The National Science Foundation, through its Education and Human Resources Core Research program (Award DRL-1347859), has awarded a $292,491 grant to the Association of American Geographers (AAG) and Texas State University for a project designed to build capacity for conducting research on learning progressions in geography. Dr. Michael Solem (AAG) will direct the project with co-investigators Dr. Niem Tu Huynh (AAG) and Dr. Richard Boehm (Texas State University).
Learning progressions offer a means for educators to determine how students learn geographic facts, concepts, and skills, and whether they are on track toward attainment of a particular curriculum standard or set of standards. As noted in a report recently issued by National Geographic’s Road Map for 21st Century Geography Education Project, research on learning progressions is an area of critical need for improving the quality of geography teaching and learning (Bednarz, Heffron and Huynh 2013). The available research base in geography education is primarily focused on students' understanding (or learning) of individual ideas or skills, but not on the relationships between different areas of content or types of skills learned progressively across grade levels.
For additional information, please visit the project website.
Bednarz, S.W., Heffron, S., & Huynh, N.T. (Eds.). (2013). A road map for 21st century geography education: Geography education research (A report from the Geography Education Research Committee of the Road Map for 21st Century Geography Education Project). Washington, DC: Association of American Geographers.