational Council for Geographic Education, 16-A Leonard Hall, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705 ($15). PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Co6nitive Ability; *Critical Thinking; *Decision Making; Elementary Secondary Education; *Geographic Concepts; *Geography; *Ceography Instruction; Intellectual. Development; *Problem Solving; Reflective Teaching; Thinking Skills ABSTRACT This teacher's guide is to enable the teacher to promote thinking through the use of geography. The book lays out the rationale in learning theory for an issues-based, question-driven inquiry method and proceeds through a simple model of progression from identifying key questions to developing generalizations. Students study issues of geographic significance by pursuing answers to geographic questions, in the process developing meanings and understandings, skills, and personal perspectives, values and attitudes. There is a high value on active learning and higher-level thinking in the materials. Each chapter contains several classroom activities for student decision-making and analysis. The chapters include the following:(1) "Identifying Key Questions To Plan Learning Activities";(2) "Planning Learning Activities To Reach Generalizations and Decisions";(3) "Reaching Generalizations and Decisions through Processing and Interpreting Data";(4) "Interpreting and Analyzing Attitudes and Values; and (5) "Learning through Geography. Extensive maps, charts and figures accompany the text. Contains 75 references. (EH) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** PATHWAYS IN GEOGRAPHY ublication Learning Through 'he National Council for 3eographic Education Geography by Frances Slater U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Ohfce of Educabonal Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) ?3Thfsdocument hasbeenreprOOuceOas reCefed from the derSoo or orgahfzatfon Of fginahrld .1 C Mfnor Changes sane been made to .mcw.;we reproduction cwahty PornIs of view or OpmOhS stated.' Ih.s dOCu. men! do not neCeSSahly represent ofhcfal OERI position or policy PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS M ERIAL HAS BEE11-43RANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) O BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Titles in the PATHWAYS IN GEOGRAPHY Series 1.Gersmehl, Philip J., 1991. The Language of Maps. 2.Andrews, Sona Karentz; Otis-Wilborn, Amy; and Messenheimer-Young, Trinka, 1991. Beyond Seeing and Hearing: Teaching Geography to Sensory Impaired Children An Integrated Based Curriculum Approach. 3.Waterstone, Marvin, 1992. Water in the Global Environment. 4.Martinson, Tom L. and Brooker-Gross, Susan R., editors, 1992. Revisiting the Americas: Teaching and Learning the Geography of the Western Hemisphere. 5.LeVasseur, Michal, 1993. Finding A Way: Encouraging Underrepresented Groups in Geography An Annotated Bibliography. A PATHWAYS Resource Publication 6. Ennals, Peter, 1993. The Canadian Maritimes: Images and Encounters. 7. Slater, Frances, 1993. Learning Through Geography. Special Publications Advisory Board Janice Monk, Editor of Special Publications, University of Arizona John E. Benhart, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Carolyn Prorok, Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania National Council for Geographic Education Officers 1993 Douglas A. Phillips, President, Anchorage School District, Alaska Michael Libbee, Past President, Central Michigan State University M. Duane Nellis, Vice President, Research and External Relations, Kansas State University Edward A. Fernald, Vice President, Curriculum and Instruction, Florida State University Martha B. Sharma, Vice President, Publications and Products, National Cathedral School, Washi.gton, DC James F. Petersen, Vice President, Finance, Southwest Texas State University Sandra Pritchard, Recording Secretary, West Chester University, Pennsylvania Ruth I. Shirey, Executive Director, Indiana University of Pennsylvania National Council for Geographic Education 16A Leonard Hall Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, Pennsylvania 15705 01993 A PATHWAYS IN GEOGRAPHY Publication Learning Through The National Council for Geographic Education Geography by Frances Slater The PATHWAYS IN GEOGRAPHY series has been created by the Special Publications Advisory Board of the National Council for Geographic Education to support the teaching and learning of themes, concepts, and skills in geography at all levels of instruction. 4 111 .P. PATHWAYS IN GEOGRAPHYSeries Title No. 7 Learning Through Geography by Frances Slater Copyright ©1993 by the National Council for Geographic Education. Al] rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Materials may be copied by educators for classroom use only without obtainingpermission. For information about this title or about the series: National Council for Geographic Education 16A Leonard Hall, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, PA 15705 ISBN 0-9627379-7-6 Prin. 4 in the United States of America. To my parents, Mavis Audrey (nee Bradfield) and Albert William Slater 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF FIGURES viii FOREWORD xi PREFACE xiii CHAPTER 1 IDENTIFYING KEY QUESTIONS TO PLAN LEARNING ACTIVITIES 1 The role of questions in planning 1 Science and humanism Geography in a psycho-analytic age Tha questioning activity in knowledge 2 Product not process 3 Questions initiate. What questions? 4 Concepts and intellectual skills Questions as objectives Key questions, concepts or key ideas? Guidelines, GENIP and Alliances SGEP 5 SGEP guidelines Generating questions Classroom activity:Where is Settlement Likely to Develop 7 Choosing a site Expanding concepts Using questions as a focus Types of questions From questions to concepts and generalizations Making connectit AS Geography as science and Geography as personal response Meaning-making Classroom activity:'Why Do You Live Where You Do ?' What Do You Like Best/Least About That Place?' 11 Expressing feelings and attitudes Private geographies 14 The personal geography of early settlers Linking science and experience 17 Knowing and Feeling 17 Conclusion 23 CHAPTER 2 PLANNING LEARNING ACTIVITIES TO REACH GENERALIZATIONS AND DECISIONS 24 Planning for generalizations 24 Objectives specific and general a short discussion 26 Specific tasks Cognitive preference General objectives and generalizations Going beyond the information given Classroom activities: Moving Towards Generalizations 27 Describing patterns Patterns of settlements Classroom questions Generalizations which emerge Classroom activity: Mapping Shopping Habits 31 Challenging generalizations through hypothesis testing 33 Discrepant data procedures 33 Cultural diversity Discrepant data and the Third World 34 Classroom activity: Broadening Perceptions and Aspirations 34 Value judgements Different and incomplete information 37 Classroom activity: Waste Disposal and Its Environmental Impact 37 Modifying generalizations Classroom activity: An Exercise in Route Planning 38 Which route next? Some further episodes 41 Generalizations for subsequent thinking 42 Classroom activity: Locating a Clubhouse 42 Alternatives Who is to blame Personal decision-making 43 Classroom activity: M:tro Housing Game 45 Capital Theatre Debriefing games 55 Evaluating games 56 Classroom activity 57 Conclusion 59 Postscript :HAPrER 3 ZEACHING GENERALIZATIONS AND DECISIONS THROUGH PROCESSING 1ND INTERPRETING DATA 60 Codifying understanding 60 The purpose of generalizing 60 The nature of data processing 60 Skills in data processing 61 Intellectual, social and practical skills overlapping categories Resources for learning 63 Selecting student activities 64 Classroom activity: How Well Placed Is Your School? 65 Examining data Analyzing patterns 67 iv Subjective and objective data Classroom activity: Field Work On The West Coast 67 Resource exploitation Discrepant perceptions Using sl' les Mediating public and private meanings 69 Using one's own experience as data 69 Classroom activity: Where On Earth Would You Live? 69 Classroom activity: What Is Your Neighborhood? 71 Neighborhood sketch ma )S Towards generalizations Moving in neighborhoods The neighborhood in personal meaning A class profile Data from other people's experience Classroom activities: The Use of Photographs in Scientific Geography 79 A mining settlement An agricultural center The use of statistics 82 Population and functions Se 'dement functions Calculating threshold values A new industry Calculating a centrality index Maps as data 87 Rural isolation An index of isolation Decreasing isolation Maps in model making 89 A National Park model Preparing sketch maps A :omposite matrix Models for experimentation 92 Evaluating landscape features further 96 Classroom Activity: Seeking to Explain Mysterious Landscapesand Associated Features 96 Geographer 98 Historian 99 Philosopher 100 Archaeologist 102 Scientist 104 NAZCA Theories