Where is Geography? Analysing Geography in Newspapers and Social Studies Textbooks

Abstract

Geographical references in The New York Times were analysed using a word-level coding scheme to identify the geography knowledge base that an educated adult needs to read a newspaper thoughtfully. In the same way, the geographical references in selected social studies textbook passages were analysed for the opportunities they provide students to acquire the requisite geography knowledge base. Data collected at two five-year intervals provide evidence of stability in the amount and kind of geography found in both sources of texts. The analyses show that place name knowledge is an important aid for comprehending newspaper articles; cognitive flexibility is needed on the part of a newspaper reader, particularly with regard to personification, generic geopolitical nouns and interpreting maps; and the textbook selections do not offer sufficient opportunity for students to construct knowledge at the level of detail and with the cognitive flexibility that newspaper reading requires.