Presentation given at Bridgewater State University for SEMAGNET.

1. Engaging Students in Local &
Global Issues: Looking at the World
through a Geographic Lens

4. How do we combat boredom?
IGNORANCE
APATHY

5. How would the stereotypical, bored
student complete this sentence?

6. SPAIN
MOROCCO

7. If you are bored and cynical…

9. http://rigea.org/resources/geo-literacy/

10. http://rigea.org/resources/geo-literacy/

12. NH
MA
What’s the same? What’s different?

13. Washington DC (near Ford’s Theater)

14. Washington DC (near Ford’s Theater)

15. Kenosha, WI

16. Johnsonburg, PA

17. Both images from Cincinnati
OH, 2015

18. OTR (Over-the-Rhine), Cincinnati, OH
Sometimes we need more information to ask the right questions.

21. What geographic questions do you want to ask?
Roger Williams Park, Providence RI, Dec. 2015

22. The Ohio River, CincinnatiPike River, Quebec, CA

23. The natural and human landscape provides countless
clues to mysteries IF we are curious enough to ask.
Vieux Montreal, QC

24. Caserne Central de Pompiers—Central Fire Station

25. Union Station, Washington, D.C.
What is unique about this place?
How is it similar to other places?

26. Worcester, MA
Mexico City

27. Squam Lake, NH
C.
A. B.
D.
Which picture looks like the best vacation day for you?

28. PLACE: Location
Site & Situation
Site: San Francisco
•1769
• In the Western Hemisphere
• In the Midlatitudes
• On the West Coast of North America
• Mediterranean climate (but foggy!)
• Peninsula and superb harbor
•Today
• In the Western Hemisphere
• In the Midlatitudes
• On the West Coast of North America
• Mediterranean climate (foggy!)
• Peninsula and superb harbor
Situation: San Francisco
•1769
• Outpost of Spain; in New
Spain/Mexico; in Alta California
• Primary political relationships:
Monterey; Mexico City; Madrid
• Primary trading relationships: New
Spain, Philippines
•Today
• In California, USA
• Primary political relationships:
Sacramento; Washington DC
• Primary trading relationships: Pacific
Rim, Global

29. Site
Situation

31. Resource Recovery Industrial Park, RI
Where would you put a dump in SE Massachusetts? Site? Situation?

32. Intake Service Center, RI
How should space be arranged
in a prison? School?

33. Beavertail State Park, RI
What geographic questions do you want to ask?

34. How can we help children be curious
about the surroundings?

35. http://www.pbs.org/food/how-does-it-grow/cranberries/
Start with their backyard

38. Spatial Thinking and Reasoning

40. Jeremy Anderson

41. Railway
Line

44. Road

45. Road

46. --if unique & therefore not repeated,
then road continues in straight line
Kink in the Road

48. --if unique & therefore not repeated,
then road continues in straight line
--if recurring & therefore repeated
property of space, then road will not
continue in straight line
Kink in the Road

52. River

58. Villages

59. Villages

61. Town

65. Types of Inferences &
Levels of Expertise
1. rail line: relatively simple
2. kink in road: more challenging because
multiple possibilities
3.stream system: stream order &
topography; knowledge of theory of
fluvial processes
4. villages: lattices; knowledge of central
place theory

66. Engaging Students in Local &
Global Issues: Looking at the World
through a Geographic Lens

67. The truth…if you always lived in San Diego

68. What is this item called?

69. Truths can be spatially contingent
• How far from the here do you live?
• What time is it?

71. Truths can be scale-dependent
• Where are you from?
• Is overpopulation a problem in North
America?

72. GEOGRAPHICAL CLASSIFICATION
World
Realms
Regions
Neighborhoods

73. Place still matters
Distance and Time

74. How can competent teachers help
students understand a complex
interconnected world?
Provide geographic information
Teach geographic concepts
Use data, maps, and geospatial technology
Ask questions which encourage spatial thinking.
Geographic Literacy

75. Perspective

77. 4. Ask questions which encourage spatial thinking.

78. How is this a “human” landscape?

79. ee
Boeing 787 assembly plant in Everett, Washington
How is this representative of globalization?

80. Messages of cultural landscapes?

81. Cultural Landscape Meanings
http://www.scoop.it/t/geography-education/?tag=landscape

82. Cultural Landscapes

84. A spatial perspective is not just for geographers
spatial mapping map projections

85. The Global becomes Local

86. How can competent teachers help students
understand a complex interconnected
world?
Provide geographic information
Teach geographic concepts
Use data, maps, and geospatial technology
Ask questions which encourage spatial thinking.
Geographic Literacy

89. OTR, Cincinnati

90. Pawtuxet Village, RI, July 4th