WHERE IN THE WORLD: STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY EXPANDS HORIZONS OF THE MIND

Did you know that there is a new country in Africa? Can you name the warring factions of Yugoslavia? Can you list the states through which the Colorado River runs?

Do you cringe when it comes time to get the blue pie piece in Trivial Pursuit?

If you don't, you can't or you do -- you're not alone. National studies have shown that most Americans know little more about the world around them today than did great adventurers like Magellan when he set out to navigate the world, Christopher Columbus when he set out to find the West Indies or Marco Polo when he stumbled upon the Orient.

But geography is no longer the study of "where in the world" something is located. It has expanded its horizons to encompass topics such as ecosystems, terrain, culture, economic-base, history and natural resources.

In recent years, the study of geography has taken on a conservationist attitude, pointing out to students of all ages the finite availability of many of the things we use everyday, and the detrimental effect on the environment of others.

The topic of this year's Geography Awareness Week -- "Water Matters: Every Day, Everywhere, Every Way" -- focuses on critical water issues.

Throughout the week of Nov. 14-20, teachers and students across the nation will celebrate Geography Awareness Week through a multitude of classroom activities such as poster contests, wearing blue ribbons to support water awareness and cleaning up local streams.

Most classes in Cape Girardeau are not planning anything special for Geography Awareness Week, but teachers say geography is one area of study they always stress.

"We work all year long on state and national rivers, capitals, states, regions, mountain ranges -- everything," said Ruth Rhodes, a fourth grade geography teacher at Franklin School. "We're making a heavy-duty effort to ensure we don't have geographical illiterates."

Rhodes said the children in her classes really seem to enjoy geography.

"We spend time extensively learning the terms and then look at each region of the United States; its land forms, weather conditions," said Rhodes. "Then it's all tied together in a unit.

"We work from the east coast to the west coast, hitting as many points as we can in between," she continued.

In the spring, the fourth grade classes spend two months studying nothing but Cape Girardeau and the state of Missouri.

"We go on a field trip outside the city and do walking tours," said Rhodes. "We feel it's important that the kids know as much as possible about the world around them."

When a student is in fourth grade, geography is a required core class; when students get to high school, it's an elective.

Lou Ann H. Zoffuto, a geography and history teacher at Cape Central High School, said she sees mostly seniors in her semester-long geography course.

"Geography is a very dynamic study," said Zoffuto. "It not only includes where things are located by geologic features, but also population distribution, day-to-day weather, climate, history and culture.

"It's not just locating places on a map anymore," she said.

Zoffuto gears her class projects toward making her students more literate when it comes to finding source materials such as various publications from the government, encyclopedias and atlases.

"There are a lot of different ways of finding and knowing about a place in the world," Zoffuto said. "A lot of people are afraid of geography because it seems so technical.

"People have to get over that stereotype to truly understand the nature of geography," she said.

Zoffuto's high school students not only study the demographics of a country, but also look at foods native to the region or culture, the way people dress, their customs and the history of the people themselves.

"Geography keeps you on your toes; things can change before you know it," she said. "For example, many people aren't aware that there is a new country in Africa -- Eritrea -- which peacefully separated from Ethiopia.

"When we see new alignments of countries and old animosities come to bear, we can go back in history and see why people are upset with each other and why people take great delight in killing each other," Zoffuto continued. "Geography is a hard-to-define course; you don't have to teach it from the same perspective every time."

She added: "Rarely are two days in my classroom ever alike. The students who take my course seem to really enjoy it and come away with a better understanding of the changing world around them."

Michael Roark, a geography professor at Southeast Missouri State University, said that the general public basically has no idea or interest on the themes focused upon by professional geographers.

"What most people see as the study of geography is the basic place-name knowledge learned early on in elementary grades," Roark said. "That kind of knowledge is needed and necessary, but geography looks at the inter-relationship between the cultural and physical world.

"It's a spatial relationship in terms of patterns and how we interpret them," he continued. "It's a study which no other discipline attempts to encompass."

Some parts of geography tend to be very dynamic; others change slowly.

"Political geography within the human dimension is a very rapidly changing topic," said Roark. "In the 20th century alone, there have been dozens of major place-name changes, some due to war, some due to decolonization and others due to political destruction.

"It's a very difficult area in terms of currency," he continued.

"But those who specialize in physical geography have fewer changes to absorb," Roark said. "Physical geographers also look at environmental issues, which do change dramatically, affecting all kinds of things.

"Things like climate and geologic land forms don't change so quickly or so much and are easier to keep up with," he said.

Roark said he feels many students today find the world around them interesting. In addition, they don't always come to his classes from a strictly science background.

"How you convey the topic to your students is crucial," said Roark. "In lower education -- elementary and secondary schools -- most teachers teach in the 19th century mode of place-name memorization.

"For students, that tends to be like memorizing the multiplication tables; often there's not a lot of excitement involved," he said. "At the university level, we can create attractive courses which focus on specific areas or specific cultures, which often draw overwhelming enrollment."

Geography has come to have a new place in our society as well: in the travel and tourism market.

"Geographers have a traditional knowledge about places and cultures in the world; people getting ready for a trip want to know about the world," said Roark. "Two new branches of geography have formed to answer this calling."

One of the disciplines is eco-tourism, learning about the natural layout of the land. Roark said people wishing to travel to an indigenous rain forest or to the highest mountain tops are looking for geographers to tell them about the places they want to visit.

Very recently, the geographical study of epidemiology has arisen, mapping the spread or incidence of diseases such as cancer and AIDS, trying to link them with possible environmental influences.

Then, there is the study of cultural-heritage tourism, which focuses on the cultural landscape and the built environment of a country or a region.

"Still other geographers are beginning to focus on planning programs -- urban and regional -- advising people on the best way to structure space," Roark said. "Geographers can help us interpret and change the world around us."