Perspectives and Sensitivities: teaching as the creation of conditions of possibility for geographic thinking

ABSTRACT
Teaching methodological courses means providing students with general ideas to think with, rather than specific facts to think about. Rethinking the teaching task must be informed by an awareness of ideological, philosophical, technical and analytical perspectives, and should look for basic themes uniting apparently different approaches. Almost all quantitative methodologies are actually .specific examples of the mathematical operation of mapping. Genuine understanding is achieved by visualisation of a problem, rather than algebraic manipulation, and the teaching task could be aided greatly by employing the power of interactive computer graphics. It is suggested that the analytical and pedagogic approaches used by experienced teachers might be shared initially in an international conference, and so form the basis for more effective and efficient teaching in the future.

KEYWORDS
Quantitative methods, teaching, visualisation

I'd Rather Watch the Movie than Read the Book

ABSTRACT
Geographers have been using film as a pedagogic device for some time, but it is not until recently that the full power of this medium has been recognised within the discipline as a forceful determinant of cultural norms. When using film in the classroom, I argue that there is not only a need to consider carefully the narrative of conventions followed by film-makers but also a need for awareness of the possibility subtexts within the film which mark significant cultural and political biases. This is equally as true of 'objective' documentary cinema as it is of narrative or fictional cinema. Examples of movies that I have used in the classroom are discussed in order to suggest that narrative cinema can make an important contribution to the geography curriculum in higher education.

KEYWORDS
Documentary film, narrative cinema, discourse, pedagogy.

Putting Environmental Issues into Context: the issue-attention cycle

ABSTRACT
This article identifies the frustration that undergraduate geography students often display when discussing government and societal responses to the pressing environmental issues of the day. One of the most successful approaches to student understanding of the way in which these issues are identified by the public acted upon or ignored is the issue-attention cycle. The cycle is first described and then three different approaches are suggested for using the issue-attention concept in undergraduate courses.

KEYWORDS
Issue-attention cycle, environmental issues.

"Who Teaches, Learns": writing groups in geographical education

ABSTRACT
The ability to communicate is acknowledged by employers to be a valuable attribute of a university graduate. That ability is also vital in fulfilling geography discipline objectives of mutual understanding and emancipation. Writing groups have been used in geography departments in Australia and the USA as a means of improving student .skills in written communication as well as to stimulate positive attitudes to writing, intellectual growth and rhetorical .skills. From the point of view of teachers, writing groups were employed to fulfil pedagogic objectives and to free up time for instructional improvements and other academic business. This paper outlines the rationale for using writing groups in geography courses, means by which they might be applied, and their merits and shortcomings.

KEYWORDS
Writing groups, geography. collaborative learning, communication, Australia, United Slates.

THE UNDERSIDE OF QUALITY: AN AUSTRALIAN VIEWPOINT

ABSTRACT
This paper describes the recent series of quality assurance and audit procedures in Australia. Parallels and differences between the Australian and UK exercises are noted.

KEYWORDS
Australia, quality audit.