Educational Reform in Action

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Educational Reform in Action

• Daniel C. Edelson, Ph.D.
• Vice President, Education
• National Geographic Society

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Stop and Think

• What are the three biggest challenges facing
  human society?

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Societal Challenges?

• Common answers
• Lack of access to basic necessities (safe food,
  water air shelter sanitation healthcare
  education)
• Unsustainable use of natural resources and
  environmental degradation
• Violent conflict
• Two questions
• Will these challenges affect the lives of
  Americans?
• Where in school are students being prepared to
  address these challenges?

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Preparedness for the workplace

• Business and government challenges
• Transportation in an era of increasing fuel costs
• Working with overseas suppliers and offshore
  service providers
• Global marketplaces
• Where in school are students being prepared to
  address these challenges?

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Where would they be addressed in school?

• Geography!
• Cmon
• Map coloring?
• Memorizing place names?
• Obscure facts about remote locations?

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What is geography really?

• Interconnectedness
• What happens here influences what happens
  elsewhere.
• What happens elsewhere influences what happens
  here.
• Location matters
• What happens here is influenced by what its like
  here.
• What happens here is influenced by its
  relationship to other places.

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Downstream

• Watersheds
• Viewsheds
• Airsheds, Foodsheds
• Ideasheds

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Processes

• Resistance
• Obstacles
• Diffusion
• Radiation
• Land topography
• Network topology

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Whats going on?
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Whats going on?
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Whats going on?
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Whats going on?
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NGSs Model for Educational Reform

• Citizens prepared for decisions about
• Physical resources
• Social systems
• Ecosystems
• Citizens prepared to participate in
• Social and Economic Activities

Increase Quantity and Quality of Geographic
Learning Experiences
Increase Supply
Increase Demand
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Increase Demand
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Communication

• Repositioning geography in the minds of others
• Education of a different sort.

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Repositioning Geography

• What is geography?
• Why is it important?
• What does effective geographic education look
  like?

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Geography is

• The study of systems
• Physical
• Biological
• Human
• and their interactions

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Increase Supply
Develop Learning Resources
Develop Organizational Capacity
Develop Educator Capacity
Formal Schooling Informal Institutions Community Family
Pre-K
K-12
Post-secondary
Lifelong
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Learning Resources

• Instructional materials
• Geographic resources
• Technology
• Xpeditions

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Human Resources

• National Network of Geography Alliances
• State-based grassroots organizations
• Collaborative between geographers and educators
• Professional development and advocacy

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Organizations

• School districts
• Informal institutions
• Community organizations
• Families

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Learn more

• www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions
• www.nationalgeographic.com/foundation
• www.nationalgeographic.com/education