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Unlocking the Power
of Geographic
Inquiry
Thomas Herman, PhDDirector, California Geographic Alliance
Department of Geography, San Diego State Univ.
Why I am here,
and how I got here
A few words about my path to a refined purpose in
the arena of geography education.
FORMATIVE
INFLUENCES
Became Director of California
Geographic Alliance in 2013-14
Began working with teachers and
instructional leaders in 2015-16
Helped develop video on C3 Framework
and Geography in 2015-16
Part of CA H-SS Framework rollout and
implementation since 2016
Involved with National Center for
Research in Geography Education:
Teaching with Geospatial Technologies;
Learning Progressions in Geography;
Powerful Geography
From geographer
to geography
education
advocate and
worker
An Inquiry-driven approach
WHERE?
WHY THERE?
WHY CARE?
WHY CARE?
WHERE?
WHY THERE?
What’s the benefit?
FIRST ANSWER
Teachers and students can have personally meaningful and
empowering experiences in and out of the classroom and to have
those experiences bring them closer to the world while igniting their
own curiosities, insights, and creative impulses.
What’s the benefit?
SECOND ANSWER
Integrating the social studies for a greater depth of understanding
and an increased knowledge base for action
INCORPORATING GEOGRAPHIC THINKING, INQUIRY, AND LITERACY IN
ALL SOCIAL SCIENCE COURSES
Unpacking the Geographic Perspective in
Social Science Lessons
Overarching geographic concepts/frames of understanding (a working model)
[PLACE] [SPACE] [SYSTEMS] [RESOURCES]
These concepts help us probe a topic for geographic insights and formulate questions that
help students to discover those insights and practice geographic thinking.
Definitions (drawn and elaborated from The Dictionary of
Human Geography, 4th Edition)
PLACE: A portion of geographic space, named and commonly recognized within a community;
bounded settings in which social relations and identity are constituted; space that has gained
meaning through history (think of place as subjective, imbued with historical significance)
SPACE: A universal of human existence (like time), an external coordinate system of mutually
exclusive points (this is absolute space); dimensionality, often understood within particular
contexts, and applicable to material, concrete environments and imagined, symbolic
environments
SYSTEMS: A group of elements organized in such that each one is in some way interdependent with
every other element while carrying out an overall function, goal or purpose (not necessarily
conscious goals or deliberate intent, function may even be sustainability of the system itself)
RESOURCES: A concept used to denote sources of human satisfaction, wealth or strength (e.g.,
labor, entrepreneurial skills, finances drawn from the human environment as well as mineral and
material derived from the physical environment)
Unpacking the Geographic Perspective in
Social Science Lessons
Let’s take a topic [the presidential election] and work through each of the geographic
concepts/frames to identify productive starting points for inquiry.
[PLACE] [SPACE] [SYSTEMS] [RESOURCES]
Use the sheet of geographic questions to prompt your thinking, but make sure to pose the
questions in a way that is relevant to the topic and revealing of important issues related to
it.
Geographic Questions Exercise
Presidential Election Cubs Win
PLACE
SPACE
SYSTEMS
RESOURCES
Geographic Questions Exercise
Presidential Election Cubs Win
PLACE What does red state/blue state mean?
What kinds of states are red/blue?
What happens when you are out of place?
North side/south side
Wrigley as hallowed ground
SPACE How do election results project results across space and
misrepresent local voting outcomes?
Why is there an envelope of restricted space around
polling places?
How is a unique space
created within Wrigley
Field?
SYSTEMS What is process for selecting president and how does it
ensure relate to representative democracy?
Leagues, farm systems,
labor market
RESOURCES What count as resources within a campaign?
How are resources understood and framed at different
scales?
Which are most important:
players, fan bases,
knowledge (i.e.,
Moneyball), capital
More Thinking About Geographic Inquiry
We’ve talked about geographic questions…
But we are looking to build capacity for geographic
reasoning and analysis…
And answering questions about geographic factors is just a
starting point for activating the power of geographic
inquiry.
The role of geographic questions
● Questions about simple geographic facts
(place and space)
● Questions about geographic knowledge and
perceptions
● Questions about maps and other geographic
representations
CONTEXT
The role of geographic questions
● Questions about interactions between
geographic facts and the effects of systems on
place characteristics and spatial relationships
● Questions about the use of geographic
information and/or geographic
representations to effect outcomes
● Questions about how space is produced,
regulated, and differentiated and how that
affects possibilities.
EXPLANATION
The role of geographic questions
● Questions about how to anticipate and
respond to changes in a complex environment
● Questions about how to practice stewardship
of a place
● Questions about how to exercise locational
advantage
DECISION
MAKING
Resources!!!
California Geographic Alliance
GeoHistogram
Esri GeoInquiries
National Geographic Education
California Geographic Alliance
calgeography.orgStory Maps under “Resources/GeoQuest” menu item
facebook.com/CaliforniaGeographicAlliance
twitter.com/calgeography
California Global Education Project: www.cispisglobal.org
EVER HEARD OF
A GEO-HISTO-
GRAM?
GeoHistoGrams
World GeoHistoGram with related activities: https://www.cmich.edu/colleges/se/Geography/Michigan%20Geographic%20Alliance/Geo
graphy%20Resources/Pages/World-GeoHistoGram.aspx
US GeoHistoGram with related activities: https://www.cmich.edu/colleges/se/Geography/Michigan%20Geographic%20Alliance/Geo
graphy%20Resources/Pages/U.S.-GeoHistoGram-with-Activities.aspx
• Developed by Michigan Geographic Alliance
• Standards-based inquiry activities that utilize a web-based
map
Esri
https://www.esri.com/en-
us/industries/education/schools/geoinquiries-collections
https://www.gisetc.com/geoinquiries/
• World’s leading producer of GIS software, which is free to
K-12 schools
• Standards-based inquiry activities that utilize a web-based
map
ENGAGING WITH THE
POLITICS OF EXPANDING
U.S. TERRITORY
• “GeoInquiries” are instructional activities using ArcGIS software
• Great way to engage students in both technology and geographic thinking!
• Free to use, easy to customize
• Map URL: http://esriurl.com/historygeoinquiry11
National Geographic Education
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education
• Activities, Lessons, and Educator Guides
• Printable Maps and Map Making Projects
• GeoStories
• Explorer Classroom
• Educator Certification Program and Geo-Inquiry PD
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/programs/educator-certification/
NATIONAL STANDARDS (PROTOTYPE)The goal of the National Geography Standards is to enable students to
become geographically informed through knowledge and mastery of three
things: (1) factual knowledge; (2) mental maps and tools; (3) and ways of
thinking.
Essential Element 1:
The World in
Spatial Terms
• Each standard is broken
down into a few main
concepts or competencies
• Benchmarks are defined for
grades 4, 8, and 12
• Note that link to National Geography
Standards take you to National
Geographic Education website with
tons of resources
What’s the benefit?
FIRST ANSWER
Teachers and students can have personally meaningful and
empowering experiences in and out of the classroom and to have
those experiences bring them closer to the world while igniting their
own curiosities, insights, and creative impulses.
Geo-Capabilities
Amartya Sen (1985): “The Capability Approach is defined by its choice of focus upon the moral significance of individuals’ capability of achieving the kind of lives they have reason to value.”
https://www.iep.utm.edu/sen-cap/
Geo-Capabilities
Young and Lambert (2014): 3 criteria for defining powerful knowledge:
It is distinct from ‘common sense’ knowledge acquired through everyday experience and therefore context-specific and limited.
It is systematic. Its concepts are related to each as part of a discipline with its specific rules and conventions. It can be the basis for generalisationsand predictions beyond specific cases or contexts.
It is specialized; developed by specialists within defined fields of expertise and enquiry.
https://eddieplayfair.com/2015/08/19/what-is-powerful-knowledge/
3 Possible Futures for Education
A Future 1 curriculum is the curriculum inherited from the 19th century which assumes that knowledge is a given and is
beyond debate. The future is seen as an extension of the past.
3 Possible Futures
A Future 2 approach acknowledges that knowledge has social and historical roots. It is defined in terms of particular needs and
interests, often those which are dominant in society. It was a
response to the rigidity and elitism of the Future 1 model but it was
based on a misguided theory of knowledge. The fact that
knowledge is socially constructed does not necessarily mean that it
is inherently biased or that some knowledge is not better; more
valuable, more truthful or more universally applicable.
3 Possible Futures
Future 3 locates knowledge as the creation of specialist communities of researchers rather than simply treating it as given. It
acknowledges that knowledge is fallible, contestable, provisional
and subject to change. But in contrast to Future 2 it does not see it
as an arbitrary response to a particular challenge; it is bound by
epistemic rules about what makes things likely to be true.
Future 3 treats subjects as the most reliable tools we have to help
students acquire powerful knowledge and make sense of the
world. Subjects are a resource to take students beyond their
experience, to challenge their existing ideas.
An assessment of our situation
Under-preparation of social studies teachers in geography,
especially more advanced ways of geographic thinking and
reasoning
Geography education leadership has narrowed (and aged) over
time, and not all embrace student-centered approach
We do not have space or support for an expansion of geography
education, so we need to be strategic.
Human(e) Geography
How does geography help us understand what has happened, what
is happening, and what is likely to happen in my life/our lives/others
lives?
A geography of flows
Representations of space
Sociospatial dialectic (how space and society are mutually
constitutive)
Space of Flows
SOME COMPELLING QUESTIONS
What kinds of things flow between places? Why?
How have flows changed over time?
How do you decide when to intervene or manage the way
something flows from one place to another?
Representations of Space
SOME COMPELLING QUESTIONS
What are some of the different ways that we encounter
representations of space and place?
What is the difference between an accurate and an informative
representation of the earth?
How have representations of the world changed over time?
Sociospatial Dialectic?
SOME COMPELLING QUESTIONS
How do the environments humans create shape our social patterns and the way we relate to each other?
What landscapes reflect (American) identity? Which landscapes shape (American) identity?
Do we make places or do places make us?
Does cyber space work like physical space in terms of how it relates to society?
Conclusions/Recommendations
Examine the world closely, beginning at home/school and
extending as far as possible.
Look at maps, look at pictures, read stories and listen to music (and
interpret them) to learn about places.
Make maps, take pictures, and tell stories about places.
Ask people what places mean to them, how space presents
challenges, and how they use geographic strategies.
Always challenge your students to think of what could be different,
and use geographic inquiry to .
Conclusions/Recommendations
Connect with the geographic alliance in your home state and seek
out online resources from other states’ alliances.
Use geospatial technology to promote spatial and relational
thinking (Esri ArcGIS Online, GeoInquiries) and create maps.
Find ways to get teacher professional development to increase
capacity.
Talk to others in your school and district about how geographic
inquiry promotes literacy, critical thinking, and STEM skills.
Unlocking the Power
of Geographic
Inquiry
Thomas Herman, PhDDirector, California Geographic Alliance
Department of Geography, San Diego State Univ.
