I must admit I'm not all the terrified that students can't identify countries on a map. I think students should learn how to find the information that they need but they don't need to have it all in their heads, necessarily. If you want to know more about going to war, or giving aid or free trade (all very complicated topic) one minor piece of that might be where the relevant countries are located but you could Google that information in about 15 seconds. You could not Google that quickly the complex historical, economic, sociological, etc. consequences of going to war, giving aid, etc. So complex thinking is what we should teach. Things that could be looked up should just be looked up.
If the geography is important for the sociology professor teaching about the family (the original article), she should just show the students (takes a minute or two). Marie Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor l Department of Psychology Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College Phone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971 Office hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html From: Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 8:36 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Professor says students can't identify continents on map - Nfld. & Labrador - CBC News Point taken, Paul. But you don't have to want to stand in the front of the room in order for it to be important to know a few basic things. Especially if you're going to be asked to vote on questions like: Should we go to war in Asia (again)? Should we give aid to Africa? Should we have free trade with Europe? Should we drill in the Arctic? What effect is the "war on drugs" having on South America? Knowledge good. Ignorance bad. That is all. Chris --- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada chri...@yorku.ca<mailto:chri...@yorku.ca> http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================= On 2013-01-16, at 2:51 PM, Paul C Bernhardt wrote: We are the ones standing in the front of the room... the rest of the folks in our classes are outside the room doing other work with their lives. Our students are wondering what kind of freaks we are, except for one or two students in the class who, one day, will be standing in front of their room. When they leave your room they go surf to the Wikipedia page on flags, and maybe edit the entries on one or two things they've learned about... Not everyone wants to be the person in the front of the room. Paul On Jan 16, 2013, at 2:15 PM, Christopher Green wrote: This is true Nancy. But I remember learning maps and flags as a kid because I liked them, not because some govt threatened me with a standardized test (or even because some teacher decided to include them in the curriculum. Whatever happened to the people who just have to know? Chris ----- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 Canada chri...@yorku.ca<mailto:chri...@yorku.ca> On Jan 16, 2013, at 12:16 AM, drnanjo <drna...@aol.com<mailto:drna...@aol.com>> wrote: I wonder if it is possibly a reflection of the priorities of our education system. I remember taking Geography in elementary school. I don't remember having standardized testing on Geography. But plenty on other subjects. It it possible that this is one of the side effects of "teaching to the test"... It wouldn't surprise me if Geography had been eliminated in most curriculums in favor of subjects more likely to command space on standardized tests. Nancy Melucci Long Beach City College Long Beach CA -----Original Message----- From: Christopher Green <chri...@yorku.ca<mailto:chri...@yorku.ca>> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu>> Sent: Tue, Jan 15, 2013 9:11 pm Subject: [tips] Professor says students can't identify continents on map - Nfld. & Labrador - CBC News Time was that I would give history of psychology students a map test of European countries. On average, they got a little over 4 -- usually UK, France, Italy, and whatever country their ancestors came from. It got so depressing that I stopped. It seems I was expecting way too much. This sociology professor finds that her students can't even name continents. Sigh. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2013/01/14/nl-students-dont-know-geography-115.html Chris --- Christopher D. 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