Summary
We invite contributors to use 5-8 minutes to make brief, lively presentations of classroom ideas, materials, or strategies that work to electrify geography education and inspire and mentor others. The session is envisioned as a workshop-like panel where contributors “pitch” and discuss their ideas, whether fully developed or still in planning.
We invite interested participants to submit their ideas-title and brief description to ken.foote@uconn.edu and s-bednarz@tamu.edu by 1 September, 2025. The session will be open to any and all even without prior submission. This is a workshop to improve and hone high quality geography lessons/materials.
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | Curriculum and Instruction | Advocacy, Curriculum Development, Transformative Learning
Conference Room
Clark
Meet the Presenters
Sarah Witham Bednarz is professor emerita of geography at Texas A&M University. Bednarz’s research interests are in the intersection of teaching and learning geospatial technologies and spatial and geographic thinking. She was PI on two major curriculum and educational research projects; co-authored the national geography standards, Geography for Life (1994 and 2012); participated in the National Research Council Learning to Think Spatially project, and helped to develop the National Assessment of Educational Performance (NAEP) framework in geography. In 2013 she co-chaired the Geography Education Research Committee (GERC) of the 21 st Century Road Map for 21 st Century Geography Education Project. She has been an AP Human Geography reader, table leader, question leader, exam leader, and served on the Test Development Committee.
Dr. Ken Foote is a professor in the Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community and Urban Studies at the University of Connecticut. Much of his work focuses on improving professional development for early-career academics and department leaders. His research focuses on historic preservation, heritage tourism, and the commemorative landscapes of the U.S. and Europe, especially the way events of violence and tragedy are interpreted and memorialized. Ken is a past president of the NCGE (2006) and a past president and fellow of the AAG (2010-11). He has received awards from the NCGE, AAG, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS), and the Royal Geographical Society. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Colorado Boulder and holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Chicago. Among his books are Shadowed Ground: America’s Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy, Teaching GIScience and Technology in Higher Education, and Aspiring Academics: A Resource Book for Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty.
