Early instruction in geography: An exploration in the ecology of kindergarten and first-grade geography education

This article presents an introductory study of early-grade level geography education in terms of human ecology using accepted cognitive process and knowledge dimensions related to learning. The central question addressed is "at what cognitive process and knowledge levels do kindergarten and first-grade teachers teach geography?" A tentative answer is that some teachers perceive themselves as conducting geography education over and above that which is the intention of state-level geography standards. Teachers focus heavily on lower-level cognitive process and knowledge dimensions within this framework. The use of a revised taxonomy as an investigative tool for conducting geographic education research is established in this work.