TRADITION TO OPPORTUNITY

This paper on the pre-college teaching of geography documents the teaching of geography in the United States from 1800 to the present and projects it into the future. Analyses of how views on physical, regional, and human geography have affected the elementary and secondary curricula and a history of the incorporation of geography into the social studies curriculum in the 1940's are included. In the sixties, the High School Geography Project (BSCP) and various elementary level projects shaped elementary and secondary geography into an interdisciplinary and conceptually oriented subject with emphases in affective learning and urban studies. Critical elements for geography education envisioned for, the future are decision making, valuing, and resolving conflict. Traditional tools for locational analysis applied to these elements will validate geographyts importance in the curriculum. Conceptual models for these processes and specific examples of their application-- decidin