LECTURE TWO

INTEGRATED GEOGRAPHY FOR SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCIENCE TEACHERS

ED 738 SSII

• Introduction

I hope all of you are on board with the assignments and are planning to keep up as we go. As
most of you know, summer courses in the MAT are “fast and furious” and hopefully this hybrid format
will give you a little leeway with your time management as you get your content requirements
completed to begin your career in middle level education.

NOTE THIS POTENTIAL CHANGE TO YOUR SYALLBUS! While I currently have 7/8 as a
guest speaker/lab, that date MAY BE MOVED to 7/12. If that is the case, we will swap the
assignments for 7/8 and 7/12, will not meet at the UC on 7/8 but will meet on 7/12. I hope to have that
confirmed in the next day or so and will let you know as soon as possible.

Remember, you have two assignments due tomorrow. See my introductory lecture mailed to
you June 24th, along with the class syllabus. Please contact me if you have any questions. Also, if you
can, be sure to sign up with the blog. Many of you already have – It will make both all lives easier the
faster that we all are there – trust me!

In my online-only classes, we do a lot of reading and writing over the internet. In a hybrid
course like this one, we do a lot of that reading/writing as well, but add a layer of hands on
experiences and some technology training. Much of that will happen next week (July 6,7,8). For this
upcoming week, I will focus much of our conversation on the cornerstone of geography education –
the six themes of geography.

• The Six Themes of Geography

The six themes (or elements) of geography are a conceptual framework originally established
in 1994 by the National Council on Geographic Education (see http://bit.ly/6Geoelements for details).
While these elements are overarching, they have been further developed into 18 national standards
for geography education (all are listed at http://bit.ly/6Geoelements) It is from these national
standards that most states, including South Carolina, incorporate geography education, either as
separate courses or embedded into other content area curricula. As I noted before, SC had done both
and currently has geography embedded in the science and social studies courses in the middle
grades. While it is my opinion that geography education is vital in “flat earth economy,” I also believe
that integration of knowledge across content areas is a best practice for middle-level education. We
take that approach in this course and throughout the MAT here at Clemson.

The seminal publication in geography, Geography for Life (or GFL; NCGE, 1994) has been
used extensively in the development of geography education. While it is still in print and available
from many sources, there are multiple applications of GFL accessible from the internet from multiple
sources. I will list many of them as class resources, but please feel free to look on your own and
share with the class. For this introduction to GFL, I am making the work of the University of Hawaii
available to you as a reference (see http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/Standard/Standard.html , specifically
the suggested application for grades 5-8).
 • Assignments for Class Two

Reading

Synopsis of Geography for Life at http://bit.ly/6Geoelements

Suggested applications for Geography for Life http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/Standard/Standard.html

South Carolina Standards for your content area

Social Studies: http://ed.sc.gov/agency/Standards-and-Learning/Academic-Standards/old/cso/

standards/ss/documents/9inezsocialstudiesstandards.pdf

Science: http://ed.sc.gov/agency/Standards-and-Learning/Academic-Standards/old/cso/
standards/science/documents/sciencestandardsnov182005_001.doc

Writing

Discussion Question Due 7/5/2010 before 10:00 AM, e-mailed to rknorr@g.clemson.edu

From your reading for this class and your own personal and prior educational experience, how much
of the curriculum outlined in Geography for Life reflects your familiarity with geography. Give several
examples of this experience, or the lack of it, from the six essential elements/18 national standards.

Reflection Question Due 7/5/2010 before 10:00 AM, e-mailed to rknorr@g.clemson.edu

From the three specific standards you analyzed in assignment two, provide several examples with
details of how those standards do (or perhaps do not) apply to the six essential elements/18 national
standards.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a happy and save July 4th holiday. See you in
Room 506 at the UC on 7/6.