Smith, Margaret (2002)
Aspects of Teaching Secondary Geography: Perspectives on Practice.
London: RoutledgeFalmer.
A plethora of unfamiliar acronyms and organizational details about the history of British standards and curricula development might discourage an American reader from further investigation of the potential applications of this rich collection of articles on teaching and learning. Aspects of Teaching Secondary Geography: Perspectives on Practice is one volume in a series for the Open University Flexible postgraduate certificate of education program. With its companion reader, this edited book is part of an integrated course and has articles that will pique the intellectual curiosity of pre-service teachers, practitioners, and teacher educators from many communities.
The persistent reader is rewarded in the second section, which is by far the largest segment of the book. It is here that the practical issues of teaching and learning are addressed. The chapters discuss specific strategies a new teacher might employ for effective planning with diverse groups of students as well as strategies for evaluation of assessment procedures that will “ further teaching and learning” (Howes & Hopkin, p. 172). In this section is a challenge (Kitchen) to consider the landscape of a limiting environment as an example of the denial of democracy and social justice. Students read about a wheelchair patron who is denied access to a theatre because she presents a fire hazard to the other 30 patrons. The teacher helps students respond to this literary excerpt by observing the environment, drawing maps, and proposing design options so the text of the environment reads: equitable and just.
This section also discusses the need to integrate the cognitive domain of teaching and learning with the affective domain in deeper fieldwork (Job). The author justifies the use of qualitative measures in reviewing field work to show experiences which “engage the head and touch the heart in pupils’ experience of fieldwork.” (p. 133). Other articles (Smith, Martin, Williams, Taylor) describe educational uses of information and communications technology with specific examples of projects used in classrooms and many opportunities for additional applications in teaching geography.
Sections three and four direct the reader’s thinking toward global concerns with issues of injustice, economic development, sustainable resources, and our national socio-political image. Several selections invite 21st century educators to take an active role in “pushing the frontiers of geography teaching forward” (p. 300) and to confront the difficult questions. Included is an essay on geography and race (Morgan) and another that asks readers to take a critical look at sustainability and our vision of a better world (Hicks).
The twenty-six chapters range in complexity from how-to chapters on sequencing questions for inquiry to chapters analyzing implications of current research for teaching secondary geography. Editor Smith has selected contributors who offer multiple perspectives on current topics of concern and they punctuate their theoretical positions with relevant case studies and particular classroom practices for the student to review. Many authors present information with charts, diagrams, maps, sample surveys, and student work, making them more easily accessible for the reader.
The title of the second section of the text, “Geography in (and out of) the classroom” clearly communicates the message of the book. Geography education begins with the classroom but reaches into the larger community and its social, economic, and political issues that face tomorrow’s teachers and students. While the arrangement of writings suggests a sequence for reading, each chapter offers unique solutions to teaching geography. The book draws non-British readers into the practical concerns facing certified educators in many school situations in the professional field of geography education. The collection of articles successfully engages both pre-service teachers and experienced educators in reaching the book’s overarching purpose: “to develop critical understanding and discuss complex issues that surround teaching and learning in the 21st century” (p. i).
Pages: 384
Price: $30.95
ISBN: 0415260868
Reviewed by Reese H. Todd, Ph.D., Texas Tech University
