One of the most powerful ways middle school students learn about themselves is through writing, and one of the most effective ways for students to learn about themselves is by writing about a place. At Cosgriff, a K-8 Catholic School in Salt Lake City, Utah, teachers have put this idea into practice by participating in the River of Words project.…

The longitudinal impacts on school change and student achievement of implementing varied Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) models was investigated in 12 elementary schools in diverse geographic locations. Each school was individually matched and compared to a demographically similar control school on measures of school climate, teacher…

The aim of this study is to compare substance use between urban and rural secondary school districts in Texas between 1998 and 2003. The differences were analyzed using chi-square and analysis of variance. The analysis found that rural schools had students who reported higher rates of use of tobacco, frequent binge drinking, and driving while…

The current study assesses the effects of the commuting environment on affective states and hiring decisions. A total of 136 undergraduate females were randomly assigned to one of four conditions based on the length (10 km vs. 30 km) and level of congestion (low vs. high) during a commute. Multivariate analyses of variance indicate that affective…

Observations are given upon interviews with children about their perceptions of continents, countries and places within those countries. A picture emerges that suggests there is a clear difference between children's geographies and geography as constituted as an adult academic subject, even when the same language is being used. (Contains 1 table…

The "Brown v. Board of Education" decision of 1954 legally authorized equitable academic conditions and access for African-American students in the United States' public school systems. However, in actuality, Brown did not lead to substantial "de facto" changes in equity and access. The American public education system…

Looking at descriptive, comparative social and historical evidence, this study explored factors contributing to language death for two languages formerly spoken on the Indonesian island of Buru. Field data were gathered from the last remaining speaker of Hukumina and from the last four speakers of Kayeli. A significant historical event that set in…

In 1991, Griffin and Anderson examined the preferences of a sample of South Georgia employees regarding resume content, appearance, and format. The Georgia study was replicated with a sample of 60 hiring officials from a variety of companies in northwestern Missouri to determine if geographic location is a factor in hiring officials' preferences…

This paper describes two experiments in which first, 10, then 20 first-grade students were taught the geographic concept of location through organized lessons and then were able to transfer their learning to concentric area questions with understanding. This study applies Vygotsky's and Gagne's theories that children can learn, recall, and apply…

The process of identifying, licensing, and developing energy facility sites for the conversion of coal into more useful forms is the focus of this book, intended for geography students, professors, and researchers. The use of domestic coal resources will ameliorate U.S. dependency on imported fuel. However, because coal is a bulky, dirty fuel…

The drawing of schematic maps from memory is a useful instructional technique for providing students with a conceptual mental framework of world geography. (DE)

The project described in this paper was developed by the Census Bureau to train census enumerators. The approach called "geographic gameboard," consists of three components: (1) an imaginary, graphically depicted community (Abbotsville, Oklahoma); (2) a census map that corresponds to the census geography of Abbotsville; and (3) blank…

An examination of historical developments in western Africa during six climate periods extending over two millennia, this study demonstrates that numerous historical developments correlate with climate periods and/or were influenced by changes in rainfall patterns and ecological conditions. These include such diverse topics as the diffusion of…

This implementation guide is based upon the themes, geographic concepts, and suggested learning outcomes contained in "Guidelines for Geographic Education: Elementary and Secondary Schools." The central themes for geographic education are: (1) location (position on the earth's surface); (2) place (physical and human characteristics); (3)…

Reality-based teaching methods involve the meaningful application of knowledge. The goal of this holistic method is to apply knowledge about specific geographical locations to the curriculum. First-hand knowledge of a location enables teachers to constantly address the student question "Why do I have to learn this?" As a result, students…