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The formal opportunity to learn geography in the United States is unevenly distributed across space, creating possible geography deserts. Data on the number of exams taken in Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) and bachelor’s degrees earned in geography are mapped at the state and regional scales. Normalized rates are ranked and grouped into...
Contexts in source publication
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... that do not submit annual data are at risk of losing federal funds for financial aid. The response rate for institutions is thought to be above 99 percent, and 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 institutions can correct errors if any are discovered (D'Amico 2018). ...
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... reasons of space, the article includes only the 2015 data in table and map form. Tables 1 and 2 show the numbers of APHG exams in 2015 by state and region. We also show for purposes of comparison the rate and rank of each area plus the net change in exams for the period 2005-2015. ...
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... many cases, the absolute numbers of exams taken are rather low. For example, in 2015 only six students took the APHG exam in Vermont (Table 1), and the six states of the New England region had only 1,564 students take the APHG exam (Table 2) 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 (Figure 2), much of the Northeast is in the lowest quintile for APHG exams and much of the Southeast is in the highest quintile. Tables 3 and 4 show the number of bachelor's degrees granted in 2015 by state and region. ...
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... many cases, the absolute numbers of exams taken are rather low. For example, in 2015 only six students took the APHG exam in Vermont (Table 1), and the six states of the New England region had only 1,564 students take the APHG exam (Table 2) 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 (Figure 2), much of the Northeast is in the lowest quintile for APHG exams and much of the Southeast is in the highest quintile. Tables 3 and 4 show the number of bachelor's degrees granted in 2015 by state and region. ...
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... map of bachelor's degrees granted in 2015 at the state scale (Figure 3) shows a rough north-south split 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 Figure 1. AP Human Geography exams by state. ...
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... the competition for a role within the K-12 social studies curriculum between history, on one hand, and several social science subjects including geography, on the other hand, tends to favor history in most states (Halvorsen 2013). Geography is generally a minor subject, with some states including a required course, available but optional courses, or con- tent strands of geography within larger social studies frameworks (Munroe and Smith 1998;Anthamatten 2004 ; 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 Second, should a state have a significant role for geography in the curriculum, it becomes easier for APHG to enter school district course offerings. For example, states including Florida or Texas that commonly offer a freshman or sophomore world geography course could permit the substitution of APHG. ...
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... the availability of a geography major at universities within the state will likely influence the sup- ply of teachers with sufficient preparation in geography 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 to offer APHG. Some schools that might otherwise wish to offer geography in general or APHG in particular may not be able to find teachers with a suitable professional background and so do not offer the course. ...
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... is a greater likelihood of geography being offered at public rather than private universities (Adams, Solis and McKendry 2014). This in turn may be the result 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 902 903 904 of geography's role in teacher education programs. When states began the process of converting publicly supported teachers colleges into comprehensive institu- tions during the 1960s, geography programs that were necessary to support teacher education continued as part of a broader curriculum in a comprehensive university. ...
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... example, many of the states in the southeastern United States have higher rates of APHG exams yet lower rates of bachelor's degrees in geography. One of the anticipated benefits of establishing 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 964 965APHG was the expected boost it would give to enrollment in university geography departments (Gray, Hildebrant, and Strauss 2006). In theory, a student who completed APHG would be more likely to take a college-level course, thus increasing postsecondary enrollments in geography and closely related fields such as environmental studies or regional studies. ...
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... which had about 12 percent of the U.S. population in 2016, is one state that might be part of an intense focus on increasing opportunities to study geography. In 2015 its rate for APHG exams ranked 25th and its rate for bachelor's degrees in geography ranked 28th (Tables 1 and 3). Because of California's population size, even a modest increase in the rate at which students there take APHG or complete a bachelor's degree in geography would represent a sizable increase in the total number of students with a significant formal learning experience in geography. ...
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... of California's population size, even a modest increase in the rate at which students there take APHG or complete a bachelor's degree in geography would represent a sizable increase in the total number of students with a significant formal learning experience in geography. 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 030 031 032 033 034 035 036 037 038 039 040 041 042 043 044 045 046 047 048 049 050 051 052 053 054 055 056 057 058 059 060 061 062 063 064 065 066 067 068 069 070 071 072 073 074 075 076 077 New England is a second place that could be part of an enhanced spatial strategy. While the population of the six states collectively is not that large compared to other states and regions, it is home to some of the country's most prestigious colleges and universities. ...
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... in the subject of geography. The community of professional geographers and educators should aspire to reduce if not eliminate the uneven spatial distribution of the opportunity to study geography. Shrinking possible localized geography deserts would be good for the overall education of the American public and for geography as a discipline . 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 ...
Citations
... In addition to this incorrect, incomplete, and distorted image of geography in society, surveys on middle and high school geography in the United States (McClure and Zadrozny 2015;Zadrozny 2017 show that geography does not receive the same attention and treatment in K-12 education all over the country. Geography requirements for middle and high school vary considerably from state to state, resulting in regional "geography deserts" (Jones and Luna 2019). In 2013, only about half of the states had specific standards (geography as a stand-alone course), whereas many others only defined strands (geography as part of a social studies subject or social studies in general) as their guidelines within the social studies standards (Brysch 2014). ...
Secondary school geography teachers in the United States tend to earn undergraduate degrees that focus on history and social studies. Since each state in the US governs the policies and procedures for teacher certification, we focus our attention on the preparation of secondary school geography teachers in Texas. We describe our university context, present the results of the Powerful Geography career aspirations survey administered to our students, and explain what we learned through interviews with two secondary school educators with administrative responsibilities for onboarding new teachers. Next, we provide a case study of our Historical Geography of North America course. We contend that historical geography has much to offer as an avenue for demonstrating Powerful Geography to aspiring social studies teachers.
The article explains the limited presence of geography in New England higher education as a result of the structure of the region’s higher education system. Blending the geography and history of education literatures, it identifies type of control (public vs. private), institution type, urban location, multi-campus university systems, and the weak position of geography in secondary schools and community colleges as key influences upon the existence of an undergraduate major in geography. The article also considers windows of opportunity when geography departments were commonly established and provides selected examples of institutions that closed geography departments.
The objective of this article is to assess the position of geography in the United States by examining the educational organizations that serve geography. Specifically, I detail four pieces of evidence: (1) the number and distribution of higher education institutions that offer geography; (2) trends in the number and diversity of geography majors; (3) state geography requirements for middle and high schools; and (4) the growth in Advanced Placement Human Geography and its distribution by states. Retaining a strong institutional presence in geography is vital given the precarious status of the discipline. I call for a more systematic approach to collecting and disseminating data on the health of our discipline to ensure its long-term survival. These steps are currently being taken by the American Association of Geographers and will result in a more robust data infrastructure.
