Q&A With Sarah Bednarz of Human Geography

1. Inform us a little bit bit about your self and your background (present title, skilled milestones, skilled historical past, schooling, analysis works, hobbies, and so on.)

I’m retired from Texas A&M College the place I used to be a professor of geography. I additionally served as Affiliate Dean for the School of Geosciences for six years. I now stay in Albuquerque, New Mexico with my husband who can also be a geographer.

I got here into geography due to a deep curiosity about locations I lived. As a baby, due to my father’s job with Mobil Oil, I moved in the US and abroad incessantly. I at all times wished to know “the why of the place.” After I lived in New Zealand as a young person, I found geography. The topic answered the questions I had about individuals, locations, and environments. I majored in it in faculty (Mount Holyoke School) and after receiving an M.A. in Instructing (College of Chicago), I taught center and highschool for 14 years in Illinois and Texas.

I beloved instructing geography and felt passionately about its worth to college students in constructing key citizenship abilities, however developed a priority about studying. What might I do to raised assist my college students study to assume geographically? This led me to finish a Ph.D. in geography emphasizing schooling. My profession as a geography educator has led to many nice adventures and tasks working to reinforce the standard and amount of geography schooling in Okay-12 and better schooling. Regardless of retirement I proceed to analysis and work significantly with early profession school on instructing and studying points. Journey, knitting, and climbing are my enjoyable actions.

2. What was your driving pressure behind the creation of Human Geography: A Spatial Perspective, and what elements of this inaugural version are you most obsessed with?

I had the privilege to work with an inspiring set of authors. Every of us had one thing particular we emphasised. My specific ardour was to characteristic the work of a spread of geographers within the ebook, matching their analysis to the subjects mentioned, linking the precise work of geographers to instructing introductory human geography. I like to consider the ebook as much less of a textbook and extra of a view into the scholarship and scholarly achievements of geography.

3. Human geography encompasses such an enormous array of subjects and cultures. In what methods does your textbook provide one thing distinctive and differentiating to the sphere?

Our philosophy was to mix and emphasize two of the good traditions of geography — human-environment interplay and spatial evaluation — to prepare the content material. As a professor, I at all times taught this course because the story of some key ideas which might clarify how the world works. We every need to develop a grand narrative and inform a narrative to assist college students additionally make sense of the ways in which geographers see the world. It’s a problem — our college students are used to pondering chronologically, not spatially. However buying that spatial behavior of thoughts could be very highly effective. I hope the ebook helps college students on this endeavor.

4. Given the ever-evolving nature of human geography, how does your textbook talk about the complexities of present occasions and fashionable points to stay related and impactful for college students, and what are they?

I feel by emphasizing key ideas and ideas of geography, college students can purchase a framework that explains the important thing processes at work on this planet right this moment and the spatial patterns produced by these processes. It’s as much as instructors to current native and well timed examples that help college students in seeing the relationships between world developments and native circumstances and occasions.

5. How do you see this textbook deepening college students’ understanding and fostering a extra energetic engagement with its core ideas?

Clearly the work of the featured NatGeo Explorers is inspiring and motivating. Their work connects the ideas of geography with real-world discoveries and offers examples of the facility of geographic evaluation.

6. With learners from various educational backgrounds, how does your textual content accommodate each these specializing in geography or earth science, and people encountering it by means of common schooling?

Geography is what known as a discovery main, that’s, very only a few college students come to greater schooling dedicated to majoring within the topic. However that first introductory course, taught by a passionate and expert teacher, can seize the creativeness and curiosity of some who discover that the topic has nice explanatory energy and is compelling. We designed this ebook to be accessible to a spread of learners, with gorgeous visuals, clear writing, and intriguing options.  The intent is to supply a strong basis for the final schooling scholar and be a software to recruit the following technology of geographers.

7. What do you hope instructors will take away from this textbook that can improve their instructing?

That includes the work of up to date explorers illustrates ways in which school can join thrilling scientific discoveries with foundational ideas of geography. A second innovation that may switch into the pedagogical practices of instructors is using the analysis of up to date geographers.

8. Lastly, what do you hope is essentially the most important takeaway college students will carry with them after utilizing your textbook?

That geography’s distinctive and specific views on the world can present them with the information, abilities, and attitudes to make them higher residents and on a regular basis decision-makers. Geography has super mental and sensible worth, and I need extra college students to make the most of this highly effective topic.

Sarah Witham Bednarz is a Professor Emerita of Geography and previous President of the American Affiliation of Geographers. She served as Affiliate Dean for Educational Affairs within the School of Geosciences, Texas A&M College, from 2008 to 2014 and as Principal Investigator on two main curriculum and academic analysis tasks. Lately she cochaired the Geography Schooling Analysis Committee (GERC) of the twenty first Century Street Map for twenty first Century Geography Schooling Mission.

Need to know extra about “Human Geography: A Spatial Perspective” by Sarah Witham Bednarz, Mark Bockenhauer and Fred Hiebert?  Discover this primary version right here.