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Home CCSU Theses & Dissertations A curriculum guide for teaching world geography / Michael DiMartino

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A curriculum guide for teaching world geography / Michael DiMartino

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Identifier	Thesis 1607
Author	DiMartino, Michael
Title	A curriculum guide for teaching world geography / Michael DiMartino
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	2000
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	Introduction The main objective of this curriculum guide is to provide educators with materials and resources designed to promote cultural awareness with middle school students and meet specific geographic objectives and standards. Geography is a difficult subject to define with regard to classroom instruction. Teachers find it challenging to choose materials that coincide with their curriculum guidelines (Anderson 1991). This curriculum guide will assist educators in developing units that allow students to examine and understand the different cultural regions. Teachers may not be familiar with specific geographic standards and objectives. This guide allows them to identify these standards and objectives. Teachers need literature that can fit in their curriculum. Each cultural region has lists of resource materials and supplemental sources. These resources will help educators to implement their goals and objectives and enhance their teaching styles. The increase of international crises and warnings on the many global problems presents an important challenge to better educate our students to be aware of their impacts on the world. The increase of global communication and interdependence continues to link people in one society to people in other societies. The rising rate of cultural diffusion and cultural convergence have contributed to the globalization of human culture (Nolet 1992). If students are to be more geographically literate when exploring World Geography and the characteristics, distribution, and complexity of the world's cultures, curriculum must be reformed to meet their needs. The materials motivate students to learn more about geographic issues and the world's cultures. The design of the materials meets the middle school student's specific needs. The teaching of World Geography is taught using different approaches. I examine these approaches to assist educators in making the best choices for materials and resources that fit their method of teaching. To help teachers locate the information needed to teach different topics, issues and themes, each unit is arranged by cultural region. Activities, simulations, young adult literature, projects, videos and computer software aid educators in motivating students to explore different cultures. This resource guide will direct them to these materials in a list located at the end of each chapter. Statement of Limitations The middle school I teach in has very little ethnic and cultural diversity. The students have had some background with a few European cultures in elementary school. The students have a limited exposure to the cultures of Latin America, Africa and East Asia. They have developed generalizations and stereotypes concerning the people of these regions. Students also need to become aware of the interdependence of these regions with the United States. The human rights, economic and environmental issues of these regions will affect their lives in the twenty-first century. Literature Review A systematic approach to determine the nature of instructional efforts and curriculum assists in evaluating the impact they are having on student perceptions of the world. Children need to be engaged in active purposeful inquiry about their world through the study of meaningful content. Educators better accomplish the development of skills if they can meet the following goals: better describe ways to promote global citizenship; develop a comprehensive framework for curriculum at the local level, complete with conceptualization and goals; pay better attention to the structures through which we hope to achieve global educational objectives; address how the goals of global education relate to and / or enhance other goals of education; and find the resources/energy to develop model programs and/or sites to serve as exemplary illustrations of global education (Schiraldi 1987). To be effective in meeting the challenges of globally educating our students, we as educators must be flexible in designing our curriculum, instructional techniques and assessment. A comparison study examined the differences between Topical Instruction and Relationships lnstruction approaches. Victor Nolet (1992) at the University of Oregon presented content sequentially, according to location, then organized according to a network of associations among the facts and concepts. He hypothesized that students in the Relationship Instructional group would obtain higher scores than Topical lnstruction students on a facts and geography problem solving essay test. The results indicated that both groups learned the same number of facts. He could identify no differences between the groups on their perspectives of casual links between concepts. The Relationships approach was successful with more students able to observe the connections between concepts better than the Topical approach. The Relationships approach modeled a higher order of thinking when examining the concepts. Teachers need to become better equipped to teach about cultural diversity to all students. Teacher education programs used to allow teacher candidates to explore diverse ways of teaching from different perspectives. Multicultural education taught by integrating children's literature allows teachers to better understand cultural differences. This assists educators in analyzing these differences and their impact on learning and teaching. To be successful in educating students on multi-culturalism, educators must become culturally literate (Winitzky 1998). It is also imperative that American students develop the skills and attitudes necessary for living in a diverse environment. The theme guide Understanding Our Cultural Diversity aids educators with the design of a curriculum which provides students with skills to develop their appreciation of cultural diversity. The authors organize activities to meet specific goals and are separated by grade level. Suggestions presented provide teachers flexibility to incorporate the activities into their own curriculum (Wooster 1983). The lack of geographic knowledge among students has been a lingering problem for public education. The National Council for Geographic Education published a list of skills and standards that every student should master. It is organized by grade levels with standards and specific objectives that each student needs to master. These standards provide every parent, teacher, curriculum developer with a set of challenging expectations for all students. The purpose of standards for geography is to bring students to internationally competitive levels to meet the needs of a responsible citizen in a global economy (Bednarz et al 1994). Being able to apply geographic information to interpret the past and present and plan for the future is far more important than memorizing unrelated lists of facts. Students need to think geographically, to develop a spatial sense about the reasons for the patterns and processes of people and places in the world. Geography for Educators is a publication to give teachers ideas about how conceptual or thematic geography should be taught (Hardwick and Holtgrieve 1996). What is Culture? Artifacts give geographers clues about the lifestyles and cultures of ancient civilizations. Teachers who are looking for creative and effective ways to teach intercultural understanding through the interactive use of artifacts can use a discovery box. This resource offers practical suggestions for using the boxes with a series of teaching tips (Aoki 1995). An archeological study of our present culture is shown in the book Motel of the Mysteries. Students have the opportunity to see how their civilization could be interpreted in the future. Science fiction provides a useful tool to capture the students attention. It allows them to understand how artifacts can be viewed based on the interpretation of the people examining the remains (Macaulay 1979). A study of cultural perspectives helps to explore one's own community as well as distant cultures. Every culture operates according to universally acknowledged, though often unwritten rules of behavior. The simulation Heelotia gives students the opportunity to make personal decisions regarding their behavior when they come into contact with another culture. This activity creates a forum that allows the students to reflect on their own culture and others' behavior when confronted with difference (Boston 1991). One source that explains and shows different behaviors of different countries is the book Do's and Taboos Around the World. It is an international guide of acceptable customs, etiquette, and traditions of countries (Axtell 1993). Another source describing gestures that are either appropriate or inappropriate is Gestures: The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World. This book offers an amusing look at provocative, and sometimes distressing experiences with gestures and body language around the globe (Axtell 1991). Both sources serve as useful sources for educators to explain the different ways of communicating between cultures and how misunderstandings can develop. Culturgrams provide students an excellent source to research cultural characteristics of different countries. Each Culturgram identifies a country's location, physical characteristics, and human characteristics. The descriptions of the acceptable behaviors, customs and traditions along with the diet recreational activities and holidays give a solid foundation for computer presentations, projects and role-playing (Skabelund 1999). The spiritual heritage of different cultures must be understood when teaching about the human characteristics of a region. To become tolerant in accepting differences in spirituality we need to appreciate the history, culture and foundations of the major world religions. This curriculum explains the religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. This source helps to identify the stereotypes that result from not understanding the faith of others. The lessons provide the structure to contrast the different religions of cultural regions. Students identify the similarities and differences of these beliefs (Arquilevich 1999).
Subject	Geography -- Study and teaching Geography -- Study and teaching -- Aids and devices
Department	Department of Geography
Advisor	Snaden, James N.
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	45278062
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