Phil Klein

Active Learning Strategies and Assessment in World Geography Classes

Abstract Active learning strategies include a variety of methods, such as inquiry and discovery, in which students are actively engaged in the learning process. This article describes several strategies that can be used in secondary-or college-level world geography courses. The goal of these activities is to foster development of a spatial perspective in students through frequent analysis and interpretation of spatial data. Detailed examples of one particular technique, the “atlas warmup”, are included. Active approaches supplement expository teaching of standards-based geography concepts and current geographic issues. Assessment of the impact of these methods reveals the need for ongoing guided practice in the use of these skills.

Dismantling the Ivory Tower: Engaging Geographers in University–Community Partnerships

University–community partnerships offer synergistic spaces for communities to address difficulties and universities to meet their missions. Geographers are well positioned to participate in these partnerships, owing to the disciplines integrative nature, spatial perspectives and analytic approaches, and its attention to social and environmental issues at many scales. This paper endeavours to assist geographers interested in these partnerships by illustrating three case studies of geography–community partnerships. We reflect critically on the mutual benefits from, and barriers to, these partnerships. On the basis of case studies and literature review, the paper recommends ways to enhance university–community partnerships to help dismantle the ivory tower.

Developing and Enhancing International Collaborative Learning

This paper is concerned with the role of international collaboration in the learning and teaching of geography in higher education. The dual aims are to provide a brief and selective review of the nature and range of international collaboration and to contextualize such observations within the internationalization project. It is argued that despite the growing interest and literature concerned with the internationalization of higher education, discipline-specific illustrations of pedagogy and practice require further attention. Several forms of collaboration in the geography arena are introduced and the factors influencing the establishment, maintenance and enhancement of international collaboration are discussed.

Geography Education for “An Attainable Global Perspective”

This article considers approaches to promoting global perspectives as both cognitive and affective learning outcomes within geography education. Particular attention is paid to the work of Robert Hanvey, who proposed “An Attainable Global Perspective” in the 1970s, which explicitly ties to the content and perspectives embedded in geographic education. However, this approach was situated within a particularly American perspective on the nature and value of “global” education. This paper both endorses and updates Hanveys ideas, aiming to spur dialog among geographers to internationalize the discussion of how geography education can foster more truly global perspectives.