Research on K-12 Geography Education Rob Helfenbein Indiana University-Indianapolis

1. Research on K-12 Geography EducationRob Helfenbein Indiana University-Indianapolis Findings from: Segal, A. & Helfenbein, R. (in press). Geography education. In L.Levstik & C. Tyson (Eds.) Handbook of research in social education. Erlbaum Publishing.

2. Guidelines for Geographic Education (1984) • 1989, President Bush and the nation’s state governors included geography as one of the five “core subjects” in the National Education Goals • signed into law by President Clinton in The Goals 2000: Educate America Act. • 1990 fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). • Geography for Life (1994), setting out 18 national geography standards specifying what students, at each grade level, should know and be able to do

3. transformative geography • inquiry-based instruction tying critical geography skills to contemporary environmental and spatial social problems (Kirman 2003) • - an ethical engagement in spatial thinking (Association of American Geographers’“Statement of Professional Ethics,” 1998) • geographers should “encourage consideration of the relationship between professional practice and the well-being of the peoples, places, and environments that make up our world”(1998, Section VIII).

4. Improving the “spatial skills” of educators • expanded work with place and location activities (Mackenzie & Sawyer, 1986) • employing geographic literacy towards dispelling stereotypes (Scott, 1999) • combining geographic study with multicultural literature (Berson, Ouztis, & Walsh, 1999) • regional analysis (Stoddard, 1997) • thematic units emphasizing the importance of place and difference (Gersmehl, 1992) • training teachers to plan instruction with a “geographic eye” (Gay, 1995)

5. Geography Education: In Practice • 3 Typical Forms: • as support for history; • as part of social studies; • as separate discipline. • Recall v. Constructivism • The 5-Themes (help or hindrance?)