Learning Within Socio-Political Landscapes - (Re)imagining Children’s Geographies

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys

A special issue explores teaching and learning geography through children’s everyday experiences embedded in social, political, and physical city spaces. Building on Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s vision, it emphasizes movement, mapping across scales, and community connections as tools for understanding complex relationships in the wider world. The collection extends these ideas by centering BIPOC perspectives, linking present immediacies with past and future, and examining analog and digital mapping possibilities within sociopolitical landscapes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages126

Reading Time5 h 18 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Learning Within Socio-Political Landscapes: (Re)imagining Children’s Geographies

Contributions

More than Civil Engineering and Civic Reasoning: World-Building in Middle School

We’re Not Migrating Yet: Engaging Children’s Geographies and Learning with Lands and Waters

How Urban Forest School Gave Us the Connections We Needed During the Pandemic

Children as Design Visionaries, Learners, and Socio-Political Wayfinders: Mapping the Layers, Hierarchies, and Rhythms of a School Community

Mapping Racespace: Data Stories as a Tool for Environmental and Spatial Justice

Stories From Islita Libre: Digital Spatial Storytelling as an Expression of Transnational and Immigrant Identities

Learning to See More Clearly: Extending Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s Vision for Geography Teaching

Occasional Paper Series Volume 2022 Number 48 Learning Within Landscapes: (Re)imagining Geographies Socio-Political Children’s Article 9 November 2022 Learning Within Socio-Political Landscapes: (Re)imagining Children’s Geographies Kathryn Lanouette William & Mary Katie Headrick Taylor University of Washington Follow this and additional works at: [https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series](https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series) Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, and the Educational Methods Commons Recommended Citation Lanouette, K., & Taylor, K. H. (2022) . Learning within socio-political landscapes: (Re)imagining children’s geographies [Special issue] . Occasional Paper Series,(48) . DOI: [https://doi.org/10.58295/](https://doi.org/10.58295/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.58295/)2375-3668.1476 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by Educate. It has been accepted for inclusion in Occasional Paper Series by an authorized editor of Educate. For more information, please contact [kfreda@bankstreet.edu](kfreda@bankstreet.edu). | Occasional Paper Series | 11. 2022 | | --- | --- | | | 48 | Learning Within Socio-Political Landscapes: (Re)imagining Children’s Geographies Introduction Kathryn Lanouette Katie Headrick Taylor Contributors Alejandra Frausto Aceves Daniel Morales-Doyle Anna Lees Megan Bang Margaret Nell Becker Natalie R. Davis Roni Barsoum Emily Reigh Meg Escudé Michael Bakal Edward Rivero Xinyu Wei Collette Roberto Damaris Hernández Amber Yada Kris Gutiérrez Michelle Hoda Wilkerson Jennifer Kahn Daryl Axelrod Matthew R. Deroo Svetlana Radojcic Abigail Kerlin EllenMcCrum Table of Contents INTRODUCTION Learning Within Socio-Political Landscapes: (Re)imagining Children’s Geographies Kathryn Lanouette and Katie Headrick Taylor CONTRIBUTIONS More than Civil Engineering and Civic Reasoning: World-Building in Middle School STEMAlejandra Frausto Aceves and Daniel Morales-Doyle We’re Not Migrating Yet: Engaging Children’s Geographies and Learning with Lands and Waters Anna Lees and Megan Bang How Urban Forest School Gave Us the Connections We Needed During the Pandemic Margaret Nell Becker Children as Design Visionaries, Learners, and Socio-Political Wayfinders: Mapping the Layers, Hierarchies, and Rhythms of a School Community Natalie R. Davis and Roni Barsoum Mapping Racespace: Data Stories as a Tool for Environmental and Spatial Justice Emily Reigh, Meg Escudé, Michael Bakal, Edward Rivero, Xinyu Wei, Collette Roberto, Damaris Hernández, Amber Yada, Kris Gutiérrez, and Michelle Hoda Wilkerson Stories From Islita Libre: Digital Spatial Storytelling as an Expression of Transnational and Immigrant Identities Jennifer Kahn, Daryl Axelrod, Matthew R. Deroo, and Svetlana Radojcic Learning to See More Clearly: Extending Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s Vision for Geography Teaching Abigail Kerlin and Ellen McCrum 3 13 33 48 62 79 96 113 Introduction Learning Within Socio-Political Landscapes:(Re)imagining Children’s Geographies Kathryn Lanouette and Katie Headrick Taylor Over a century ago, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, one of Bank Street College’s founders, put into practice a vision of teaching and learning enmeshed in the physical, social, and political city spaces of young peoples’ daily lives. Central to her work was reimagining geography, grounding the discipline in the here and now of children’s neighborhoods, connecting with community members and city spaces as a means to explore complex relationships within the wider world. Mitchell considered working across different modes of engagement as an integral practice for children to learn about their worlds and their roles within it: physical movement, like walking and subway riding, and the construction of maps with varying scales, materials, and

FAQs

What is the central focus of this special issue?

It focuses on teaching and learning geography within the immediacy of children’s here-and-now experiences in sociopolitical landscapes.

How does the issue connect learning geography to children’s daily lives?

It draws on Mitchell’s approach of engaging children with physical movement, community spaces, and mapping practices using different scales, materials, and symbols.

What new directions does the issue aim to extend from Mitchell’s original work?

It centers past and future alongside present-day immediacies and elevates BIPOC perspectives while exploring both analog and emerging digital mapping possibilities.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys