Writing for Immediacy: Narrative Writing as a Teaching Technique in Undergraduate Cultural Geography

Narrative inquiry is an innovative means of encouraging students to internalize concepts, reflect on experiences or create applications for theoretical ideas. The use of first-person creative writing in a second-year cultural geography course prompted initial scepticism from students but eventually highlighted their constructivist engagement with course concepts. Despite a number of ethical, evaluative and moral dilemmas, encouraging the use of creative writing as a form of narrative inquiry allowed students to tell their stories so that they were valued and connected to wider disciplinary concepts.     

The Geography Teacher

Ask Dr. de Bli by Dr. Harm de Blij, page 3

TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION:

Improving Geographic Understanding with a State Atlas by Jerry T. Mitchell, Monti Caughman, Susan Wise, page 4

Girl Wins Geographic Bee by Scott Norris, NG News, page 9

LESSON PLANS, ARTICLES AND OPINIONS

Playing with the 50 States and the Chemical Elements by Antonio Joaquin Franco Mariscal, Maria Jóse Cano Inglesias, page 10

Why Geography Matters to a Teen by Eric Goldfischer, page 13

Reading Our World by The Geography-Literacy Task Force, page 14

The Uses of Geography by James F. Marran, page 18

World Refugees Interview with Lavinia Limón, page 21

Mapping a Secret by Dawn Bryant, Sue Gerstenberger, Dr. Timothy Lintner, page 28

The World’s Human Population by Chuck Fahrer, page 32

Atlantic Canada in Review by Penny Anderson, page 38

Infidel by book review by Jody Smothers Marcello, page 41

Movies as Teaching Tools by Mary Lynn Everhart, page 43

Book Reviews: Now and Then Lydia Lewis, page 46

International Geographic Bee by NG web site, page 48     

The Geography Teacher

Ask Dr. de Bli by Dr. Harm de Blij, page 3

Refugees in America by TGT, page 4

TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION:

Guinness and the Irish Pub Company, excerpt: H. J. de Blij, Alexander B. Murphy, Erin M. Fouberg, page 6

LESSON PLANS:

All Locations are Relative: This Place is Mine by Michael S. Murphy, page 7

Reading Our World by The Geography-Literacy Task Force, page 10

Population Changes in Cities and Farms by Eui-kyung Shin, Jason Gold, page 12

ARTICLES AND OPINIONS:

Defining a Highly Qualified K-12 Geography Teacher by GENIP, page 16

When the Rivers Run Dry by Jody Smothers Marcello, page 18

The Five Fundamental Themes and the Six Essential Elements by James F. Marran, page 20

A Firm Foundation, a Sturdy Roof by Ed Grode, page 23

Latitude with Attitude by Lydia Lewis, page 27

No Matter Where You Go, There You Are by Ed Grode, page 28

Literature/Geography Quiz by TGT, page 35

Movies as Teaching Tools by Mary Lynn Everhart, page 40

Review: Travels with MusicTM by Steve Ferringer, page 43

Book Reviews: Adventurers and Geo-facts by Jodi Ann Vendor, page 46     

Cemetaries and Columbaria,Memorials and Mausoleums: Narrative and Interpretation in the Study of Deathscapes in Geography

This paper reviews research on deathscapes, particularly by geographers in the last decade, and argues that many of the issues addressed reflect the concerns that have engaged cultural geographers during the same period. In particular, necrogeographical research reveals the relevance of deathscapes to theoretical arguments about the social constructedness of race, class, gender, nation and nature; the ideological underpinnings of landscapes, the contestation of space, the centrality of place and the multiplicity of meanings. This paper therefore highlights how the focus on one particular form of landscape reveals macro-cultural geographical research interests and trends.     

The Geography of Population and the Geography of Services

In discussing a methodology for a geography of services, a new branch of Soviet geographic research, the authors propose geographically meaningful classifications of services, the use of value and labor-input indicators, the problem of a typology of service regions, and other aspects of research in this new discipline. The geography of services is found to be closely related to population geography because of the correlation between the distribution of services and the distribution of population.     

The Idealist Dispute in Anglo-American Geography

Leonard Guelke proposes an 'idealist' approach to geography. His critics see it as either irrelevant or incorrect. But both Guelke and his critics adopt a misguided approach to the problem of geographical explanation, assuming that the resolution of this or some other philosophical dispute will provide us with a theory which can then be applied in geography. An approach that begins not with philosophical theories but with the world of people and places will be more useful. The idea of 'forms of life' is offered as a focus for that concern and as a tool for criticizing Guelke and his critics.
Leonard Guelke propose une approche « idéaliste >>à la géographie. Ses critiques considèrent ceci comme non pertinent et inexact. Mais Guelke et ses critiques adoptent une approche malencontreuse au problème de l'explication geographique, assumant que la résolution de tel ou tel débat philosophique fournira une théorie applicable à la geographie. Une approche qui ne commencerait pas pardes théories philosophiques mais pale rnonde des hommes et des lieux s'avèrerait plus utile. Nous proposons le concept de « formes de vie >> (lebensform) comme un point de base en ce qui concerne cette approche et comme un outil avec lequel critiquer Guelke et ses détracteurs.     

The Status of Geography in Cuba

A review of current Cuban research in geography and associated fields and of the institutions established for that purpose.     

The Geography of Marriage

While some geographical surveys on marriage behaviour concern general marriage patterns and family systems, there are other discussions on regional variations in marriage within specific countries. This article belongs to the latter tradition, charting the regional differences in ages at marriage in Sweden from 1870 to 1900, and exploring potential determinants of the regional variation. The study builds on Sundbärg's division of Sweden into three main demographic regions, the subsequent Swedish research, and the historical-demographic studies on the determinants of marriage. The results do not fit perfectly into Sundbärg's geography but find a basic divide between the west and east/north of Sweden, mean ages at first marriage being one to one-and-a-half years higher in the west. Social norms and socioeconomic structure seem to have influenced the timing of marriage. At county level, family farming and crowding/competition over land and tenure were typically associated with later marriages, while commercial agriculture and a more diverse economy were correlated with a lower average marriage age. Also, in counties where real wages were higher, marriages usually took place earlier. Finally, results indicate that counties characterized by more secular and tolerant values were on average associated with earlier marriages.     

关于《新唐书》的书法问题

北宋中期,《新唐书》在宋祁、欧阳修的主持下,历十七年终于修成。然而人们对《新唐书》的批评很多,集中在书法问题上,包括史料的取舍、语言的采用、褒贬体例等。《新唐书》之所以在书法上出现这些问题,主要原因是修书组织存在重大缺陷,而且修史官员对春秋笔法理解方面有较大的差异,文人修史存在着如修史者的态度、主观好恶、修史风格等许多弊病。     

The Use of Electric Models in Geography

The use of electrical models, such as conducting sheet analogues, in geography is based on the fact that a wide variety of problems, say, the flow of groundwater and an electrical current, are founded on the same set of differential equations. The technique of electrical analogues is found to be useful in the solution of a number of geographical problems that cannot always be handled effectively by electronic computers. For example, conducting sheet analogues can be used to obtain map transformations in which area is proportional to the magnitude of a particular mapped feature, for example, equidemic projections in which countries or continents are mapped on the scale of their population density. Other problems that may be suitable for analogue simulation include those involving population potential as well as those in which optimization calls for least cost or least effort.     

The concept of disasters in Geography Education

In the context of current discussions on natural hazards, natural risks and (human) disasters around the world, the aspect of disaster risk reduction (DRR) is gaining more and more importance. The present contribution elucidates the didactical consequences this development has on competence-oriented Geography teacher training at universities/colleges as well as in Geography Education research.     

The Latest Approaches and Concepts in Geography

The article discusses the present state of knowledge of the basic components of the heat balance of the earth's surface (radiation balance, loss of heat to evaporation, turbulent heat exchange) and the distribution of these components in time and space. Soviet research is concerned with applying heat-balance data to the study of physical-geographical processes (hydrologic regime, plant and soil cover), to the study of integrated geographic problems (geographic zonality) and practical problems (weather and hydrologic forecasting, the use of solar energy for productive purposes, and the use of heat-balance data for planning reclamation projects and other nature-transforming measures.)