Straddling The Gap: A MIddle School Teacher's Journey Towards Good Geography

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorValli, Linda Ren_US
dc.contributor.authorRosenstein, David Fredricen_US
dc.contributor.departmentEducation Policy, and Leadershipen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2016-06-22T05:59:49Z
dc.date.available2016-06-22T05:59:49Z
dc.date.issued2016en_US
dc.description.abstractResearch points to a gap between academic or disciplinary based geography and what is taught in secondary classes across the nation. This study documents a teacher’s journey and efforts to bring a more disciplinary approach to two suburban heterogeneous sixth grade geography classrooms. The researcher traces student perspectives on geography and facility with geographic reasoning as well as his own perspectives and pedagogy with respect to student data. The study attempts to map the space where school geography meets and interacts with disciplinary oriented geography based upon the Geography for Life National Geography Standards. Participants completed two sets of baseline assessments and two sets of end of year assessments as well as an initial intake survey. The seven primary participants were interviewed five times each throughout the academic school year and data were openly coded. The data suggest that students can learn geography and geographic reasoning from a disciplinary perspective. Students sharpened their geographic skills through deeper subject matter knowledge and developing spatial and ecological perspectives. The data also indicate that the teacher researcher faced considerable challenges in implementing a disciplinary approach to teaching geography. The coverage demands of a crowded history-centric curriculum together with ill-fitting resources required a labor-intensive effort to put together and execute this study. Study findings indicate that the path to good geography pedagogy can be impeded by a host of external and internal challenges. However, to forward thinking practitioners, the effort to straddle the gap between school geography and disciplinary-based geography may be well worth it.en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/M2F20C
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/18296
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledTeacher educationen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledEducationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledGeographic Reasoningen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledGeographic Thinkingen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledGeography Educationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledSecondary Geographyen_US
dc.titleStraddling The Gap: A MIddle School Teacher's Journey Towards Good Geographyen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Rosenstein_umd_0117E_17041.pdf
Size:
15.41 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

UMD Theses and Dissertations
Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations