Skip to main content

Home/ EU464 Social Studies Electronic Toolkit/ Making the Case for Geography in our Schools
bell4390

Making the Case for Geography in our Schools - 1 views

Geography real_world_connections geographical_relevance elementary_geography multi-disciplinary_lens

started by bell4390 on 06 Oct 11
  • bell4390
    #1 bell4390 on 06 Oct 11
     
    http://geography.about.com/od/teachgeography/a/geoedcommentary.htm

    This is a US article but is also relevant to Canadian teachers and the public in general. The idea of this article suggests that the direction that geography it taking within the elementary school level is perhaps not the most suitable direction for schools to be taking. The article states that students are forced to focus on naming countries and capitals which doesn't provide richness to their learning. It would be more useful for students to focus on ideas such as which economic industries are suffering in the world, and what the reason behind this is. Developing an understanding for the way in which the world works would be of higher value and relevance than just memorizing some facts. The true value of geography is that is presents the opportunity of looking at the world through multiple dimensions rather than from one perspective such as sociology or economics. This is the kind of value that should be emphasized within the teaching of geography at the lower levels. Geography can introduce a multi-disciplinary lens to view the world in and its issues. Due to the issue of globalization, it is even more relevant for students to have a multi-disciplinary view of the world. Approaching geography this way will be very beneficial for students once they leave the walls of academia, making geography a very valuable subject.

To Top

Start a New Topic » « Back to the EU464 Social Studies Electronic Toolkit group