EDGE - Department of Geography - University of Oregon

EDGE Summer Masters Program

Are you interested in teaching better geography in your classroom?

The University of Oregon's Department of Geography is proud to offer a full schedule of geography education classes for K-12 teachers (especially Social Studies teachers) every summer. You are invited to sign up for one or more of these classes to earn credit for updating your teaching license and/or to complete your master's degree in geography (with a specialization in geographic education).

Here is some information about this unique graduate program for teachers...

Scheduling:

You may register for 1 to 12 geography graduate credits each summer.
If you decide to work towards your master's degree in geography at the University of Oregon, you must complete a total of 45 graduate credits.
You may transfer up to 15 of these course credits in geography from another institution (with approval of the director of our department's graduate program).
An education-related project (not a thesis) is required to complete our master's degree if you specialize in the geography education track.
You will be able to complete all graduate course work needed for the degree during summer months. You may also enroll in regular academic coursework and individualized independent research courses scheduled at times convenient to you during the regular academic year.
A regular schedule of classes is rotated each summer with coursework in Introductory Cartography and Field Studies offered each year.
One-on-one mentoring and personal advising by geography education professors in the department are also available during each summer session.

Need funding help?
We offer a limited number of assistantships each summer for students to assist in teaching an undergraduate course during one or two summer sessions.

How to Complete Your Final Project?
Your final practice-oriented project can be directly related to your own classroom teaching. Most students choose some aspect of technology and teaching, curriculum development, assessment, or inquiry-based regional, human, or physical geography for their independent research project.

Here are the titles of a few of the projects completed for the degree:

Middle East Landscapes: Patterns of People and Places
Exploring Anchorage's Urban Landscape
Investigating Portland's Cultural Landscape and the Diversity it Reflects
Mexican Migration to the Pacific Northwest: A Geography Teaching Project
The Upper Willamette Valley: A Study of the Cultural Elements of Place
GIS in the Classroom: A Model for Teaching the Concepts of Geographical Information Systems in the Middle Grades

We're very proud of the outstanding teaching and service record of teachers who have graduated from our program during the past ten years. Here are a few of their accomplishments:

State Teacher of the Year ·
Appointed to the State Commission for Development of Social Studies Standards ·
Served on National Civics Education Standards Committee ·
District Teacher of the Year ·
Student Initiated Spirit Award ·
Supervisor of Student Teachers ·
Organizer of Geography Fair ·
League of Women Voters Certificate of Appreciation for Student Support efforts ·
Selected to teach geographic education workshop for the Dept. of Defense ·
Assisted with development of ExploOregon, a CD-ROM for middle school students ·
Member of Oregon Geographic Alliance Steering Committee ·
Worked on grant-supported project to integrate technology into content-rich courses

The UO Department of Geography is: ·

One of a handful of graduate programs nationwide that offers a specialization in geography education.
A place where course work is offered during summer sessions planned to fit into the busy schedules of K-12 classroom teachers.
A department where student-centered faculty and advanced graduate students teach small hands-on graduate level courses.
A program with a wide variety of courses appropriate for geography educators including curriculum development classes designed to help teachers use the new Atlas of Oregon.
A schedule of classes that offers Historical Geography on a regular basis for support of K-12 history and social studies instruction.

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For more information about EDGE and its program offerings, please contact:

Susan Hardwick, Ph.D.
Phone: (541) 346-4557
E-Mail: susanh@uoregon.edu