Project Background:

ARGUS was developed at the University of Minnesota, under the direction of Dr. Philip Gersmehl and with the assistance of a large number of academic geographers and geography educators. Funded by the National Science Foundation (MDR-9150115; ESI 9452794), the US-Japan Foundation, and the Japan Foundation’s Center for Global Partnership, ARGUS is a non-profit project designed to offer high quality teaching materials at the lowest possible cost. The ARGUS materials are uniquely suited for a wide audience: modern secondary school social studies classes, teacher training programs in geography, and introductory college courses.

The ARGUS materials are appropriate for a variety of topical courses as well as for regional courses on the United States. All components of the print materials are organized according to the following broad categories:

• Geographical Themes:
  Places, Regions, and Geographical Questions
  
• Population Geography:
  Patterns of Settlement and Population Movement
  
• Economic Geography:
  Patterns of Production, Consumption, and Trade
  
• Political Geography:
  Patterns Associated with Constitutional Government
  
• Environmental Issues:
  Resources and Risks

Click here for information about using ARGUS in American History Classes

Click here for information about using ARGUS in Advanced Placement Human Geography

Text:
(129 pages)

The text is an easy-to read overview of the ARGUS topics, designed to provide a context for the student activities. It also contains 26 case studies that illustrate major geographic concepts in places that are typical of specific regions in the United States. Individual student copies of the text are available, and any part of the text may be photocopied and distributed for student use.

Student Activities:
(214 pages)

Designed for collaborative or independent learning, the 35 activities cast the students as researchers who use geography to solve real-world problems. Each activity:

• introduces a skill for analyzing data geographically
• provides information about a specific place
• employs a specific kind of map (isoline, choropleth, profile, etc.)
• illustrates a useful explanatory thoery of modern geography

The activities are self-contained modules which can be combined in a variety of ways to meet the needs of several different courses. All activities are complete with original maps, data sets, and other graphics. The full ARGUS set includes all activities as copy-ready masters. Individual student activity packets are also available.

Click here for a list of Activity Topics

Click here for a sample Activity

Teacher's Guide:
(179 pages)

The guide provides quick summaries and detailed explanations of the skills and concepts introduced in each of the student activities. It also suggests a variety of ways to present the materials and provides links to the National Geography Standards.

Transparency Masters:

ARGUS includes 264 transparency masters of all maps and other graphics in the activities, as well as additional graphics developed to enhance class discussions about the activities.

Interactive CD-ROM

Screenshot of ARGUS CD Main Menu

Completed in the spring of 1999, the CD consists of 190 units that focus on a wide variety of topics in US geography. It contains over 3,500 photographs and 600 maps, many of them interactive. Each of the ARGUS student activities is keyed to one or more CD units, which provide additional information, enhancements, and extensions of the activity topics. All of the CD units are also designed to stand alone and can be used in conjunction with any textbook.

For classroom presentations with a projector, instructors can arrange the units in any sequence, turn the text on or off, and tailor each unit in a variety of ways. For individual student use, the CD lends itself to investigations of specific topics or regions. The richness of photographs and maps enables students to develop an understanding of both physical and cultural landscapes that is not possible with the limited graphics in textbooks alone. The CD works on any computer with a CD drive and 256 colors and requires no installation.

Click here for sample screens from several CD units

Some teacher reaction to ARGUS.......

• "ARGUS is what learning is meant to be -- thought-provoking, useful, and irresistibly engaging."
  Fred Wilman, Illinois
  
• "The handling of sophisticated topics and the fit (between history topics and the ARGUS activities) is incredible."
  Edward Muller, Pennsylvania
  
• "ARGUS is a watershed, a great resource for my world geography class."
  Doris Frazer, Tennessee
  
• "ARGUS is an invaluable teacher resource -- informative, enlightening, cross-curricular, usable, and doable."
  Bill Sands, Texas
  
• "Argus lessions are great for linking the present to the past and tying geography into history."
  Marlene S. Thiel Pearson, Alaska

ARGUS Review, Social Studies Educator Website..........

ARGUS…is so comprehensive and expertly done that it is unbelievable! Just cruising around the CD is an adventure in itself…, but coupled with the extensive print materials…, ARGUS is an absolutely awesome resource! …ARGUS can help students meet nearly all of the National Geography Standards and many of the national and state standards in history, social studies, earth science, civics, economics, and mathematics… Teachers will be able to develop a plethora of other activities and lessons to accompany the huge database of photographs, maps, and information residing on the CD. ARGUS received the 2000 award for Geographic Excellence in Media from the National Council for Geographic Education. If you don't have this resource in your school, you need it! It is one of those resources that all boys and girls should have access to.

Please direct all queries to:
Association of American Geographers
1710 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
Voice: (202) 234-1450 Fax: (202) 234-2744
E-mail: gaia@aag.org