Geographic
Education is becoming an increasingly important
aspect of geographic training. The need for
geographic education is provided by recent education
reform. In 1994 the Educate America Act formalized
the national education standards movement and
identified geography as a key subject area.
Subsequently, the New York State Education Department
(SED) adopted virtually verbatim the National
Geography Standards and revised the scope and
sequence of its social studies and earth science
curricula to insure that geography is taught
and tested at various points in the K-12 years.
This program offers a critical perspective on
the fields of children’s geographic and
environmental learning and education. Together
with course offerings from environmental psychology,
developmental psychology, urban education anthropology
and sociology, this sub-specialization offers
a broad and critical coverage of the geographic
learning and education of children and youth.
Students in this area will have the opportunity
to work with the faculty and staff of the proposed
Hunter College Center for Geographic Learning,
whose functions include:
• Promoting interaction between Schools,
departments, and individuals involved in geographic
education at Hunter College;
• Coordinating the scheduling and staffing
of courses relevant to Hunter’s geographic
education curricula;
• Partnering with the teachers union,
school districts, and superintendencies to offer
teacher training and staff development;
• Working with personnel from the Center
for the Analysis and Research of Spatial Information
(CARSI) to develop that facility’s resources
for educational use;
• Facilitating grant writing aimed at
promoting geographic education at all levels
(K-University);
• Building working relationships with
schools in the general vicinity of Hunter College;
and
• Developing geographic materials for
classroom use.
