Coyote Teaching for Geography Instruction

Abstract

Coyote teaching emphasizes learning community, long term mentoring, a need for learning, ownership of learning, heightened sensory awareness, storytelling, purposefully designed tricks, and the Socratic method to promote lifelong learning and a new generation of coyote teachers. Many of these methods are found in other educational philosophies but seem to be fully integrated in the coyote teaching method. Because geography is integrative, it seems a logical discipline in which to apply this method. Each of the characteristics of coyote teaching has its unique place in geography education. This article demonstrates how each of these components of coyote teaching can be readily employed, enhanced, and, more importantly, integrated into geographic education and inculcated into multiple generations of geography educators.

Key Words:

• coyote teaching
• mentoring
• methodology
• cooperative learning environment
• geographic education

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Ms. Miriam Issaoui for her help in translating portions of Eric Kremer's dissertation and to all those whose edits made this manuscript readable.

Michael N. DeMers is an associate professor in the Department of Geography at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA. His research interests include GIS education, GIS design and applications, and Landscape Ecology.