Volume 20 Number 1

Special Issue: Papers from the National Center for Research in Geography Education's Research Coordination Network

Outcomes of 2017 Grantee Projects

This special issue of Research in Geographic Education is the second in a planned series that will highlight the results of projects funded by the transformative research program. The second cohort of transformative research grantees began their 12-month projects in July 2017. Each group focused on a different priority area of research identified by the Road Map Project, yet all featured collaborations between geographers and education researchers from other disciplines. Teachers, students, and educational policymakers also participated in these efforts.

Features and Methods of Designing Effective GIS Professional Development through the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) Framework

Katsuhiko Oda, Thomas Herman & Angela Hasan

This article reports on the development and implementation of professional development (PD) based on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, as well as the subsequent assessment of the PD. Twenty-four middle- and high-school teachers attended our PD and studied teaching with a geographic information system (GIS), with the aim of deepening student engagement and learning in social science and science. We collected and analyzed attendees’ reflective journals. Results suggested that teachers understood the significance of GIS in terms of both benefits for their teaching and for student learning. Furthermore, the participants learned how geospatial technological knowledge could interact with pedagogical content knowledge to create meaningful integration of GIS with classroom instruction. The findings of this study provide implications useful for further research on PD in the GIS domain. The insights on features and methods of designing effective PD should contribute to building the capacity of  geography education and research.

The Knowledge Base for Geography Teaching (GeoKBT): A Preliminary Model

Jung Eun Hong, Judith B. Harris, Injeong Jo & Kenneth H. Keller

Funded by the National Center for Research in Geography Education, this study investigated the nature of the knowledge needed for geography teaching. Informed by existing research about science and mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), the research group developed a conceptual model of the knowledge base for geography teaching, identifying six key components: (a) orientations toward teaching geography, (b) knowledge of geography curricula, (c) knowledge of students’ understanding of geography and responses to geography learning, (d) knowledge of instructional strategies appropriate to learning geography, (e) knowledge of assessment of geography learning, and (f) knowledge of educational contexts. The conceptual model was refined and revised according to the results of case studies of four expert geography teachers. Data analyzed included classroom observations, teacher interviews, geography lesson video-recordings, teachers’ lesson plans and reflections, and student work samples. The resulting preliminary model (GeoKBT) is offered to the geography education community to inform both geography teacher education and further research on geography-related pedagogical knowledge.

COMMENTARY: Reevaluating the Relationship between High School and
College Geography

Anne Mosher, Jamie Winders & Madison Kovach