Eastern Michigan University

College of Arts and Sciences

 

NCSS/Social Studies Education 

 

XI. Matrix

 

 

Matrix Item 2.2  Disciplinary Standard: Geography

 

Teachers who are licensed to teach geography at all school levels should possess the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of geography.

 

Indicators of Capabilities for Teaching Geography

 

Teachers of geography at all school levels should provide developmentally appropriate experiences as they guide learners in their study.  They should:

 

*        guide learners in the use of maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective;

*        enable learners to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context;

*        assist learners to analyze the spatial information about people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface;

*        help learners to understand the physical and human characteristics of places;

*        assist learners in developing the concept of regions as a means to interpret Earth’s complexity;

*        enable learners to understand how culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions;

*        provide learners opportunities to understand and analyze the physical processes that shape Earth’s surface;

*        challenge learners to consider the characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth’s surface;

*        guide learners in exploring the characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth’s surface;

*        help learners to understand and analyze the characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics;

*        have learners explore the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth’s surface;

*        enable learners to describe the processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement;

*        challenge learners to examine how the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth’s surface;

*        help learners see how human actions modify the physical environment;

*        enable learners to analyze how physical systems affect human systems;

*        challenge learners to examine the changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources;

*        help learners to apply geography to interpret the past and present and to plan for the future;

*        enhance learners’ abilities to ask questions and to acquire, organize, and analyze geographic information so they can answer geographic questions as they engage in the study of substantive geographic content.

 

 

2.2 Geography

 

 

The program prepares Social Studies teachers who possess the knowledge, capabilities and dispositions to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of Geography.

 

 

2.2.1 Programmatic Evidence

 

The Department of Geography and Geology Program Goals for the Revised Geography Major (Secondary Teacher Certification) are as follows:

 

      1)   To provide future teachers with an understanding of:

 

 

 

a)  basic concepts of geography, including the elements of maps and other forms of geo-information, and their interpretation;

 

b) the location of important land features, bodies of water, and key place locations globally, nationally, and in the state of Michigan;

 

c) the physical and human characteristics of the world’s major regions, including natural resources, cultural and historical geographic development patterns, and geo-political elements;

 

d) the physical and human characteristics of the major regions of the United States and Michigan, including natural resources, cultural and historical geographic development patterns, and geo-political elements; 

 

e)  the concept of culture and its effects on the development and human relationship to the physical landscape;

 

f)  major economic activities and geographic influences on economic development;   

 

g)  population distributions, growth and settlement patterns, and migrations of significance in the past and present;

 

h)  the structure, function, and location of urban and rural settlements; and

 

i)   ways by which people have modified their physical environments over time and the resulting impacts.

 

 

2)  To offer future teachers a balanced major overviewing the sub-disciplines of geography and the continuing changes in geographic theory and practice.

 

3)  To ensure that future teachers have both a comprehensive knowledge of geography and the sense of geographic inquiry that enables them to put into perspective for their students world, national, and state  events and technological changes.

 

All Geography for Secondary Education majors are required to take the following classes:

 

1. GEOG 107: Introduction to Geography

 

      Objectives for this class include:

 

 

1). Students will be able to analyze the spatial information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context;Students will be able to describe the physical and human characteristics of places.

 

2). Students will be able to interpret the past, present and to plan for the future.

 

3). Students will be able to ask questions and to acquire, organize, and analyze geographic information so they can answer geographic questions as they engage in the study of substantive geographic content. Students will be able to describe and apply basic geographic concepts.

 

4).  Students will be able to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.

 

5). Students will be able to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

 

6). Students will be able to describe and analyze the physical processes that shape the earth’s surface;

 

 

i.   Geologic time

 

ii.   Movements of continents

 

iii.   Earth materials

 

iv.  Tectonic forces

 

v.   Gradational/erosional processes

 

 

7). Students will be able to describe how human actions modify the physical environment.

 

8). Students will be able to analyze how physical systems affect human systems.

 

9). Students will be able to analyze processes that affect weather and climate.

 

10). Students will be able to analyze how weather and climate affect human systems.

 

11). Physical Geography - Environmental Geography.

 

12). Students will be able to describe the characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on the earth’s surface.

 

13). Students will be able to describe how human interactions modify the environment.

 

14).  Students will be able to examine the changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.

 

15).  Students will be able to describe the characteristics, distribution, and migration of human population on the earth’s surface and describe the processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement.

 

16). Students will be able to describe and analyze the characteristics, distribution, and complexity of the earth’s cultural mosaics;

 

17). Students will be able to describe how culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions.

 

18). Students will be able to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.

 

19). Students will be able to describe and analyze world political systems and  how forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence political division and control.

 

20). Students will be able to describe world economic systems;

 

21). Students will be able to describe the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on the earth’s surface and the changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.

 

22). Students will be able to describe and analyze urban settlement patterns on the earth’s surface and the processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement

 

23). Students will be able to describe and analyze the characteristics, distribution, and complexity of the earth’s urban settlements.

 

24). Students will be able to apply the concept of regions as a means to interpret the earth’s complexity.

 

 

2. GESC 108: Earth Science, has the following common objectives:

 

 

A primary goal of the course is for students to gain an understanding of the basic processes that operate on and within the earth and how to use this information in day to day decisions.   Sub-goals of this primary goal include:

 

1). Students will be able to describe and analyze the physical processes that shape the earth’s surface;

 

2). Students will be able to describe and analyze the physical characteristics of places;

 

3). Students will be able to describe and analyze how physical systems affect human systems;

 

4). Students will be able to describe and analyze processes that affect weather and climate;

 

5). Students will be able to describe and analyze how weather and climate affect human systems;

 

6). Students will be able to describe and analyze the characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on the earth’s surface;

 

7). Students will be able to describe and analyze how human interactions modify the environment;

 

8). Students will be able to describe and analyze the changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.

 

9). A secondary goal is to develop an in depth understanding of the method of scientific inquiry so that these bias-reducing skills can be effectively utilized to solve a variety of daily decisions throughout the rest of the students' lives. 

 

 

3. GEOG 110: World Regions, has the following outcomes/objectives are sought for each of the world realms specified in the course outline below:

 

 

1). Students will be able to describe and analyze the concepts of realms and regions as means to geographically interpret the earth's complexity.

 

2). Students will be able to describe and analyze how physical systems affect human systems.

 

3). Students will be able to describe and analyze the spatial information about people, places, and environments around the world.

 

4). Students will be able to describe and analyze the physical and human characteristics of places.

 

5). Students will be able to describe and analyze how culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions.

 

6). Students will be able to describe and analyze the characteristics, distribution, and complexity of global cultural mosaics.

 

7). Students will be able to describe and analyze patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface.

 

8). Students will be able to describe and analyze how the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of the earth's surface.

 

9). Students will be able to describe and analyze how geography can be used to interpret the past and present and to plan for the future. Regions studied include: Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America.

 

 

4. GEOG 313: Geography of Michigan has the following objectives:

 

 

1). Students will be able to describe how geography is at the intersection of man, land and time (or the meeting of nature and human prehistory/history).

 

2). Students will be able to describe Michigan as a Midwest state defined by water boundaries.

 

3). Students will be able to describe how Michigan is composed of many cultural and physical regions, which have changed through time.

 

4). Students will be able to apply geographical tools such as maps, county/regional population censuses and climate/hydrogeological data, which provide methods to locating, regionalizing and comprehending spatial patterns of Michigan's physical and human environment.

 

5). Students will be able to apply mapwork and data analysis that the geographical patterns of Michigan have changed over time and economic conditions.

 

6). Students will be able to describe basic geographical ideas such as "push-pull factors, cultural diffusion, sequent occupance" as applicable to the study of Michigan.

 

7). Students will be able to apply their knowledge to offering their own course for the general education of students, many of which will live in the state.

 

 

5. GEOG 320: the Geography of the United States & Canada has the following objectives:

 

 

1). Students will be able to define regions as a means to interpret the complexity of the United States and Canada.,

 

2). Students will be able to describe the various regions of the United States and Canada, and thereby to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.

 

3). Students will be able to describe and analyze the physical and human characteristics of the regions of the United States and Canada.

 

4). Students will be able to describe and analyze the concept of site and situation in relation to human settlement, especially cities with their characteristics, distribution, and complexity.

 

5). Students will be able to describe and analyze the economic, political, and social processes in relation to physiography, thereby enabling learners to analyze how physical systems affect human systems.

 

6). Students will be able to describe and analyze how regions compare and contrast with other regions, and with the United States and Canada as a whole.

 

 

6. In HIST 481, all students receive instruction, resources and models of geography teaching, 7-12.

 

 

2.2.2 Test Evidence

 

Classes taken:

The three members of the Winter 2003 student teaching cohort scored as follows in their courses:

 

Geography

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

GEO 235

A-,

A

A

Geo 110

B-

A

A

Upper level electives

 

 

 

GESC 475

B+

 

 

GESC 227

C+

 

 

GEOG 107

B-

C+

 

GHPR 335

B

 

 

GEOG 361

A-

A

A

GEOG 360

 

A

 

GEOG 332

A

 

A

GEOG 314

 

 

A

GEOG 320

A-

B+

 

GESC 108

C+

B-

A

GESC 320

C

 

 

GEOG 111

A

 

A-

GEOG 499

 

A

 

GESC 305

 

C

B+

GESC 324

 

B

A-

GEOG 303

 

 

A-

 

 

Geography:

Of the three graduates with a major in Geography for Secondary Education in 2002-3, one student took the Geography MTTC, and received a score of 274. The passing score for the MTTC is 220. The pass rate for majors is therefore 100%, while the state pass rate is currently 55%.

 

MTTC Objectives for each subject test are listed in the Appendix.

 

 

2.2.3 Performance Evidence

 

Geography Majors scored as follows in Strand 3 on the supplemental evaluation form:

 

Score

# of Students

5

2

4

1

3

0

2

0

1

0

NA

0