Geography Awareness Week
Geography Awareness Week
Geography Awareness Week (also known as GeoWeek) is an annual international celebration and public education week dedicated to increasing geographic literacy and geography education primarily in North America.[1] [2] Geography Awareness Week is celebrated during the third week of November and includes public calls for participation in events such as educational programs, community events, poster sessions, talks, and map quizzes. Geography Awareness Week promotes what geography is, why it is important, and preparing citizen to understand the current challenges facing our world.
History
Geography Awareness Week was created In the 1980s, after several world wide surveys and studies including a 1988 National Geographic Survey [3] and reports showed that students and young adults in the United States lacked basic geography knowled and ranked near the bottom in international geography tests. Educators and policymakers increased efforts to promote geogrpahic literacy. [4]
Started as National Geographic's first public awareness campaign and part of a large scale effort by the National Geographic Society, the American Association of Geographers (AAG), the National Council for Geography Education (NCGE), and the American Geographical Society (AGS) to increase public awareness of and support for geography education continues to be one of the most significant geography education events. [5] The first Geography Awareness Week event was a year long collaboration in which two schools on opposite sides of the United States, one in Washington, D.C. and one in Los Angeles, exchanged pen pal letters about life and home or 'sense of place'. This event culuminated in a celebratory balloon release with a note to contact National Geographic Association if found. [6]This effort led to President Ronald Reagan and The U.S. Congress designating the week of November 15 through November 21, 1987, as ``Geography Awareness Week' through proclamation by Public Law 100 - 78. [7] The event has grown over the years into an international celebration of geography such as in 2013 when the Royal Canadian Geographical Society displayed giant floor maps of Canada to promote geography education and create future Canadian explorers. [8]The significance for geography education continued throughout the 1990s and 2000s with continue collaborations between he National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers (AAG), the National Council for Geography Education (NCGE), and the American Geographical Society (AGS) such as the RoadMap for 21st Century Geography Education Project supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Themes
The National Geographic Society, Association of American Geographers, and affilliated organizations select educational themes for Geography Awareness Week to cohesively promote geography awareness, provide educators with geography education and outreach materials, and encourage participating by schools and communities. These themes often align with or shape the celebration of related events such as GIS Day! an annual celebration of geographic information systems (GIS) which falls midweek during Geography Awareness Week and promotes geography and geospatial technologies awareness. OSM GeoWeek or OpenStreetMap GeoWeek an annual worldwide celebration of open mapping. Since 2019 the themes have been set by a commitee led by the Association of American Geographers.[9] These themes include:
2025 Making Spaces of Possibility [10]
2024 Geographers in Action [11]
2023 The Power of Place [12]
2022 A World of Possibilities: Celebrate Career Paths in Geography [13]
2020 Know Your World: Geoliteracy for a Complex Time[14]
2018 Igniting the Spirit of Exploration [15]
2017 The Geography of the Civil Rights Movement [16]
2016 Explore the Power of Parks [17]
2013 The New Age of Exploration[18]
2011 Geography: The Adventure in Your Community[19]
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- ↑ Larsen, Thomas; Tredinnick, Kyle (2024-04-02). "Become an NCGE Placemaker: A Model for Member Engagement Driving Geography Education to the Future". The Geography Teacher. 21 (2): 60–62. Bibcode:2024GeTea..21...60L. doi:10.1080/19338341.2024.2355254. ISSN 1933-8341.
- ↑ "Geography Awareness Week / November 14-18, 2022". Natural Resources Canada. November 16, 2025. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ "U.S. Falters on Test of Geography". Education Week. August 3, 1988. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ Morin, Karen M. (February 2013). "Geographical literacies and their publics: Reflections on the American scene". Progress in Human Geography. 37 (1): 3–9. doi:10.1177/0309132512466800. ISSN 0309-1325.
- ↑ Grosvenor, Gilbert M. (September 1995). "In Sight of the Tunnel: The Renaissance of Geography Education". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 85 (3): 409–420. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1995.tb01806.x. ISSN 0004-5608.
- ↑ "Geography Awareness Week: A Brief History of Geography Awareness Week". National Geographic Education Blog. November 14, 2008. Retrieved November 16,2025. Check date values in:
|access-date=(help) - ↑ Reagan, Ronald (1987). "Proclamation 5700 Geography Awareness Week" (PDF). United States Statutes at Large. 101: 2188 – via GovInfo.gov.
- ↑ "Giant floor maps on display for Geography Awareness Week". Canadian Geographic. December 31, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ "What and When Is Geography Awareness Week?". World Atlas. November 16, 2025. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ "Geography Awareness Week 2025". American Association of Geographers (AAG). September 30, 2025. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ "Geography Awareness Week 2024". The American Association of Geographers (AAG). August 26, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ "Geography Awareness Week 2023". The American Association of Geographers (AAG). August 2, 2023. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ "35th Annual Geography Awareness Week". The American Association of Geographers (AAG). July 26, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ "Geography Awareness Week 2020 Is Coming". Association of American Geographers. October 7, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ "What and When Is Geography Awareness Week?". World Atlas. November 16, 2025. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ "Civil Rights Featured Theme of 2017 Geography Awareness Week: A Call for Participation". The American Association of Geographers (AAG). May 16, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ Carol (October 24, 2016). "Population and the Power of Parks: Geography Awareness Week 2016". Population Education. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ Bailey, Lindsey (November 19, 2013). "Geography Awareness Week and PopEd: A Perfect Pair". Population Education. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
- ↑ Hopkins, Ph.D., Edward J. (November 14, 2011). "Weekly Ocean News". Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
