Geographic Literacyand Young Learners

by Melinda Schoenfeldt

"The red M&M on my graham crackeris me, and th e blue one is my friend Ben ,"expl ains five-yea r-old Zoe as she nibblesaway at the edge of her ed ible map. Wh enpressed to describe her map, Zoe exp lainsth at she put the candies next to each othe ron her map because she and Ben are sittingside by side. Wh en handed a yellow M&Mand told th at it represents the desk in thecenter of th e classroom, Zo e sm iles andeasi ly places it in the cen ter of her gr aha mcrack er map.

Th is story demonstrates Zoe's abilityto understand and use symbo lic represen­tation and relati ve locati on with her sn ack­time ed ible map-a graham cracker, somefrost ing, and a few small cand ies . Youngchildren d evelop these skill s throughga mes or at playas they use blocks to rep­resent bridges and buildings or shou t ou t"warmer" and "colder" when a classmateis looking for a hidden object. Developingthese skills and using the tool s and vocabu­lary of geography can be called geographicliteracy.

Teacher s of preschool, kindergarten ,and primary-grade children have a univer­sal mandate to focu s on developing th e lit­eracy and numeracy skills of their pupils .Th ose are worthwhile go als. Young learn­ers can and should learn geography, too .Thus, teachers can add the development ofgeographic literacy to th eir classrooms. Itisn't a new idea at all.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF

GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

Geography ha s be en part of u.s. edu­cation since the 17th century; indeed , it wasconsidered an integral part of ed ucationduring the 18th century. Many early influ­ential citizen s, including Thomas Jefferson ,believed geography to be an important sub­ject for a primar y education. In fact, geog­raphy textbooks were some of th e earlies ttexts to appear in Ll .S, classrooms. One ofth e first U.S. geogra phy textbooks, Geogra­phy Made Easy by [edidiah Morse, was pub­lished in 1784 (Smith 1997).

In the 1830s, geography wa s mandatedin several sta tes; by 1840, almost 50 geog­raphy textbooks had been publish ed for usein Ll .S, classrooms. During th e early 20thcentury, Ll.S. ed ucators viewed geographyas an essen tial subject. However, during thesecond and th ird decades of the 20th cen­tury,historians led a movement to integratethe social sciences, including the social as­pects of geography, into one field of studycalled social stu d ies . The emerg ing socialstudies curriculum eithe r excluded geog­raphy or limited it to map skills and re­gional descriptions (Schoenfeldt 2000).

Geography as a sepa ra te field of studywas undermined further during the 1950s,when the United States focu sed more onthe development of a peac etime econo myand domestic prosperity and less on learn­ing about o ther nations, cultures, and

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people. By the 1960s, many schools hadelimina ted geography instruction entire lyor included it only as part of the socia l stud­ies curriculum. In 1960-61, only 14 percentof U.S. stude nts in grades 7-12 we re en­rolled in geography courses (Na tiona l Geo­graphic Society [NGS] 1991). Most of theclassro om materi als produced in the 1960s,'70s, and '80s did littl e to bring geographyin to the Ll.S, curriculum. Of grea ter con­cern, U.S. teachers had lost many of theeduca tiona l tools necessar y to teach geog­raphy well.

In 1983, the Nati on al Commission onExcellence in Education (NCEE) publishedthe results of a study of the decline in Ll .S.education entitled A Nationat Risk. For thefirst time in the nat ion 's educa tiona l his­tor y, the educationa l skills of one genera­tion neither equa lled nor surpassed thoseof their parents. Tho ug h NCEE (1983) re­ported that , "in man y othe r indus trializednations, courses in . .. geography start ingrade 6 and are required of all stude nts," ANation at Risk did not include geographyin its educational reform age nda. However,va rious geographic orga nizations we re al­ready working on a geography curriculum,an d Na tol i, Boehm, Kracht, Lanegran,Monk, and Morrill (1984) soon presentedGuidelinesfor Geographic Education: Elemen­tary and Secondary Schools.

In a Gallup Organization (1988) surveyof the geographic knowl edge of adults in

nine nat ions, the Uni ted States ranked sev­en th overa ll and last in the 18-to-24-year­old category. The survey revealed that onein seven Ll.S.adults could not identify theirown country from a world map and one infour could not identify the Pacific Ocean.This ignorance of geography became wide­spread knowled ge. As Stoltman (1992, 9)exclai med, "Over 20 million Americanscanno t locate the Uni ted Stat es on a map!Geographic illiteracy is a fact of life. Ournati on al ign oran ce of geography is a dan­gerous consequence of long-standing ne­glect and isolati on ism."

When reports of na tional geographicilliter acy con tin ued makin g headlin es,many began to worry about our nation'sabi lity to compete in a globa l eco nomy.Parents, politicians, and educato rs deter­mined that it was time to take action to cor­rect this problem . They decl ared th at ge­og raphy needed to be rein troduced to th eU.S. educational sys tem.

The National Education Goals (Execu­tive Office of the President 1990) were pro­duced as a result of a m eeting of thenati on 's governors and presented by th en­President George H. W. Bush. The estab­lishment of these goals led to fund ing fromthe U.S, Department of Education and otherfedera l age ncies for grants to professionaland scholarly groups to develop contentstandards for each of the identified coresubjects: English, mathematics, science, his-

Melinda Schoenfeldt is Assistant Professor ofElem en tary Education at Ball State University in

Muncie, Indiana. Her researc h interestsincl ude geography ed ucation and preservice

teacher education.

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tory, and geography. Geography's p lace inUS. ed ucation was once again part of thecore curriculum. Yet much work had to bedone to correct the neglect of many years.

The Geography Education StandardsProject (GESP) began in 1992. The productwas Geography for Life: National GeographyStandards 1994 (GESP 1994), developed onbeh alf of the American Geographical Soci­ety, the American Associa tion of Geogra­phers, the National Council for GeographicEd uca tion, an d NGS. Th ese geograp hysta ndards iden tify w ha t U S . s tu den tssho uld learn. They are a se t of vo lunta rybenchmarks that every school in the nat ionmay use as guidelines in developing theirown curricula. As ano ther ind icator of re­cen t p rogress, geograp hy is now includedamo ng the subjects tested by the Na tiona lAssessment of Ed ucationa l Progress-thenation's "report ca rd" (Office of Ed uca­tion al Research and Improvement 1990).

GEOGRAPHY AND THE YOUNG LEARNER

Ed uca tors are in teres ted in how chi l­dren learn and at wha t ages children canbe tau ght vario us conten t, concepts, andskills . Geograp hy ed ucators have a specialin teres t in chi ld ren's development of spa­tial skills; child ren need these skills to na­vigate in large-scale and sma ll-scale env i­ro n men ts and to m ake an d u se m ap s.Ma ny studies have focused on th e spatialskills of chi ld ren, from th e time of Piage t'sea rly research in the 1950s and continuingto th e present. Piaget and Inhelder (1956)ass igne d th e ability to understand repre­sen ta tiona l forms of spatia l organiza tion(ma p rea ding) to children over eigh t yearsof age.

This view has not, however, rem ainedunchall enged . As Ac re dolo (1976, 299)noted , "The field, however, has go ne we llbeyond Piaget in th e types of questi onsas ked and methods used to assess spa tia lcogni tion." Researchers are in teres ted in

how children make and use maps and howand why indiv id ua ls d iffer in their spatia lsk ills. Blades, Sowden, and Spencer (1995)had p re viousl y held the trad it ionalPiagetian view th at children yo unger th an7 years of age wou ld have poor or no abil ­ity to use maps. To test their th eory, theypl aced four objects in a room. Childrenwere then give n a map, which used sy m­bolic represen ta tions of th ose objects andask ed to walk to a specified object usingth e map. Thei r study found th at th ree- andfour-year-olds were abl e to use th e sy m­bolic representati ons of objects on a mapto find specified objects in a room.

Pr id d le an d Rub in (1977) studied thespatial abilities of four-and-a-half-year -oldchi ldren and found th at spatial conceptssuch as understanding one's place in rela­tion to othe r objects could be taught to pre­school chi ldren. Preschool-aged children inth e study learned to d ist inguish left andrigh t of themselves an d of othe rs facingth em. The study further showed th at chil­dren could learn th e skills equally wellwhen taught ve rbally or th rough mot ortra in ing, but the ch ild ren exp ressed a morefa v orabl e reaction to the m ovementmethod.

THE fIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY

Though th e surveys of th e 1980s high ­ligh ted the lack of geographic p lace-na merecognition ski lls on th e p art of m anypeople in th e Uni ted Sta tes, geography ism ore th an memoriza tion of geogra ph icterm s and locat ions. Geography is a wayof thi nking, of as king questi ons, and ofobserv ing a n d ap preciating the worl daround us (GESP 1994). Geography givesus tools w e need to move abo u t in th eworld , to mak e wise decisions ab out ourenvironmen t, and to rela te more meaning ­full y to people from othe r lands and cul­tures. Child ren are naturall y curio us abo utth e world abo u t them, an d their teachers

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Using mapsand globes is

ameans to learning more

about theworldon

whichwe all live.

mu st build on that sense of exp lora tion andwond erment.

Children mus t learn to use the tools ofgeography; maps and glob es are two of themost commo n. However, just as teac hersdo not teach ma th skills as ends themselves,neither should map and globe skills be sotau ght. Learning to countis no t an end; it is a mean sto fu rther mathem at icalun d e rstand in g. Usi ngm a p s a n d g lo bes is ameans to learning moreabo ut the world on whichwe all live. Geographe rshave identified five geog­ra p hy th emes th at ca nguide teachers when theyteach chi ld ren abo ut ourworld (Na to li et al. 1984).

The firs t of th e fivethemes is location , Thistheme answers the child's question, "Whereis that?" Zoe, ment ioned earlier in this ar­ticle, demons tra ted her understanding ofre la tive loca tio n w he n she pl aced he rM&M's on her graham cracker map. Rela­tive location is simply telling the position ofsome object in relat ion to one or more otherobjects. When teachers help children learntheir street addresses, they are helping chil­dren learn abo ut abso lu te location, a defi­nite spo t on Earth. Teachers can use mapsand globes to locate the settings of the sto­ries they read to and with the childre n.

Place, the second them e, help s childrenanswer the qu estion, "Wha t is it like there?"Places are spe cia l and un iqu e becau se ofth eir physical (na tura lly occurring) andcu ltura l (man-made) features. We for mmental images of cer tain places based onthese features and can call to mind the ex­ac t p lace whe n th ose fea tures are me n­tioned . For example, mentioning the SeineRiver an d the Eiffel Towe r brings Paris im­med iately to mind .

Teachers, an d parents too, can helpyoung learners develop mental images ofplace by having chi ldren look or listen forphysical and cultural features of places theyvisi t and in the books they rea d. All of achild's senses are called into play when heor she develops th e sense of p lace-the

sigh ts, so u nds, s m e lls ,and some times even tex­tures a n d tastes . Thesc hoo l pla yg round ,children 's ow n neighbor­hoods, and the field trip tothe farm all offer oppo rtu­nities for alert teach ers toteach ch ild re n abou tplace. Young children candem on strate their under-standing of place throug hpictures and d ictated sto­ries abo ut their field tri por neighborhood.

Plantin g a tree on th e school p lay­gro und or visiting a cons truc tion si te or afarm that uses conse rva tion methods areidea l occasi ons for in trod uc ing you nglearners to the th ird them e: human/enoiron­ment interaction. This the me helps chi ldrenunderstand that people ada pt the environ­ment to meet th eir need s or so me timesad apt th eir lives to meet environ me n ta lneed s and rea lities .

Teach ers can help students make senseof wha t they are learning by helping themdevelop a network of connections that tiethe new context to pre-exist ing knowled geand beliefs in their prior experience . Chi l­dren can brin g in cur ren t ph otographs ofthem selves and of th em selves as ba bies.The y can discuss cha nges th ey noti ce inth emselves and th ereb y p repare th em­se lves to u nd erstand th at places , too,cha nge over time. Chi ldren can then exam­ine photographs of the school itself an d itssu rroundi ng neighborh ood th rough th eyears and look for changes, both man-mad e

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and naturally occurring.The fourth theme, movement, helps chil­

dren answer the question, "How do people,goods, and ideas get from one place to an­other?" Children love to hear stories aboutforeign places, learn words and songs in aforeign language, and receive postcardsfrom around the world or even from an­other town in the same state. All of theseactivities can be used to help children de­velop geographic literacy. Those words,stories, and songs bring new ideas to us. Apostcard arrives via the mail, involving air­planes, boats, trucks, and /or cars-offer­ing yet another way to discuss movement.

Children can bring to class a favoritestuffed animal or T-shirt. With theirteacher's help, students can locate items'various points of origin on a large map orglobe, then graph the results to find pat­terns of origination. Children can also findout where their parents or grandparentswere born and map their findings . Takingtrips, whether real or imaginary, on vari­ous modes of transportation helps developthe idea of movement.

The fifth theme is region, which cananswer the question, "How are placesalike?" A region is an area that has one ormore common factors found throughout it.These factors can be human-such as lan­guage, ethnic enclave, or government-orphysical-such as mountains, climate, orvegetation. Regions can be large or smalland can overlap. Children can identify vari­ous classroom "regions" such as the seat­ing region, the play region, or the reading

REFERENCESAcredolo, L. 1'. 1976. Fra mes of reference used by ch ildren

for orienta tion in unf amiliar spaces. In EIl P~inm ml'1Jla Jknowing:Theories , research,and methods, ed . G. T. Moo rea nd R. G. Go lle dge , 29 9- 302 . Stroudsb urg , Pa .:Dowden , Hu tchinson & Ross.

Bednarz, S. 1998. Tile power of geogrn plll/. Was h ing ton, D.C. :

region. Also, they can identify regions oftheir homes, school, and community. Find­ing similarities and differences along withsorting and classifying are examples ofhigher-order thinking skills that fit withinthe theme of region.

BECOMING GEOGRAPHICALLY LITERATE

In the country's infancy, the Ll.S edu­cational system recognized the importanceof geography, and now its importance hasbeen restored-this time with national stan­dards for guidance in curriculum planning.Geography holds the keys to understand­ing our ever-shrinking world. Research hasshown that children as young as four canuse simple maps, interpret symbolic rep­resentation, and comprehend spatial con­cepts. The concepts and skills of geographyshould therefore be introduced in earlychildhood classrooms.

As Bednarz (1998, 3) declared, "Thepower and beauty of geography lie in see­ing , understanding, and appreciating theweb of relationships among people, places,and environments." Technology is connect­ing all corners of the world today in wayswe never could have predicted (NGS 1998;National Research Council 1997). Stayinguninvolved is no longer a viable option.Educators owe it to even the youngest stu­dents to open their eyes to the world byhelping them become geographically liter­ate. As educators, we must give them thetools of geography as part of an intrinsiclove for lifelong learning. We must showthem the world and then step aside.

Geogra p hic Ed uca t io n Na tio na l Implementati onProject.

Blad es, M., S. Sowde n, and C. Spence r. 1995. Young child ren'suse of sp a tia l re la tions hips in tasks with ma ps andmod els . Cartogmphica32(2): 18-28.

Executive Off ice o f the Presid ent. 1990. Na tiona l goa ls for

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ed ucation. Washington, D.C: u.s. Go v' t Printing Of­fice. ERIC ED 319 143.

Ga llup Organi zation. 1988. Geogra phy : An internationalGallup su rvey - Summary of findings. Cond uc ted forthe Na tiona l Geogra phic Socie ty. Princeton , N .).: GO.

Geographic Ed uca tion Standards Project. 1994. Geographyforlife:National geograpllY standards. Wash ington , D.C: Na ­tio na l Geogra phic Research & Exp lora tion.

O ffice of Educat ion al Resear ch and Improvem ent. 1990.Nationa l assessme nt of ed ucationa l pro gre ss . Washing­ton, D.C : OE RI, U'S. Departmen t of Ed uca tio n.

Na tional Com mission on Exce lle nce in Ed uca tion. 1983. Anationat risk:The imperative[oreducationat reform. Wash­ing ton , D.C : NCEE .

Na tiona l Geographic Society. 1991. Bringing geog raphy back.In Directions ill geography: A guidefor teachers, ed. NGS,39-47. Washington, D.C : NGS.

National Geog raphic Societ y. 1998. Putt illg geography back 0 11

the map: The National GeographicSoci<'fy's education out­reach. Wash ingt on , D.C: NGS .

National Resear ch Co unci l. 1997. Rediscorcring geography:

New releoanccfor science and society. Washing ton, D.C :Na tiona l Aca de my Press.

Natoli , S. ) ., R. Boehm .] . B. Kracht , D. A. Lan egran , ).) . Monk,and R. W. Morrill. 1984. Guidelines for geog raphic ed u­ca tion: Eleme ntary and seconda ry schoo ls. Washing­ton , D.C : Nationa l Co unc il for Geogra phic Ed uca tio nand the Associa tion of Ame rican Geogra phe rs .

Piaget , ) ., and B. Inh eld er (tra ns. F. ). Lan gd on and ). L.Lun zer ). 1956. The child's conception of space. London,Eng land : Routled ge & K. Paul.

Pr idd le, R. E., and K. H. Rubin . 1977. A compa riso n of twometh od s for the train ing of spa tial cog nition. Merrill­PalmerQuarterllf 23(1): 57-65.

Schoe nfeld t, M. K. 2000. Th e sta tus of geog ra phic ed uca tionin the United States . Geografisk Orienicring(Septembe r):18-22.

Sm ith, B. A. 1997. Social studies teacher's companion. Boston:Hou gh ton Mifflin.

Sto ltma n, ) . I'. 1992. Teaching map alld globe skills, K-6 : Ateacher'« halldbook. Sko kie, III.: Rand McNally.

As a man's image of the world changes, soa man

changes himself

-JUN E S INGER

u.s.psychoana lys t and w ri ter, 1918-

~F,© Kappa Delta Pi

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