GEOGRAPHIC SKILLS
Geographic skills provide the necessary tools and
techniques for us to think geographically.
They are central to geography’s distinctive approach to understanding
physical and human patterns and processes on Earth. We use geographic skills when we make decisions
important to our well-being—where to buy or rent a home; where to get a job;
how to get to work or to a friend’s house; where to shop, vacation, or go to
school. All of these decisions involve
the ability to acquire, arrange, and use geographic information. Daily decisions and community activities are
linked to thinking systematically about environmental and societal issues. Community decisions relating to problems of
air, water, and land pollution or locational issues, such as where to place
industries, schools, and residential areas, also require the skillful use of
geographic information. Business and
government decisions, from the best site for a supermarket or a regional
airport to issues of resource use, or international trade, involve the analysis
of geographic data.
Geographic skills help us to make reasoned political
decisions. Whether the issues involve
the evaluation of foreign affairs and international economic policy or local
zoning and land use, the skills enable us to collect and analyze information,
come to an informed conclusion, and make reasoned decisions on a course of
action. Geographic skills also aid in
the development and presentation of effective, persuasive arguments for and
against matters of public policy.
THE RATIONALE FOR GEOGRAPHIC SKILLS
The geographic skills that a geographically informed
person should have consist of five sets adapted from the Guidelines for
Geographic Education: Elementary and Secondary Schools, prepared by the
Joint Committee on Geographic Education and published in 1984 by the
Association of American Geographers and the National Council for Geographic
Education:
- ASKING GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS
- ACQUIRING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
- ORGANIZING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
- ANALYZING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
- ANSWERING GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS
Following is a brief explanation of the principles
underlying the five skill sets:
1. ASKING GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS
Successful geographic inquiry involves the ability and
willingness to ask, speculate on, and answer questions about why things are
where they are and how they got there.
Students need to be able to pose questions about their surrounding:
Where is something located? Why is it there? With what is it associated? What
are the consequences of its location and associations? What is this place like?
Students should be asked to speculate about possible
answers to questions because speculation leads to the development of hypotheses
that link the asking and answering stages of the process. Hypotheses guide the search for information.
Geography is distinguished by the kinds of questions it
asks—the “where” and “why there” of a problem.
It is important that students develop and practice the skills of asking
such questions for themselves. The task
can be approached by giving students practice in distinguishing geographic from
nongeographic questions and by
presenting students with issues and asking them to develop geographic
questions. At higher grade levels
students can identify geographic problems and ways in which an application of
geography can help solve problems or resolve issues.
2. ACQUIRING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Geographic information is information about locations,
the physical and human characteristics of those locations, and the geographic
activities and conditions of the people who live in those places. To answer geographic questions, students
should start by gathering information from a variety of sources in a variety of
ways. They should read and interpret all
kinds of maps. They should compile and
use primary and secondary information to prepare quantitative and qualitative
descriptions. They should collect data
from interviews, fieldwork, reference material, and library research.
The skills involved in acquiring geographic information
include locating and collecting data, observing and systematically recording
information, reading and interpreting maps and other graphic representations of
spaces and places, interviewing, and using statistical methods.
Primary sources of information, especially the result of
fieldwork performed by the students, are important in geographic inquiry. Fieldwork involves students conducting
research in the community by distributing questionnaires, taking photographs,
recording observations, interviewing citizens, and collecting samples. Fieldwork helps arouse the students’
curiosity and makes the study of geography more enjoyable and relevant. It fosters active learning by enabling
students to observe, ask questions, identify problems, and hone their
perceptions of physical features and human activities with the world in which
they live.
Secondary sources of information include texts, maps,
statistics, photographs, multimedia, computer databases, newspapers, telephone
directories, and government publications.
Tertiary sources such as encyclopedias report information
compiled from secondary sources and are important in some research situations.
3. ORGANIZING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Once collected, the geographic information should be
organized and displayed in ways that help analysis and interpretation. Data should be arranged systematically. Different types of data should be separated
and classified in visual, graphic forms: photographs, aerial photos, graphs,
cross sections, climagraphs, diagrams, tables, cartograms, and maps. Written information from documents or
interviews should be organized into pertinent quotes or tabular form.
There are many ways to organize geographic
information. Maps play a central role in
geographic inquiry, but there are other ways to translate data into visual
form, such as by using graphs of all kinds, tables, spreadsheets, and time
lines. Such visuals are especially
useful when accompanied by clear oral or written summaries. Creativity and skill are needed to arrange
geographic information effectively.
Decisions about design, color, graphics, scale, and clarity are
important in developing the kinds of maps, graphs, and charts that best reflect
the data.
Geography has been called “the art of the mappable”. Making maps should be a common activity for
all students; they should read (decode) maps to collect information and analyze
geographic patterns and make (encode) maps to organize information. Making maps can mean using sketch maps to
make a point in an essay or record field observations. It can mean using symbols to map data on the
location of world resources or producing a county-level map of income in a
state. It can even mean mapping the
distribution of fire-ant mounds in a field or trash on a school
playground. For students, making maps
should become as common, natural, and easy as writing a paragraph. They should be skilled in interpreting and
creating map symbols, finding locations on maps using a variety of reference
systems, orienting maps and finding directions, using scales to determine
distance, and thinking critically about information on maps.
4. ANALYZING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Analyzing geographic information involves seeking
patterns, relationships, and connections.
As students analyze and interpret information, meaningful patterns or
processes emerge. Students can then
synthesize their observations into a coherent explanation. Students should note associations and
similarities between areas, recognize patterns, and draw inferences from maps,
graphs, diagrams, tables, and other sources.
Using simple statistics students can identify trends, relationships, and
sequences.
Geographic analysis involves a variety of
activities. It is sometimes difficult to
separate the processes involved in organizing geographic information from the
procedures used in analyzing it. The two
processes go on simultaneously in many cases.
But in other instances, analysis follows the manipulation of raw data into
an easily understood and usable form.
Students should scrutinize maps to discover and compare spatial patterns
and relationships; study tables and graphs to determine trends and
relationships between and among items; probe data through statistical methods
to identify trends, sequences, correlations, and relationships; examine texts
and documents to interpret, explain, and synthesize characteristics. Together these analytical processes lead to
answers to the questions that first prompted an inquiry and to development of
geographic models and generalizations.
There are the analytical skills that all students need to develop.
5. ANSWERING GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS
Successful geographic inquiry culminates in the
development of generalizations and conclusions based on the data collected,
organized, and analyzed. Skills
associated with answering geographic
questions include the ability to make inferences based on information organized
in graphic form (maps, tables, graphs) and in oral and written narratives. These skills involve the ability to distinguish
generalizations that apply at the global level (issues of scale are important
in developing answers to geographic questions).
Generalizations are the culmination of the process of
inquiry, and they help to codify understanding.
Developing generalizations requires that students use the information
they have collected, processed, and analyzed to make general statements about
geography. At other times, however,
students use the evidence they have acquired to make decisions, solve problems,
or form judgements about a question, issue, or problem.
Geographic generalizations can be made using inductive
reasoning or deductive reasoning.
Inductive reasoning requires students to synthesize geographic
information to answer questions and reach conclusions. Deductive reasoning requires students to
identify relevant questions, collect and assess evidence, and decide whether
the generalizations are appropriate by testing them against the real
world. Students should have experience
in both approaches to learning.
Students should also be able to communicate clearly and
effectively, especially as they learn to answer geographic questions. It is a skill linked closely to good
citizenship. Students can develop a
sense of civic responsibility by
disseminating the answers they have discovered in geographic inquiry. They can display geographic information in
many engaging and effective ways—for example, by using multimedia, such as
combinations of pictures, maps, graphs, and
narratives, to present a story or illuminate a generalization. Geographic information can also be presented
through the use of poems, collages, plays, journals, and essays. Every medium chosen to present geographic
information to answer a question or address an issue or problem should stimulate
inquiry and communicate clearly.
Choosing the best means of presenting answers to geographic questions is
an important skill.
Students should also understand that there are
alternative ways to reach generalizations and conclusions. There are many types of knowledge, and many
levels of reality and meaning. Teachers
should encourage students to develop multiple points of view and to seek
multiple outcomes to problems. This
process should include collecting many kinds of data, including personal,
subjective information, from a variety of sources.
The fifth skill set represents the last step in the
process of geographic inquiry. But it is
not really the end, because the process usually begins again with new questions
suggested by the conclusions and generalizations that have been developed. These questions, often posed as hypotheses to
be tested, provide a way to review generalizations. Each question answered, decision reached, or
problem solved leads to new issues and new problems. Geographic learning is a continuous process
that is both empowering and fascinating.
DEVELOPING GEOGRAPHIC SKILLS
It is essential that students develop the skills that
will enable them to observe patterns, associations, and spatial order. Many of the skills that students are expected
to learn involve the use of tools and technologies that are part of the process
of geographic inquiry. Maps are
essential tools of geography because they assist in the visualization of space.
Other tools and technologies, such as satellite-produced
images, graphs, sketches, diagrams, and photographs are also integral parts of
geographic analysis. The rate of growth
of an urban area, for example, can be observed by comparing old and new
photographs. Large-scale land-use
changes can be made clear by comparing images taken over a period of years.
A new and important tool in geographic analysis is the
spatial database, or geographic information system (GIS). Geographic information systems make the
process of presenting and analyzing geographic information easier, so they
accelerate geographic inquiry. Spatial
databases also can be developed in the classroom using paper and pencil.
Many of the capabilities that students need to develop
geographic skills are termed critical thinking skills. Such skills are not unique to geography and
involve a number of generic thinking processes, such as knowing, inferring,
analyzing, judging, hypothesizing, generalizing, predicting, and
decision-making. These have applications
to all levels of geographic inquiry and constitute the bases on which students
can build competencies in applying geographic skills to geographic inquiry.
Geographic skills develop over the entire course of the
students’ school years, and for each of the three successive grade levels discussed. Teachers and other curriculum developers will
need to recognize that the students’ mastery of geographic skills must be
sequenced effectively so that the students retain and build on their
understanding.
GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES
A perspective is one point of view among many competing
ways of interpreting the meanings of experiences, events, places, persons,
cultures, and physical environments.
Having a perspective means looking at our world through a lens shaped by
personal experience, selective information, and subjective evaluation. A perspective provides a frame of reference
for asking and answering questions, identifying and solving problems, and
evaluating the consequences of alternative actions. It is essential to be aware that many perspectives
exist and that learning to understand the world from many points of view
enhances our knowledge and skills. It is
also essential to realize that our perspectives incorporate all life
experiences and draw upon knowledge from many fields of inquiry. Therefore, people cannot be neatly boxed into
specific perspective types regardless of their cultural experiences, ethnic
backgrounds, age, gender, or any other characteristic. Geographically informed people know how to
contemplate, understand, and apply two specific geographic perspectives, along
with complementary disciplinary and personal perspectives.
The two specific geographic perspectives are the spatial
perspective and the ecological perspective.
Geographic perspectives bring societies and nature under the lens of
geography for interpretation and explanation.
Geographic perspectives encompass understanding spatial patterns and
processes on Earth and comprehending that Earth is composed of living and nonliving
elements interacting in complex webs of relationships within nature and between
nature and societies. A fully developed
set of geographic perspectives, therefore, requires the use of both spatial and
ecological points of view.
Knowledge is one fabric woven from many distinctive
fields of learning and is organized by different intellectual frameworks. Although each field of study represents
distinctive areas of inquiry, specialization, and perspectives, diverse sets of
questions are needed to reveal the complexities of nature and societies. Consequently, although spatial and ecological
perspectives are hallmarks of the geographic way of looking at the world,
additional perspectives are required for us to become fully informed.
THE SPATIAL
PERSPECTIVE
As history is concerned with the temporal dimension of
human experience (time and chronology), geography is concerned with the spatial
dimension of human experience (space and place). The space of Earth’s surface is the
fundamental characteristic underpinning geography. The essential issue of “whereness” - embodied
in specific questions such as, Where is it? Why is it there? - helps humans to
contemplate the context of spatial relationships in which the human story if
played out.
Understanding spatial patterns and processes is essential
to appreciating how people live on Earth.
People who approach knowing and doing with a habit of inquiring about
whereness possess a spatial perspective.
THE ECOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Earth is composed of living and nonliving elements
interacting in complex webs of ecological relationships which occur at multiple
levels. Humans are part of the interacting and interdependent relationships in
ecosystems and are one among many species that constitute the living part of
Earth. Human actions modify physical
environments and the viability of ecosystems at local to global scales. The survival of humans and other species
requires a viable global ecosystem.
Understanding Earth as a complex set of interacting
living and nonliving elements is fundamental to knowing that human societies
depend on diverse small and large ecosystems for food, water, and all other
resources. People who regularly inquire
about connections and relationships among life forms, ecosystems, and human societies
possess an ecological perspective.
COMPLEMENTING THE
TWO GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES
Many perspectives supplement the two geographic
perspectives and, when used appropriately, they can expand our understanding of
spatial patterns and human-environmental interactions. The geographic perspectives can be integrated
with other disciplinary perspectives and with our own points of view to enrich
and enlarge the understanding of people, places, and environments. Two other perspectives are of particular value
to students of geography: the historical perspective and the economic
perspective
THE HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
All human events and activities have historic and
geographic aspects. Central to
historical inquiry are questions concerning chronology, the sequencing of
events, relationships within and among societies over time, changes in cultures
in various eras, and the changing relationships between civilizations and
physical environments. A historical
perspective enriches the geographic perspective by adding the essential
questions of When? Why then? and Why is the event significant? These questions
complement the study of whereness and consequently promote a deepened
understanding of past and contemporary events, how and why places and regions
form and change, and variations in human use of environments in different
cultures and eras.
Understanding temporal patterns is a vital dimension of
comprehending human experiences on Earth.
People who ask questions about when events occurred and how events are
related to each other over time use a historical perspective.
THE ECONOMIC
PERSPECTIVE
Economics focuses on how people produce and exchange
goods and services to fulfill such need as food, shelter, transportation, and
recreation. Earning a living, developing
and trading resources, and inventing, producing, and distributing products and
services are central to economics.
Previously isolated economies are incorporated into the global economy
through difficult transitions from subsistence to commercial activities. Economic transformations promote an
increasing interdependence among all societies and cultures on Earth. Technological changes in transportation and
communications accelerate and expand economic exchange between the peoples of
the world. Local economies may be
drastically altered by decisions made in distant places.
Understanding the integration of local, regional, and
national economies with the global economy is critical to knowing how people
interact. People who ask how diverse
peoples earn a living and how peoples are connected through trade in goods and
services apply an economic perspective.