Course Syllabus GEOG.340 :GEOGRAPHY:  Materials & Methods Bridgewater State College

Linking U.S. History to Geography

http://linking.tamu.edu/

Lesson Plan Format

  This course is presented for teachers and prospective teachers  who wish to develop the
skills and techniques that can be used in the teaching of social studies, physical geography, or
human geography in grades 1 through 12. The course has been developed especially for those
who wish to learn more about the discipline of geography and about ways in which the
subject can be taught in the classroom. A large part of the course is focused on the maps,
globes, and other geographic learning materials that are used in developing and extending
geographic knowledge and insight.

  Course participants will firstly explore the nature of geography and changing definitions of
this field of study. As geographers we will identify the critical elements of what a
"geographic perspective" means and then participants will be encouraged to develop their own
geography sensibility through raising the questions that a geographer would ask of both the
cultural and the physical world.  The underlying ideas and principles of geography will
consistently serve as a template on which teaching methods are to be developed and
examined.

  Various approaches to geographic education will be presented and compared for their
effectiveness. Current techniques and alternative frameworks in the field of geographic
education will be examined and applied within our own classroom. Participants will examine
the various strategies, texts, materials, and media that can be used to enhance the teaching
and learning of geography within school settings.  Course participants will be involved in
applying existing geography lessons and also in writing new lesson plans for enhancing active
geography learning.
  The course closely integrates geographic content with teaching methods so that a truly
geographic view of the world can be developed in the classroom.

Course content:

 1) The nature of geography
 2) The goals of geographic education
 3) Frameworks for geographic learning: Pattison's four traditions;
          the five themes of geography; the geography National Standards
          the Massachusetts Social Studies frameworks
 4) The language of maps: inductive and deductive skills
 5) Map projections in the classroom
 6) Role playing and simulation activities
 7) Teaching about regions
 8) The sample study approach
 9) Integrating geography across the curriculum
10) Software for geographers
11) Geography in literature
12) Fieldtrips in geographic education
13) Current national and international issues in geographic education.
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Texts:

Teaching Geography, 2nd edition, Phil Gersmehl, Guildford Press, 2008.

Course requirements:      Class attendance

                                               In-class discussion
                                              Class assignments
                                              Class presentations
                                   1 class test
                                                                     A portfolio of geography teaching
                                   Final exam

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Calculation of final grade:-

                       Class test    ....................  15%

                       Class assignments
                                         and presentations …….65%

                        A completed portfolio....... 10%

                       Final Exam ........................10%

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 "We shall not cease from exploration
 And the end of all our exploring
 Will be to arrive where we started
                        And know the place for the first time."
                                                                                                  T.S.Eliot
 
 

Some of the weekly topics

Geography standards, Cultural learning - Bafa Bafa, Making plaster models/contour maps, Relative location - making dioramas
Newspaper geography, Lesson plans, Male and female approaches to geography, Map projections - orange exercise
Cooperative learning, Tourism brochures, Literature, Global education, Computer programs, Climate game : gang of fourteen
Textbooks, Map reading tournament, Islam and diffusion, Sports and geography, Hurricanes and latitude and longitude
School geography in other countries, Sketch maps, Use of films, Regions - a hands-on approach
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