ESI-9452794 Phil J. Gersmehl A CD-ROM and associated software and data bases are being developed for use in teaching geography of the United States in secondary schools. This project is based on a previously funded NSF project, Activities and Readings in the Geography of the United States (ARGUS), which is presented in a print format. The CD-ROM will have four key components: photographic images that will bring selected aspects of the world into the classroom for description and analysis; maps and graphs that will summarize the geographic patterns of phenomena and illustrate theories that geographers have developed to explain those patterns; short animations that will lead viewers around the images, maps, and graphs and make transitions between them, for example by highlighting an earthquake fault in a photograph or showing how data in a table apply to a specific location on a map; simulations and supporting data tables that will encourage and model active exploration within the context of a problem situation. The materials are being developed in focused modules that can become the basis of a course on geography or be used as units in a number of courses.
