Geography Education and Pedagogy

Geography education research examines how people learn to think spatially about the world — how they come to understand place, scale, pattern, and the relationships between human activity and physical environment. Pedagogy in this area has moved well beyond map-reading drills, with researchers now studying how fieldwork, active learning strategies, and geographic information systems shape the way students construct and apply spatial knowledge. A recurring question is how much direct, place-based experience can be replaced or supplemented by virtual alternatives — from simulated field trips to GIS-based inquiry — without sacrificing the critical engagement that comes from encountering real landscapes. Current work is also probing how students themselves perceive geographic learning, and what instructional designs best cultivate not just geographic literacy but genuinely critical spatial thinking.

Works

41,182

Total citations

127,106

Keywords

Geography EducationSpatial ThinkingExperiential LearningGeographic Information SystemsFieldworkActive Learning