All posts by Thomas Herman

Perceptions & Knowledge of Geography on an American College Campus

As part of an upper-division Qualitative Research Methods in Geography class at San Diego State University in Fall 2017, students  under the guidance of Dr. Kate Swanson researched, surveyed and interviewed geography majors and future social studies teachers to measure students’ basic geographic knowledge and determine how they perceive geography’s value as a discipline.   In releasing the report Perceptions & Knowledge of Geography on an American College Campus, Dr. Swanson wrote the following:
“To our surprise, we discovered that interest in and enthusiasm for geography education is high. As stated by one of our interviewees, ‘I just wish that as a teacher, I would have more understanding of geography.’ In our report, we suggest that there may be a window of opportunity to expand geography education, particularly in K-12 schools.
In the report, we present our findings, along with a series of recommendations for incorporating more geography into our educational curriculum. Our main recommendations are as follows:
– Actively promote geography’s interdisciplinary approach as a strength;
– Promote more study abroad opportunities in geography;
– Host more geography awareness events;
– Create a university level ‘Geography for Educators’ course;
– Support moves to bring geography and geospatial technologies into K-12 schools;
– Rebrand geography by highlighting its relevance to today’s global problems;
– Promote tools and technologies that enhance geographic education and spatial learning;
Given our findings, we believe that teacher education in geography is especially important. American teachers recognize the value of our discipline, yet they have little experience with geography education.
Please feel free to share this report widely. I want to reiterate that this report was researched, written and designed by seniors at SDSU!”

California Geographic Information Association Again Sponsoring My California GIS Mapping Exhibition and Competition

The CGA is pleased to announce that the California Geographic Information Association (CGIA) is once again sponsoring our statewide GIS mapping competition for students in Grades 4-12.  The CGIA came forward to support our inaugural effort last year, and we are very pleased that they will continue to provide support for the contest by donating funds that help us to provide incentives and support for the schools that register for the contest.

CGIA is a non-profit, statewide association formed in 1994 to facilitate coordination, collaboration, and advocacy for California’s Geographic Information System (GIS) community. CGIA promotes the creation and maintenance of the best practices in the governance and application of geographic information within the State of California that can become a model for the nation.

Read more about this year’s My California GIS Mapping Exhibition and Competition here.

Bring Geography to Your School! Host a Geographic Bee at Your School or Get Your Students Involved in the My California GIS Mapping Competition

You can go beyond the classroom and the curriculum to help your students get excited about geography.  The CGA is encouraging schools to create a fun and competitive atmosphere for students by (1) hosting a school-level National Geographic Bee (Grades 4-8) or (2) creating a process to support students in entering the My California GIS Mapping Showcase and Competition (Grades 4-12).  Geography is fun, and your students can discover that for themselves in the course of developing their own knowledge, skills, and projects.

A Study of Young People’s Geographical Knowledge, Global Awareness, and Attitudes Toward Geography Education

Students in Dr. Kate Swanson’s Qualitative Methods in Geography upper division course took on a special assignment last year.  They constructed a research project that examined young people’s geographical knowledge, global awareness and perspectives on geography education.  The young people under study included both undergraduates at San Diego State University and high school students in Sweetwater Union High School District who had taken the district’s World Geography and Global Issues course.  While one finding is that there is still a lot of room for improvement in young people’s geographical knowledge, the report also indicates that young people have increasingly global concerns and see geography courses as extremely useful in helping them to make sense of the issues confronting and connecting people around the world.  You can review the report here.

There are some interesting excerpts from interviews conducted with 24 Sweetwater students.  For example,

Question: Do you think American students need a geography education?
Answer: “Yeah, because I don’t think most kids know what is going on in the world. Like, I don’t think a person who doesn’t have a geography class knows what’s going on in Syria…”

Understanding Natural Hazard Risks: Hurricane Harvey, the California Megaflood of 1861-62, and the Future

The Houston Metro area and large areas of southeast Texas have been devastated by record flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.  There was tragic loss of life, and astronomically expensive damage to property and infrastructure.   There will be a lot of discussion about how more frequent severe storms are a part of global climate change, and we can also focus on the science of weather forecasting, which continues to advance with new computational models and satellite data being utilized.   But a very important point for us to reflect upon is how we could have done a better job of planning how we built our cities and infrastructure to protect against this loss of life and costly damage to property.

Scene showing freeways flooded and vehicles stranded, near downtown Houston.
Scene showing freeways flooded and vehicles stranded, near downtown Houston.

The fact is, catastrophic flooding in the Houston area was a highly predictable event.  The National Flood Hazard Map maintained by FEMA can be viewed online here.  Once the map is open, you can Continue reading Understanding Natural Hazard Risks: Hurricane Harvey, the California Megaflood of 1861-62, and the Future

BREAKING NEWS – Winners of My California GIS Mapping Competition

The CGA’s first ever statewide GIS mapping competition for 4th through 12th grade students has concluded.  5 students projects have been selected as state finalists in each of two divisions.  The authors of each project will be awarded a prize of $100, and the projects will be advanced to the national competition.  5 other projects have been selected for Honorable Mention.

The CGA wants to thank:

  • the NorCal Chapter of URISA and the California Geographic Information Association for their generous support of this competition;
  • the 29 schools that registered for the competition, including all the teachers and students who invested their time in creating projects about their state;
  • all of the judges who lent their time and expertise to scoring the entries and selecting the very best;
  • and Dr. Waverly Ray who took the lead in coordinating the competition and brought enthusiasm and skill to the task!

Without further ado, we present the winners. Continue reading BREAKING NEWS – Winners of My California GIS Mapping Competition

Meet the Judges for the My California GIS Mapping Exhibition and Competition

Janet Brewster

GIS Specialist, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

  • My career has spanned multiple disciplines, and GIS has moved right along with me. From environmental planning to facilities to land and wildlife conservation, I have been able to use GIS to conduct analyses, create and manage data, and make connections that weren’t otherwise possible. But perhaps best of all, I can share all of this information on a map, rather than in a dry list of names and numbers. Who doesn’t love a good map?!

Continue reading Meet the Judges for the My California GIS Mapping Exhibition and Competition

Get Your Students Involved in the My California GIS Mapping Exhibition and Competition!

UPDATE:

With registration for the competition now closed, the CGA is happy to report that 29 schools have registered for the competition.  That could mean as many as 145 student entries in the state final!

An illustrious panel of eleven judges has stepped forward to evaluate and rank the student entries, so we are all set for an exciting competition.  Thank you to all of our volunteer judges!

Click here to see a map of schools registered for the competition.

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The California Geographic Alliance is hosting an exciting statewide mapping showcase and competition that encourages middle (4th-8th grade) and high school (9th-12th grade) students to harness the power of Geographic Information Systems and get connected with their state by producing an online map that focuses on stories, issues, or ideas that are important to them.

Registrations due March 15, 2017!

Go to the contest page for full details.

Thanks to the Northern California URISA Chapter and the California Geographic Information Association for their generous support of this effort!

Meet the competition judges

Amazing lineup of geography sessions and workshops planned for CCSS conference in Sacramento

Planning on attending the California Council for the Social Studies Conference in Sacramento, March 3-5?

The CGA is proud to be a Silver Sponsor of the conference, and we are even more excited to be sponsoring an amazing array of sessions and workshops. Come visit the booth in the exhibit hall to learn about the latest resources and see some incredible maps, and please check out these great sessions.

FRIDAY Continue reading Amazing lineup of geography sessions and workshops planned for CCSS conference in Sacramento

CGA Supports GIS Day Event at CDE

On November 15, the topic of the day at the California Department of Education was Geographic Information Science.  More specifically, an internal event organized by CDE staff encouraged staff from a number of different departments within CDE to explore the potential of GIS as a tool in education.

The event had three components aimed at engaging the audience of education professionals.  CGA Director Tom Herman and CGA Geospatial Technology Coordinator Dr. Ming-Hsiang Tsou joined Dr. Hugh Howard (American River College) and a GIS Specialist for the Army Corps of Engineers on an expert panel.  A highlight of the day was hearing from a group from the Math Science & Technology Magnet Academy at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights. roosevelt-high-students-at-2016-gis-dayThe students attended with their outstanding English teacher, Alice Im, and presented their work examining relationships between school segregation and graduation rates and exploring environmental racism by comparing the health problems and government responses related to the Porter Ranch gas leak and the Exide Technologies toxic contamination case in Vernon.  The CGA also hosted an informational table with our friends from The History Project at UC Davis to share GeoInquiries and how we are helping educators to engage their students in geographic inquiry using GIS. Continue reading CGA Supports GIS Day Event at CDE