{"id":26468,"date":"2018-10-28T20:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T01:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=26468"},"modified":"2018-10-28T16:35:18","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T21:35:18","slug":"national-geographic-picks-apsu-professor-chris-gentry-as-states-geography-steward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2018\/10\/28\/national-geographic-picks-apsu-professor-chris-gentry-as-states-geography-steward\/","title":{"rendered":"National Geographic picks APSU professor Chris Gentry as state\u2019s geography steward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin Peay State University (APSU)<\/h2>\n

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – Austin Peay State University (APSU) professor Dr. Chris Gentry doesn\u2019t know why his grandmother had the globe, the atlases or the subscription to National Geographic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea where some of the stuff came from,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when I was a kid, we\u2019d go to her house, and I would sit and spin the globe, put out my finger, stop it someplace and go, \u2018What\u2019s up with Greenland?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University professor Dr. Chris Gentry<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Gentry\u2019s time with the globe, atlases and magazines sparked a curiosity for geography that led him to pursue degrees in the discipline, culminating in his becoming associate professor of geography at Austin Peay State University.<\/p>\n

His geographic journey has come full circle, bringing him back to those magazines his grandmother used to have.<\/p>\n

National Geographic recently picked Gentry to be Tennessee\u2019s steward in a new national program \u201cdoubling down on (the National Geographic Society\u2019s) commitment\u201d to improve K-12 geography education in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool to be involved with the National Geographic Society because I do think they probably prompted me to think about the world spatially early on,\u201d Gentry said.<\/p>\n

What Is A Geography Steward?<\/h3>\n

The National Geographic State Geography Steward Program, which launched in 2017, assigns a top geographer in each state to connect with state officials, educators and stakeholders to improve K-12 geography education.<\/p>\n

The stewards also participate in outreach efforts in their states, such as participating in the National Geographic GeoBee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to develop an advisory board in the state that\u2019s made up of everyone from college professors to K-12 teachers to administrative-level folks — I hope somebody in the state\u2019s Department of Education — to discuss what we can do with geography standards in this state,\u201d Gentry said.<\/p>\n

Gentry also will work on the regional and national level, connecting with one of six regional directors in the stewardship program and stewards in surrounding states. He will attend the National Geographic Education Summit October 28th-29th in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

Raising The Geography Standard<\/h3>\n

Tennessee used to require stand-alone geography classes in third and seventh grades and high school. The state dropped the seventh-grade and high school requirements in 2013 (geography still is offered as an elective in high school). Geography is included in other social studies classes, such as history, but not as its own class, Gentry said.<\/p>\n

[320left]\u201cA very small number of students leave high school with anything that resembles a geographic education,\u201d Gentry said. \u201cOne of the things we\u2019re looking to do is encourage the state to offer more geography in the K-12 curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n

National Geographic\u2019s focus the next two years will be geography education in middle schools.<\/p>\n

What Is Geography?<\/h3>\n

Geography isn\u2019t just place names on maps. It\u2019s science.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeography is the study of places and the relationships between people and their environments,\u201d according to National Geographic. \u201cGeographers explore both the physical properties of Earth\u2019s surface and the human societies spread across it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe maps part of the physical geography class we have at Austin Peay is going to be one part of one day. That\u2019s it. The class is 16 weeks long,\u201d Gentry said. \u201cThe rest of the time we\u2019re going to be talking about atmospheric science; we\u2019re going to be talking about river systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about how the things you do here on campus can affect the river systems, the Cumberland Watershed, the Red River Watershed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Gentry\u2019s research is in dendrochronology, the study of tree rings to determine current or past environmental behavior in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more of a disturbance ecologist,\u201d he said. \u201cI look at fire across the landscape. I look at ecological disturbances like ice storms or hurricanes, things of that nature with regards to vegetation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gentry was an environmental consultant for three years before entering graduate school and becoming a college professor.<\/p>\n

Geographers also can be climatologists, city planners, conservationists and GIS, or geographic information system, specialists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncorporating geography in K-12 education is the way to prepare students for some of these future jobs that are going to be available doing spatial analysis,\u201d Gentry said.<\/p>\n

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To Learn More<\/h3>\n