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The chapters in this book address fundamental questions of the nature and purpose of geography, scrutinising its contents, philosophy and methodology. Aimed at undergraduates its purpose is to broaden the debate about what geography had become during the 1980s and what shape it might take in the future.

How up-to-date is your geographical thought? Are parts of your curriculum becoming tired and out-dated? Effective Innovation in the Secondary Geography Curriculum will help training and practising secondary school teachers understand how to evaluate and refresh their curriculum in order to ensure that what they teach is relevant, topical and creative. Considering the latest developments in both the school geography curriculum and the field of geography as an academic discipline, this exciting new book explores how geography teaching and learning can be developed to engage secondary school pupils and better reflect contemporary society. Illustrated throughout with ideas and practical examples of how to update your curriculum easily and effectively, key topics covered include: Understanding curriculum theory and development; Auditing and developing your own dynamic, interactive curriculum; Critiquing textbooks and resources to ensure relevance; Constructing and analysing schemes of work; Incorporating the latest developments in the field into your teaching; How to create innovative, enduring curricula for human, physical and environmental geographies. Providing insights into the latest thinking in geography in a concise and accessible manner, Effective Innovation in the Secondary Geography Curriculum will ensure motivating, lively and successful geography teaching and learning.

Through out the current period of educational change, Geography education has also changed. The innovations may be the starting point to affect conceptual change and paradigm shifts. Geography education assimilates and integrates knowledge, skills and scientific methodologies. The ten articles in this book illuminate a wide range of topics of interest to Geography education. In their article, Skarstein and Wolff discuss how the interplay between the environment, society and economy pillars of sustainability thinking play out on scales of time, space and multitude and how geography teachers can support the students’ understanding of sustainability. Yli-Panula et al. analysed used teaching and learning methods to find out good ones for promoting sustainability in geography. The same idea can be found in Duffin's and Perry’s article on Place-Based Ecology Education. In their article, Dür and Keller discuss the topics of quality of life, sustainability and global justice based on the goals of Education for Sustainable Development. Evaluation is an important part of learning. It is reviewed by Schauss and Sprenger regarding climate change education. The following two articles deal with students' views of landscapes worth conserving. In both studies, students expressed concern about the state of the environment. Yli-Panula et al. found that the Mexican students seldom considered their own activities in relation to the environment while Yli-Panula et al. stated that only some of the Finnish and Swedish students act as observers while others actively care for their environment. The remaining three articles deal with teaching methods and models. Benninghaus et al. present a benchmark method, which allows statements about the quality of the maps/diagrams in general. Álvarez-Otero and De Lázaro y Torres, on the other hand, describe their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge model. Kopnina and Saari discusses student assignments reflecting on the documentary film through critical pedagogy and ecopedagogy.

Teacher Subject Identity in Professional Practice focuses on a key, but neglected, element of a teacher’s identity: that of their subject expertise. Studies of teachers’ professional practice have shown the importance of a teacher’s identity and the extent to which it can affect their resilience, commitment and ultimately their effectiveness. Drawing upon narrative research undertaken with a range of teachers over a period of 14 years, the book explores how subject expertise can play a significant role in teacher identity, acting as a professional compass guiding teachers at all levels of their professional practice. It reveals powerful individual stories of meaning-making which highlight the dynamic importance of teachers’ subject expertise The book’s metaphor of a professional compass goes to the heart of teacher professionalism, and provides a valuable mechanism to enable teachers to respond to challenges they face in their daily practice. It enables teachers to consider the moral dimensions of their practice, and can constitute a significant component in professional formation and identity. Throughout the book the importance of subject expertise for teachers’ professional practice is explored at a range of scales: from the classroom to broad education policy, and at different stages of a teacher’s career which offers readers a deeper understanding of the importance of subject expertise for teachers. Teacher Subject Identity in Professional Practice makes a significant contribution to an under-researched area. It identifies the role and significance of teachers’ subject expertise as a dimension of their teacher identity. The book is key reading for teacher educators, policy makers and researchers with an interest in teachers’ professional development and practice.

Geographical Knowledge Construction and Production: Teacher and Student Perspectives is a readable and illuminating account of three high school classrooms in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. It challenges the narrow focus of the Advanced Placement (AP) programme as a tool for admission into colleges and universities in the United States. The research provides insight into the College Board's AP programme and argues for teaching and learning that is transformative and geared toward equipping students with the skills and knowledge necessary to confront the challenges of the 21st century. In particular, it advocates for geographic education that is anchored in the structure of the subject, teasing wherever possible, the contradictions and tensions embedded in the complexities of facts relating to people and places. This book is essential reading for professors and students of education, teachers and students of AP courses, parents, administrators, and state and federal agencies vested in the AP programme.

Opportunities for developing innovative approaches in teaching and learning geography have been rapidly increasing in recent years. This is in part because of the spread of new technologies that allow access to geographic information and geographic geo-media resources. These new tools offer broad access to information and open data sources. They have revolutionised the way in which teachers of geography can work with pupils and students. “Education for Digital Earth” is now possible. As such, the exclusive use of traditional approaches to the teaching of geography is no longer reasonable today. The European Commission-funded network initiative, digital-earth.eu, promotes innovation and best practices in the implementation of geo-media as a digital learning environment for school learning and teaching. This book, supported by EUROGEO, analyses the main challenges facing geographical education – curriculum, methodology, teacher education and training and geospatial technologies – and illustrates different examples of the use of geoinformation in geographical education in several European countries.

Highly Commended Geographical Association Award 2002 `Has been judged as likely to make a significant contribution to geography′ This book provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary thought and practice in teaching geography. It is designed to support continuing professional development and reflective practice in geography education by: encouraging a critical understanding of the literature and concepts; stimulating teachers to continue with personal and professional development; and providing professionally relevant knowledge, understanding, skills and values. Drawn from a wide range of eminent geographers and experienced practitioners, the authors cover: progress in geography - changing viewpoints; the geography curriculum - development planning and issues; and research and geography teaching - why and how research matters. This book is essential reading and a valuable resource, for student and practising teachers of geography at secondary school level, as well as for those responsible for continuing professional development and subject leadership.