Book Description

Intended as a current statement for improving geographic education, these guidelines suggest major changes needed to counteract a prevailing illiteracy in geography among U.S. citizens. A preface and problem statement provide a rationale for including geography education as a subject of study in the schools and as a scientific mode of inquiry. A section on the content and process of geographic education (1) demonstrates how geographic education focuses on five central themes (location, place, relationships within places, movement, and regions), how these themes recur and are amplified throughout the curriculum, and how they should be represented in the various levels of our schools; (2) suggests how schools can integrate these themes; (3) identifies the knowledge, skills, and perspectives students should gain from a systematic program in geographic education; and (4) suggests a variety of approaches to geography that each theme might imply. The following section, "The Place of Geography in the Curriculum," deals with the value of geographic inquiry, geography's relationship to other subjects, and geography as preparation for a career. In the next section, a chart depicting the role and sequence of geography education in the elementary school presents central foci and suggested learning outcomes by grade level. A suggested pattern of course offerings and sequence for geographic education in the secondary school is followed by an outline of skills to be included in high school geography courses and a list of learning outcomes arranged according to the five basic themes identified earlier in the guidelines. (LH)