Powerful Geography

This book presents the evolution of the Powerful Geography approach to teaching and learning in the United States and how the approach can be adapted and implemented in other countries. Powerful Geography acknowledges the remarkable diversity that exists in classrooms, the wide-ranging interests of modern students and the desire of these students to translate dynamic subject-matter into “useful” information and concepts, a process that is consistent with modern educational theory. For Powerful Geography to work in secondary and postsecondary education, teachers and university professors must adapt and teach geography as a critical training where individual students see opportunities to apply geography content, skills, and technology to real world problems that they care about. This book challenges geography educators at all levels to strengthen their applied curriculum in order to help students prepare for jobs and careers in broad areas such as climate change, migration, environmental protection, natural resources, energy development and use, transport planning, supply chain logistics, global trade, national security, and infrastructure.

Dr. Michael Solem is Professor of Geography at Texas State University, San Marcos, USA. He also serves the American Association of Geographers as Senior Advisor for Geography Education and Co-Director of the National Center for Research in Geography Education. Michael has been principal investigator on several large-scale, federally funded projects spanning geography at all levels of education, focusing on professional development, international education, and teacher education. He currently serves as co-Chair of the International Geographical Union's Commission on Geographical Education. He is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Geography in Higher Education and Review of International Geographical Education Online. Michael has twice received the Journal of Geography in Higher Education’s award for promoting excellence in teaching and learning for his research on faculty development and graduate education in geography. He is the 2015 recipient of the AAG GilbertGrosvenor Honors in Geographic Education.

Dr. Richard G. Boehm is the director of the Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education at Texas State University. He presently holds the Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Chair in Geographic Education and is co-director of the National Center for Research in Geography Education and director of the Texas Alliance for Geographic Education. He is one of the original authors of the Guidelines for Geographic Education, in which the Five Themes of Geography were first articulated. Dr. Boehm has received many honors, including Distinguished Geography Educator by National Geographic Society (1990), the George J. Miller Award from the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) for distinguished service to geographic education (1991), Gilbert Grosvenor Honors in geographic education from the American Association of Geographers (2002), and the NCGE’s Distinguished Mentor Award (2010). In 2020, he was named a Fellow of the American Association of Geographers. He served as president of the NCGE and received the NCGE’s Distinguished Teaching Achievement award. His most current research focus is on the development of Powerful Geography, a new method of teaching and learning that acknowledges the diverse classroom and how geography can prepare students to fulfil their career goals in life.

Dr. Joann Zadrozny is the senior research associate for the Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education, National Center for Research in Geography Education and Texas Alliance for Geographic Education in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Texas State University. She received her PhD in Geography Education at Texas State University in 2018 and undergraduate degrees in geography and elementary education from Southern Connecticut State University. Her research interests include geography and social studies standards, alignment among national and state geography standards, Powerful Geography, and K-12 educational policy.