Teaching in the dark: The geopolitical knowledge and global awareness of the next generation of American teachers

This study examines the geopolitical knowledge and global awareness of American upper-level undergraduate university students in a large teacher education program. The context for the study involves the educational implications to which scholars and policy-makers increasingly call attention. Many of the perceived implications of globalization suggest a challenging and significant role for teachers in a time of change. On measures of geopolitical knowledge, awareness of prominent international leaders and organizations, and salient demographic characteristics of major countries this exploratory survey suggests a high degree of inattention, insularity, and lack of awareness among the prospective teachers. There is little evidence of widely shared geopolitical referents that would serve as the basis of informed discussion or teaching about the meaning and ramifications of the diverse tendencies of globalization.