Gersmehl, Phil. (2008) Teaching Geography (2nd Edition) Reviewed by Andrew Milson<, University of North Texas

Gersmehl, Phil. (2008) Teaching Geography (2nd Edition) New York: Guilford Pp. vi + 320         ISBN 978-1-59385-715-8 Reviewed by Andrew Milson University of North Texas May 15, 2009 In Teaching Geography, Phil Gersmehl offers multiple analogies as a way of thinking about geography education. The first analogy is that of the "Geographical Scissors." Gersmehl dispenses with the long-standing feud between proponents of the regional approach to geography and those who favor a topical/systematic orientation to the subject by explaining that both are necessary and should work in cooperation—like the two blades of a scissors. The second key analogy articulated by Gersmehl is that of a rope with three strands as a model of geographic knowledge. The three strands of images/facts, analyses/theories, and evaluations/issues are presented as a rope to conjure the notion that no one strand should be privileged over the others (as in a hierarchical model) and that the strength of the endeavor rests on all three working in tight cooperation. These three strands also work similar to the components of language—letters/words, sentences/paragraphs, and metaphors/semantic overtones—to form a comprehensible "language of geography". The third major analogy is to the cornerstones of a building's foundation. Gersmehl explains that the foundation of geographical inquiry has the four cornerstones of location, condition, connection, and region. Location is important because "you have to know where something is before you can study it geographically" (p. 59). Condition is Gersmehl's preferred term for the concept of place or site; "the features, processes, and human actions that make the location meaningful" (p. 65). Connection concerns the "analysis of the ways in which locations are connected to each other" (p. 74). Gersmehl describes the concept of region as a geographical form of classification that aids in geographical comparison. He likens the geographer's use of region as a disciplinary concept to the historian's use of epoch or era. The four cornerstones are Gersmehl's version of the "Five Themes of Geography" (Location, Place, Human-Environment Interaction, Movement, and Region) that achieved enormous popularity in the field in the mid-1990s. In a chapter about themes in geographic education, Gersmehl asserts that the attention given the five themes has been misguided and has led to the promotion of materials and strategies that "actually subvert the idea of theme-oriented pedagogy" (p. 87). In another analogy—this time to music—Gersmehl explains that a theme should hold a lesson (or musical composition) together in a way that emphasizes important ideas (or musical phrases) and that lends coherence to the experience for the student (or listener). He suggests that this is best accomplished when themes are used inductively and cooperatively. In other words, the theme need not be announced at the beginning of a lesson (or at all) but should be discovered by students in an "aha" moment. Furthermore, the themes should not be taught in isolation, but cooperatively. The danger of "themeless" pedagogy in geography teaching is the tendency toward overgeneralization and/or trivia-listing. A fourth analogy is to a multi-wheeled cart as representative of the support structure needed for geography teachers. Gersmehl suggests that improving geography teaching at the K-12 level involves the improvement of pre-service teacher training, in-service teacher training, the curricular position of geography, and geography teaching materials. Each of these areas is represented as a wheel on a four wheeled cart. The cart analogy implies that no one area is more important than another and that experts in each area must focus attention on their respective "wheel" rather than trying to do everything at once. Furthermore, reform in geography education will not proceed as long as those who resist change point to the relative "flatness" of one or more of the "wheels" as an excuse for inaction. In one chapter that is a departure from the analogy structure, Gersmehl presents eight modes of spatial thinking that are based on his review of the research literature in neuroscience, developmental psychology, and other disciplines. These eight modes (Comparison, Aura, Region, Transition, Hierarchy, Analogy, Pattern, and Association) are described as "neurologically distinct" because "neuroscientists have identified some separate brain structures or links that appear to be dedicated to that specific kind of thinking" (p. 104). Gersmehl asserts that all of these modes should be taught at each grade level and provides suggestions for introducing and developing each of these modes of spatial thinking across the K-12 experience. In addition to the text, the book is packaged with a companion CD that includes teaching resources such as sample units, PowerPoint files, handouts, animations, discussion guides, transparency masters, a bibliography, and so forth. There are references through the book to relevant CD units and materials. Teaching Geographyis much more than a "how-to" book about geography teaching. Although there are numerous "how-to" suggestions, Gersmehl offers these suggestions within the context of a theory and philosophy of geographic education. The reader is invited to think about geography teaching as much as she is told how to do it. There is a Deweyan motif in Gersmehl's rejection of dualistic thinking and his support of pragmatic approaches to pedagogy. Similarly, his advocacy for inductive teaching of key concepts, spiraled-holistic approaches to curriculum sequencing, and cognitive psychology as a guide to curriculum design evoke Brunerian thought. While Germehl makes use of long-standing progressive and constructivist notions of good teaching, he successfully applies these ideas to geography teaching and articulates his theories in ways that are both readable and memorable. Although analogical reasoning can be hazardous, Gersmehl manages to provide analogies that succeed in capturing important ideas without the condescending reductionism that frequently plagues writing intended for teacher audiences. Gersmehl avoids talking down to teachers while maintaining a writing style that is conversational and frequently humorous. There are amusing terms such as "categorilla" and "ok-but-itis" used to illustrate, respectively, the dangers of teaching exceptional features in geography (longest, tallest, deepest, highest) and the "disease" that leads to "textbook obesity"; namely, the tendency of reviewers to say "this book is OK but it doesn't say anything about topic X and it would be better if they added just a little bit about that" (p. 148). At the risk of contracting in OK-but-itis, I believe the work would be improved immensely with the inclusion of references to both kindred and antagonist authors. The text of the book is devoid of citations with the exception of reference to source articles for tables and post-scripts at the end of some chapters. The reference list at the end of the book is slightly less than three pages in length, yet there are no in-text citations for most of these sources. Although I trust that Gersmehl has actually read and appropriately synthesized "nearly 1200 recent research studies" (p. 99) on modes of spatial thinking, the reader must take Gersmehl's word for it and is not provided with even a short list of sources should he or she wish to pursue the topic in greater depth. There are 124 pages at the back of the book that are devoted to transparency masters that are also available on the companion CD. A better use for those printed pages would have been to provide the reader with a list of suggested readings at the end of each chapter, as well as a more thorough reference list that is more dutifully cited in the text. Overall, Teaching Geography is an excellent resource for teachers, professional development facilitators, curriculum coordinators, and others concerned with geography education. Gersmehl subtly weaves theoretical and philosophical considerations together with memorable analogies, substantive anecdotes, amusing asides, and an occasional soapbox appeal. I advise the reader to check his or her expectations about geography teaching at the front cover. Thus, one may find oneself rethinking cherished notions while reaffirming others. An author such as Gersmehl who accomplishes both of these tasks between the covers of a book has provided an important contribution to the field. About the Reviewer Andrew Milson is an Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of North Texas. His research focuses on geography education with a particular emphasis on geospatial technologies in educational environments. He studies how emerging technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the Global Positioning System (GPS), Remote Sensing (RS), and Web-based mapping can be harnessed to help students and teachers as they engage in geography education at all levels and in a variety of contexts. He is the co-editor with Marsha Alibrandi of the recent book, Digital Geography: Geospatial Technologies in the Social Studies Classroom (Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2008).