The extensive literature on classroom-based second language learning makes little attempt to situate the classroom itself in social and multilingual sociolinguistic space, in the complex and iterative networks of encounters and interactions that make up daily life. Daily life is routinely evoked and "brought into" the classroom as a…

Advocates for using a geographic information system (GIS) in education assert that GIS improves student learning. However, studies to clarify the relationship between learning and using GIS are still needed. This study examines the effects of using Web-based GIS maps in place of paper maps on students' geography content knowledge and motivation…

This article focuses on two of the earlier works in the Makiguchi corpus, "Kyoju no togo chushin toshiteno kyodoka kenkyu" ("Research into Community Studies as the Integrating Focus of Instruction," 1912/1987; hereafter "Community Studies"), and "Chiri kyoju no hoho oyobi naiyo no kenkyu" ("Research…

In this study, we argue that in order to understand the underlying causes of inequities in education, we need to look outside specific educational settings to the larger social, historical and political structures behind those inequities. Therefore, in this work we take a social justice perspective to look at the relationship between environmental…

The cityscape holds the memories of indigenous bones and bodies that resurrect a deep sense of place that exists in the landscape of the city of Toronto. This deep sense of place is part of a connection to the land and stories of place. In this article, the author bridges the creative work of Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore with the living…

Thumb through the pages of a DeLorme gazetteer of any Great Plains state and you will find small black diamonds, each with its own place-name, scattered throughout the large-scale maps. For those who are familiar with the area, the existence of some of the diamonds, supposedly marking the location of a community, can be confusing since these…

Finding ways to convey current research in cultural geography that is predicated on theoretical frameworks in a manner accessible to high school and undergraduate college students is pedagogically important but difficult in practice. Statues in Mexico City nicknamed the Indios Verdes offer a rich example of fluid cultural dynamics that illustrate…

Understanding of Earth's systems, including the crucial role of human beings within them, is an important part of citizens' ability to think intelligently and critically about the environment, pollution, sustainability and other socio-economic and scientific issues central to life in the modern world. Part of this understanding involves seeing the…

This paper revisits the skills agenda and suggests that in light of shifts from supply-side to demand-led provision within the UK higher education sector, there is a need to think more critically about the role and place of skills within university curricula. It suggests that if universities are to respond effectively to sector changes, then the…

In this paper, the author argues that the problematization of territorial movements in the process of globalization can provide important insights to understand some educational aspects of contemporary migration, especially if the theoretical ingredients involved in the political analysis of the signifying dimension of this process are articulated…

The relatively new field of children's geographies builds on the theoretical foundations of human geography, critical geography, and spatial theories to examine the places and spaces children inhabit and create. This article reviews four major themes in children's geographies relevant to education: exclusion and agency, the social construction of…

Internationally, recognition is growing that the transition between post-primary and higher education is raising a number of challenges for both students and educators. Simultaneously with growing class sizes, resources have become more constrained and there is a new set of expectations from the "net generation" (Mohanna, 2007, p. 211…

In this study done at a community college in South Florida, the achievements of students who spoke English as their second language who had attended their K-12 education outside the United States in their home countries, in a U.S. college course on world geography are compared with the achievements of students in the same classes who spoke English…

The academic year has ended, and over the past few weeks, thousands of students have traveled abroad for the summer or the first year after college. However, students aren't heading abroad in the same direction, or the same spirit, that their parents or grandparents did. This article examines why the patterns of student travel has changed.

Attention to scale, use of space and connections between places and regions are general, yet distinctive, geographical concepts that may be employed in introductory level human-environment geography courses to distinguish them from other environmental studies offerings. This article demonstrates how attention to the aforementioned concepts…