Wednesday, April 3, 2002
|
Wednesday, April 3, 2002 |
|
Fayette students in geography competition Six Fayette County students are set to compete later this week for a spot in the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C. The state competition is Friday at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville. Preliminary rounds begin at 10 a.m. and the final round is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. The competition will be located in the Health Sciences Building. Fayette County participants are scheduled to include: Austin R. Garrett, eighth grade, Flat Rock Middle. Daniel G. Hicks, eighth grade, Rising Starr Middle. Nicholas A. Kirkland, eighth grade, St. Paul Lutheran. Nick J. Mercier, eighth grade, Our Lady of Victory. John T. Piribek, eighth grade, Booth Middle. Larissa Ruckl, fifth grade, Tyrone Elementary. Motivated by evidence that geography had virtually disappeared from American classrooms, the National Geographic Society in 1985 launched a comprehensive, multimillion dollar campaign to improve the effectiveness of geography teaching and elevate the subject's status in school curriculums. "Geography suffered a great deal from the methods of teaching that were used when I was in school," said Gilbert M. Grosvenor, chairman of the Society's Board of Trustees and its Education Foundation. "When poorly taught, geography is stiff and frozen, the stuff of memorization. When it's brought alive, however, geography is one of the richest and broadest of intellectual pursuits. It is also a vitally important one." The Society and local partners have spent more than $110 million since 1988 on innovative education programs to make geography come to life for young people. The Education Foundation's many facets include a grassroots network of geographic alliances, online resources, public awareness campaigns for geography and professional development and mentoring programs for teachers. In 2001 the Society trained about 33,000 teachers through the programs and institutes it supports. Online offerings include the Society's award-winning Web site, www.nationalgeographic.com; MapMachine, an interactive atlas; and "Xpeditions," a special geography Web feature that brings U.S. national geography standards to life for students, teachers and parents. Other Society resources to enliven geography in the classroom include a new classroom magazine, "National Geographic for Kids," designed to improve elementary school students' nonfiction literacy skills while providing high-quality science and social studies content. Each year the National Geographic Bee attracts some five million students in grades 4-8 who vie for the chance to compete in the Bee's nationally televised finals. The top three winners of the Geographic Bee share $50,000 in college scholarships. The Society holds an international geography competition every two years; last year 12 countries took part. Encouraging signs that geography is returning to the American classroom include a surge in the number of undergraduate geography majors in U.S. colleges and a steady rise in enrollment in graduate geography programs. The College Board has, as a result, developed an advanced placement geography course and test. Reports from schools are also improving. The 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress in geography, the first full-scale assessment of geography at grades 4, 8 and 12, found nearly three-quarters of the 19,000 pupils tested showed at least a basic understanding of the subject. About one-quarter are proficient in the subject at their grade level.
|
||