Geography



World Regional Geography

This document was last updated on 08 May 2000. (Ver. 1.4)

Geography Education Research

The Gilbert Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education will 'sponsor, coordinate, and facilitate research efforts in
(1) teaching methods
(2) student and public learning of geography
(3) curriculum
(4) assessment
(5) cognitive mapping and
(6) the uses of technology'

How Students Learn or Heaps of Unanswered Questions
'How Geographers Learn about How People Learn Geography' by Roger Downs

Spatial Learning
As animals functioning in our spatial environments, we are all born geographers. We develop a sense of awareness of our surroundings at an early age, forming mental representatations or cognitive maps of real-world space which influences how we get along in the business of life.

We learn by studying and using representatations of our environment, primarily maps but also photographs, written descriptions and narratives. We therefore learn also by examining spatial relationships second-handedly. We rely upon abstract representations of our environment.

Through formal education involving map work, use of instructional materials, we begin to prescribe the processes for gaining knowledge or changing attitudes. Teachers control and guide in-school processses. (Source : )

Map Learning

Formal Geography Training

Affective geography Learning

Some important Research Studies

Go to the Bibliography right now


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