Maryland Geographic Alliance

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The Maryland Geographic Alliance (MGA) is a partnership of Professional geographers and educators working to promote and enhance geographic education in grades K-12. Since 1989, the MGA, with funding from the state of Maryland and the National Geographic Society, has conducted inservices, workshops, summer institutes, and mini-courses and produced materials to assist educators in geographic instruction

A major goal of the MGA is teacher training. Over the past eight years, more than 7000 teachers in Maryland have participated in Maryland Geographic Alliance programs. The Alliance conducts workshops for teachers in individual schools or as part of school district programs. Workshops emphasize geography content and incorporate hands-on activities. In addition, more than 150 teachers from nineteen Maryland Counties, Baltimore City, and the Archdioceses of Baltimore and Washington have participated in summer geography institutes. Combining geography content and classroom strategies, the institute requires teachers to develop inservice presentations that incorporate sound geographic instruction. The graduates of the summer institutes become teacher consultants and are then charged with making presentations advocating geography instruction in their schools, school districts, and in regional and national conferences.

Another goal of the MGA is the development of classroom materials. Some recent publications include:

Geography in the Middle School: A Compendium of Lesson Plans for Social Studies and Other Subject Areas.

Learning About Drugs and Society: A Geographical Approach

32 Economics and Geography Lessons for Children's Literature (for Grades 2-5) (Published with the Council of Economic Education in Maryland)

Teaching Economics and Geography in Maryland History: A Compendium of Lesson Plans for Grades 4 and 5 (published with the Council of Economic Education in Maryland)

The Maryland Geographic Alliance collaborates with a number of other state social studies education programs. It publishes a joint newsletter with the Council of Economic Education in Maryland. It is a co-sponsor of the Fall Conference of the Maryland Council for the Social Studies. It jointly sponsors with the Maryland Historical Society the Maryland Pictorial Map contest. The Alliance also supports the Baltimore City Globetrotter program for elementary students.
To become a member of the Maryland Geographic Alliance and receive the newsletter and information about Alliance programs, simply send your name and address to:
Sari Bennett, Alliance Coordinator
UMBC-Department of Geography
1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250
To arrange for inservice presentations, call 410-455-3148.

Click HERE for upcoming events of the Maryland Geographic Alliance

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