 To increase student achievement on statemandated tests
 To promote geographic education
 To practice reading and writing skills
 To maximize classroom instruction time
 Compliant with No Child Left Behind
 Research based (Whitehurst, 2003) - with controlled randomized studies in mixed socioeconomic schools (Hinde et al., 2005)
 Based on standards

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To assist in meeting NCLB and Accreditation goals
To help students with limited English language skills
To create a link between tested language arts skills and geography content

K-8 lessons that:
 Integrate geography content with reading and writing skills
 Improve student skills
 Motivate student learning
 Assess student achievement
 Winner of the
NCSS/Cram Grant Award

GeoLiteracy lessons motivate students through:
 Oral histories
 Hands-on activities
 Map making activities
 Diverse writing projects such as public service announcements and newspaper articles

GeoLiteracy lessons assess achievement in reading, writing, and geography by using:
 The 6 Trait Writing Rubric
 The format of standardized achievement tests
 Observation assessments
 Multiple choice tests

 Teacher Consultants from the Arizona
Geographic Alliance
 National Board Certified Teachers
 An Assessment Specialist from Mesa
Public Schools
 Department of Geography personnel from
Arizona State University

What are some of the 23 lessons for grades K-3?
 If These Walls Could Talk:
Learning about human features of a community
 A Walk Around School:
Mapping how to get from one place to another
 Catch Me If You Can :
Recognizing relative location terms
 Me on a Map: Comprehending that homes make neighborhoods and neighborhoods make a community
 Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, and
Save Trees: Conserving natural resources
 Sticks, Stones, Sinews and
Stuff: Using the environment to meet basic needs
 Nina Bonita : Mapping Nina’s world and understanding tolerance
 I Am a Rock. I Am an
Island: Identifying landforms and water bodies

What are some of the 25 lessons for grades 4-5?
 Westward Ho: Reading fictional diaries and mapping a journey on the Oregon Trail
 Birth of a Rocky Mountain
Town : Learning how humans respond to natural features
 Let’s Travel : Creating a travel brochure of state landmarks explaining why tourists should visit them
 Take Me to The River:
Recognizing how a dam has affected the humans living in the area
 The Mountain Community :
Understanding how physical landscapes and economic conditions influence the settlement of people
 Maize to Maquiladoras :
Tracking the historical movement of people, ideas, and goods from Mexico to the
U.S.
 But We Need More :
Examining pollution and water conservation issues

What are some of the 33 lessons for grades 6-8?
 Over and Through:
Categorizing physical geography terms
 Is There a Map in That
Story?
Drawing a map from a written description
 Name that Place: Discovering the word origins of place names in the U.S.
 Letter from a Leader:
Writing a letter as if students lived in an ancient civilization
 Who’s a Noodlehead?
Examining cultures to find commonalities
 Welcome to My World:
Learning how being born male or female in some countries can influence a person’s future
 Desertification: Determining the causes and effects of desertification
 Three Gorges Dam:
Analyzing the pros and cons of building a controversial dam

Wow!
 A total of over 80 lessons
 Each is classroom ready
 Available on CD
ROM
Lessons Per Grade Level
Number of
Lessons
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
K-3 Gr 4-5 Gr 6-8

Student samples for many of the lessons!

How do I know the lessons work?
 Piloted with over
5,300 AZ students
 Piloted by 100+ AZ teachers, in more than 20 AZ school districts
 Now used in more than 50 school districts in AZ, MI,
North Carolina, NY,
South Carolina and more
 Rigorous randomized control testing shows statistically significant improvement in non-fiction reading skills in grades 3-7
 For example:

How do I know the lessons work?
Piloted and
Control
Tested
With
Diverse
Populations

How do I know the lessons work?
Percentage of Students on Free or Reduced Lunch
Over 75%
Less than
25%
Piloted and
Control-Tested with diverse populations
51%-75%
26%-50%
Distribution of Economic Status of Schools in Pilot Program
Percentage of ESL Students in Pilot Program
89%
Englis h Spe aking
Students ESL
11%

Arizona data showed:
 85% of students scored 80% or higher on the geography assessment
 84% of students scored 80% or higher on the reading assessment
 78% of students scored 80% or higher on the writing assessment

Randomized controlled study (Hinde et al.
(2005) reveals GeoLiteracy Intervention:

The intervention, that is the teaching of 3 to 5 GeoLiteracy lessons, was conducted by teachers in grades 3 through 8 to their students in economically and ethnically diverse schools in Arizona and Michigan.
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The control groups consisted of teachers of the same grade and school as the intervention groups. The control teachers did not teach any of the GeoLiteracy lessons; they merely continued teaching their regular reading program. All groups administered a pre and post-test of reading comprehension at the same time.
 Grades 3-7 showed highly statistically significant improvement in non-fiction reading
(8th grade showed improvement, but sample was too small for statistical testing)

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High quality children’s books
National Geographic series:
Windows on Literacy
Reading Expeditions
Familiar children’s literature

What are examples of the children’s literature used?
MANY of the GeoLiteracy materials are in your library :
 River Ran Wild
 Ramona Quimby books
 Gingerbread Man
 Red Riding Hood
 The Lorax
 The Cherokee
 Nina Bonita
 Year of the Ranch
 Noodlehead Stories
 Edward and the Pirates
 Talking Walls
 Alejandro’s Gift
 Me on the Map
 The Desert is Theirs
 Rosie’s Walk
 Roxaboxen
 This is the Tree

 Innovative approach to integrating geography and language arts
 Based on your state and national standards
 Based on your state-mandated tests
 Controlled randomized testing shows it increases performance in non-fiction reading
 And the copyright-free maps you can put on your district’s server! Wow! The CD you are given is filled with them.

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Lesson plans in easy format
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On-line reviews and editing
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Contemporary literature
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Assessments based on your state’s mandated tests
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Student samples
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Customized maps
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Rubrics for grading
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Updates
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Links to other subjects (math)

 Analyzing geographical information using charts and graphs
 Measuring using map scale
 Using stem-and-leaf, boxand-whiskers, and scatter plots to analyze climate information
 Learning about positive and negative numbers using elevation
 Learning geometric shapes and making maps
85 more lessons to illustrate the integration of geography and math

Gale Olp Ekiss, AzGA co-coordinator
GBEkiss@aol.com
Jeannine Kuropatkin, AzGA Teacher Consultant jkuropatkin@cox.net
Ronald I. Dorn, AzGA co-coordinator ronald.dorn@asu.edu
Department of Geography
Arizona State University
PO Box 870104
Tempe, AZ 85287-0104