Teaching Geography Is Fundamental*

A Resolution to Support the Enactment of Teaching Geography is Fundamental

(S.749 and H.R. 1240)

Submitted to the United States Senate and the United StatesHouse of Representatives

PREAMBLE The Teaching Geography Is Fundamental Act has been sponsored by members of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives of the 111th Congress. It has been introduced in the Senate as S.749 and in the House of Representatives of as H.R.1240. Teaching Geography Is Fundamental is a bill “to improve and expand geographic literacy among kindergarten through grade 12 students in the United States by improving professional development programs for kindergarten through grade 12 teachers offered through institutions of higher education." It provides funds for national-level projects and research for collaborations between institutions of higher education and Geographic Alliances, non-profit educational organizations, and state or local educational agencies. Both the House and Senate versions of the bill allocate $15 million annually. WHEREAS, Both houses of the United States Congress have expressed significant bipartisan interest in, and sponsorship of the proposed legislation. WHEREAS, There is broad support to enhance geography in the curriculum based on the performance of United States' students on national and international measures of geography literacy. WHEREAS, Geography is a core discipline in the nation's schools and requires teacher professional development that is not specifically funded by national legislation: BE IT RESOLVED THAT, The National Council for Geographic Education, a non-profit, professional organization dedicated to the improvement of geography teaching, requests that the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives enact the proposed legislation within S.749 and H.R.1240 as law and authorize the requested funding to meet the future educational needs of students, teachers, and society.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED THIS 20TH DAY OF APRIL 2010. SIGNED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR GEOGRAPHIC EDUCATION.

* Source: National Council for Geographic Education

Next Generation Sunshine State Standards

Subject Matter Standards outline in some detail the social studies content that social studies teachers should know and the skills and dispositions they should possess in order to teach social studies to students appropriately

They are intended to be used to assess and help improve:

- The professional knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions of individuals seeking initial state licensure (or certification) to teach social studies in the classrooms of the United States

- The quality of college and university social studies teacher education programs that prepare these individuals.
Source: Florida Department of Education/Standards 2009

Next Generation Sunshine State Standards Website:

http://www.floridastandards.org/Standards/FLStandardSearch.aspx

Economics

By Edmar Bernardes DaSilva, MA (Geography), and Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)

Economics is the area of social science that is concerned with production, distribution, and consumption of any kind of goods and services. The world economics originated from the Greek words oikos (house) and nomos (custom or law), which mean rules of the household.

Lionel Robbins, in 1932, gave us the modern definition of economics: "the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses." For Robbins scarcity means that available resources are not sufficient to please all wants and needs.

Areas of economics:
Microeconomics: The area of economics that analyzes the market behavior of individual consumers and firms
Macroeconomics: The area of economics that deals with the functioning, organization, and performance of a national or regional economy as a total

Why Study History?

By Edmar Bernardes DaSilva, MA (Geography), and Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)

The reason to study history is not only to present facts, but also to look for an understanding of the past in order to understand the present and the future. Historians in general try to find prototypes and set up sense through the precise study of documents and artifacts left by people from the past and different places.

To learn history is very important to a liberal arts education. History is only one of its kind amongst the liberal arts in its emphasis on historical perspective and context. It is usually recognized that an understanding of the past is basic to an understanding of the present and in predicting the future. The examination and understanding of history give an essential background for assessing contemporary institutions, politics, and cultures.contemporary institutions, politics, and cultures.

What is History?

By Edmar Bernardes DaSilva, MA (Geography), and Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)

What is history? History in fact is a series of chronological records and how a sequence of events is stressed in each sub-definition. Actually history is positioned in the understanding and clarification of events in the categorization in which they happen (looking at chronology as the origin). The timelines can make outstanding illustration support for a visual learning of historical times (or periods). History on the other hand becomes an area of study that the learner must bear never-ending memorization of figures, dates and place.

Why Study Geography?

By Edmar Bernardes DaSilva, MA (Geography), and Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)

Geography in reality has a utilitarian value in the modern world. As the interconnectedness of the world accelerates the practical need for geographic knowledge becomes more critical and extremely necessary. Imagine a doctor who treats diseases without understanding the environment in which the diseases thrive and spread, or a manufacturer who is ignorant of world markets and resources, or a postal worker who cannot distinguish Guinea from Guyana or Austria from Australia. With a strong grasp of geography, people are better equipped to solve issues at not only at the local level but also at the global level. A lot people still do not understand that we live in a Global Village and the interconnection is impossible to stop.

Then you read in the news that a president of a country confuses Austria and Australia or the economic data from one country with another one or even confuses cultural life styles of one country and another which many times offends people that are proud of their language and cultural make up. A typical American geographical mistake is to confuse Rio de Janeiro as the capital of Argentina and Buenos Aires as the capital of Brazil. A statesman who arrives in a country and doesn’t know what country he is in and how he got there should not be a statesman at all, because his position already implies that he needs to know the geography (physical, cultural, political, economic...) of his country and also the entire world.

In short, all themes and concepts of geography are very useful and important in our everyday life, and when you take your learning of geography for granted, you are a candidate to become a world affairs illiterate who will always confuse Portuguese and Spanish, German and Dutch, Austria and Australia and so on.

What is Geography?

By Edmar Bernardes DaSilva, MA (Geography), and Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)

Geography can be described as the analysis of the earth and its physical features, its inhabitants, and phenomena. More precisely you can define it as the science, which describes or writes about the Earth. Eratostenes (276-194 BC) was the first person to coin the word geography.
Geography has four historical traditions when we talk about GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH:
The Spatial Analysis (of natural and human phenomena)
Area of Studies (places and regions)
Study of Man-Earth Relationship
Research in Earth Sciences

Although modern geography is a discipline that in reality looks to understand the Earth and all of its human and physical complexities (not only locating them but trying to understand how they have changed and why they changed). Geography is divided in two major branches: Human Geography and Physical Geography (making a bridge between human and physical sciences)