GeEd 3013:

Subject Area Methods I

(Geography)
Aklilu Dalelo (Prof. )
Module Description

• The Subject Area Methods I is one of the professional modules

offered by the Department of SSLE for prospective teachers of
Geography in Ethiopian secondary and preparatory schools.
• It has 4 credit hours (7ECTS)
• For every credit hour, students are expected to make 2-3 hours of individual reading!!
• It has two parts: theoretical and practical; and organized accordingly.
Module Description

• In the first part, theoretical part, prospective teachers would be

assisted so that they get a clear understanding about:
• the history of Geography both as a discipline and school subject;
• the principles, values, aims and objectives of geography education;
• the components of a geography curriculum (an outline of a syllabus, teacher’s
guides, student texts and teaching aids), with focus on Geography curriculum
for Ethiopian secondary schools.
Module Description

• The second part of the Module focuses on:

• method of teaching in Geography;
• issues related to evaluation in geographic education;
• and planning for and implementation of the teaching–learning process in
geography.
• The second part is accompanied by peer teaching which is meant to
enable prospective teachers to apply all the principles related to
Geography teaching methods, classroom assessment in Geography;
and planning a Geography lesson.
Content: Part One

• Unit one: Introduction

• 1.1. Defining Geography
• 1.2. The Major Traditions in Geography
• 1.3. Key Geographic Themes
• 1.4. Key Geographic Standards
• 1.5. Turning Points in Geographic Education
• 1.6. The Place of Geography in Schools Today
• 1.7. Project 1: The Place of Geography in Ethiopian School Curriculum
Module Description

• Unit Two: The Values and Aims of Geographic Education

• 2.1. Values of Geographic Education
• 2.2. Aims of Geographic Education
• 2.3. Specific Objectives and Contributions of Geographic Education
• 2.4. A ‘Capability’ Perspective in Geography in Schools
• 2.5. Project 2: School Geography: Selected ‘Country Experiences’ (Three
Countries)
Module Description

• Unit Three: The Subject Matter of Geographic Education

• 3.1. Diversity of Qualifiers: Geography or geographies?
• 3.2. A Question of Scope: Relationship between Geography and other
Disciplines
• 3.3. Organization of Geography Subject Matter
• 3.4. Teaching and Learning about Development
• 3.5. Geography for a Sustainable World
• 3.6. Equal Opportunity and the Geography
• 3.7. Citizenship in Geography Curriculum
• 3.8. Lifelong Learning through Geographic Education
• 3.9. Project 3: Content of School Geography During the Dergue and EPRDF
Module Description

• Unit Four: Key Approaches to Teaching Geography

• 4.1. The Notion of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)
• 4.2. PCK as Related to School Geography
• 4.3. Diverse approaches: 100 Ideas for Teaching Geography?
• 4.4. Catling’s Approaches to Teaching Geography
• 4.5. Fien's Process Approach to Teaching and Learning
• 4.6. Teaching Styles and Strategies
• 4.7. Value Education in Geography
• 4.8. Problem-based Learning (PBL)
• 4.9. Place-based Learning
• 4.10. Effective Sequence of Mapping Education
• 4.11. Computer Assisted Learning in School Geography
Module Description

• Unit Five: Becoming a Geography Teacher

• 5.1. Passion: The First Requirement
• 5.2. Qualification: The Second Requirement
• 5.3. An Urge to be a Lifelong Learner
• 5.4. Project 4: Review the Attributes (Strengths and Weaknesses) of
Geography Teachers in Ethiopia
Assessment modalities: Part One

• Quizzes and Short Test (20%),

• Project (30%),
• Reading and Refection (20%) and
• Final Exam (30%)
Creating a Geographically Informed Citizen!
 1

Introduction
1. Introduction
Food for thought:
• The Fact: Unlike many school subjects
(e.g. Biology, History, etc.), Geography
doesn’t have a definition which is
agreeable to all geographers.
• Different views about this:
• Some say this is one of the strengths of
Geography as a discipline/school subject.
• Others feel very disappointed.
• How do you feel?
1. Introduction
Think-Pair-Share1:

• Discuss the issue related to the definition of

Geography with your friend/fellow student
and try to come up with a shared view. Try
also to come up with the best definition of
Geography. Construct your definition in such
a way that it adequately addresses the
students' natural quest for a reasonably
simple and clear definition.
1.1. Defining Geography
Diversity of definition: a blessing or curse?
• Pinchemel (1985) suggests that “it is possible to welcome this diversity and
see within it a sign of conceptual vigour and creativity. On the other hand, it
is also possible to consider this as a sign of dismemberment of a discipline
which has refused to define its bounds precisely, and which holds on
nostalgically to the concept of a synthetic discipline attempting to encompass
all terrestrial phenomena, to present a total view of societies and their
environments”.
1.1. Defining Geography
Sample Definitions:
• Geographical education can be looked upon as education for spatial awareness,
carried out through training in the field and in the laboratory with maps, aerial
photographs and other resources (Pinchemel, 1985, p.14).
•
• Geography, we might say, is the study of the spatial patterns interacting with social
processes in a range of environments and at a variety of scales (Slater, 1992, p.102).
•
• Geography might better be defined as the study of spatial variation, of how and
why things differ from place to place on the surface of the earth. It is, further, the
study of how observable spatial patterns evolved through time (Getis, Getis and
Fellman, 2006, p. 4).
1.1. Defining Geography…

• From the diverse definitions of Geography, one can synthesize the following
meaning:

• “Geography studies spatial and temporal patterns of features and phenomena on the
surface of the earth.”
1.2. Key Geographic Themes
Five fundamental themes of geography have been identified (Getis, Getis and
Fellman, 2006, p.17).
• These are basic concepts and topics that recur in all geographic inquiry and
at all levels of instruction.
• They are
• Location: the relative and absolute position on the earth’s surface;
• Place: the distinctive and distinguishing physical and human characteristics of locales;
• Relationships within places: the development and consequences of human-
environmental relationships;
• Movement: patterns and change in human spatial interaction on the earth; and
• Regions: how they form and change.
1.2. Key Geographic Themes

• Some increase the themes to seven:

• Place
• Space
• Scale
• Interdependence
• Physical and human processes
• Environmental interaction and sustainable development
• Cultural understanding and diversity.
1.3. Key Geographic Standards
• The geographically informed person is
expected to know and understand (Getis,
Getis and Fellman, 2006, p.19):

A. The World in Space Terms:

• How to use maps and other geographic tools
and technologies to acquire, process, and
report information from a spatial perspective.
• How to use mental maps to organise
information about people, places and
environments in a spatial context.
• How to analyse the spatial organization of
people, places, and environments on Earth’s
surface.
1.3. Key Geographic Standards
B. Places and Regions:
• The physical and human
characteristics of places.
• That people create regions to
interpret Earth’s complexity.
• How culture and experience
influence people’s perceptions of
places and regions.
1.3. Key Geographic Standards
C. Physical Systems:
• The physical processes that shape
the patterns of Earth’s surface.
• The characteristics and spatial
distribution of ecosystems on
Earth’s surface.
1.3. Key Geographic Standards
D. Human Systems:
• The characteristics, distribution, and
migration of human populations on
Earth’s surface.
• The characteristics, distribution, and
complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics.
• The patterns and networks of
economic interdependence on Earth’s
surface.
• The processes, patterns, and
functions of human settlement.
• How the forces of cooperation and
conflict among people influence the
division and control of Earth’s surface.
1.3. Key Geographic Standards
E. Environment and society:
• How human actions modify the
physical environment.
• How physical systems affect human
systems.
• The changes that occur in the
meaning, use, distribution, and
importance of resources.
1.3. Key Geographic Standards
F. The Uses of Geography:
• How to apply geography to interpret
the past.
• How to apply geography to interpret
the present and plan for the future.
Creating a Geographically Informed Citizen!
 2

The Values and Aims of Geography

Education
2.1. Values of Geography Education
• Geography and History are the two
great school resources for bringing
about the enlargement of the
significance of a direct personal
experience (Dewey, 1916 republished by
Cosmo Classics, 2008:242)
•
• No inhabitant of this earth is truly
educated, that is, he has not become an
autonomous and responsible citizen
until he has acquired a geographical
education (Pinchemel, 1985, p.14)
2.1. Values of Geography Education
• “Geography is one of those richly
comprehensive subjects whose
relevance is all around us.
• Where we come from, what we do,
what we eat, how we move about and
how we shape our future are all
directly the province of the geographer.
• More than ever we need the
geographer’s skills and foresight to
help us learn about our planet – how
we use it and how we abuse it” (Palin,
1991 cited in Kent, 1999, p. 289)
2.1. Values of Geography Education
Specific values of geography education:
1. GE enhances children’s interest in and interaction with people
and places – their experience of social and natural environment.

• Geography provides awareness, knowledge and understanding of a changing

and interconnected world through study of physical environments and
resources; cultures, economies and societies; people and places; and global
development and citizenship (Kent, 1999, p. 287)
2.1. Values of Geography Education
Specific values....
2. GE as an intellectual pursuit
• Geography develops intellectual, practical and social skills such as investigation and
research, graphicacy and fieldwork and communication (Kent, 1999, p. 287)

• GE provides children with the tools to observe, investigate, describe, analyse and
evaluate the dynamics of places.
2.1. Values of Geography Education
Specific values....

3. GE contributes to the understanding of the impact that people have

on the environment.

• Both in the locality and global stage people act upon the environment. Such actions
are based not simply on knowledge, understanding and skills but also on values.

• GE provides a framework for children, even in their earliest years, for them to explore
their own and others’ values and the impact of these, particularly in terms of the
conflicts of different interests, and to understand the potential outcomes of their
actions in the environment as adults.
2.1. Values of Geography Education
Specific values....

4. GE informs about where places are

• There is a need for children to be able to recognize a globe, to know the locations of
places and areas of importance in the world, locally and globally.

• There is no shame in knowing where places are; the shame lies in an education which
denies, or seemingly does not care, that one element of the armoury of being well-
informed enough to make effective judgements is being able to locate places mentioned
on the news or in a report, a discussion or a photograph, within a mental map of ‘the
world’.
2.1. Values of Geography Education
What is Mental Mapping?
• Mental or cognitive mapping is the product of a series of psychological
processes that register, code, store, then call to mind and decode all
information on our everyday spatial environment.
• In this sense cognitive mapping is a cognitive characteristic to be found in
our minds.
• When a researcher does mental mapping, he is actually interested in mapping
maps, that is collecting and interpreting mental maps in our minds.
2.1. Values of Geography Education
Summary:
• Geography is no longer simply a listing
of the facts and features of the various
parts of the earth.
• It now makes the use of facts to study
the problems of spatial relations on
earth, problems which are made
manifest by overpopulation,
underdevelopment, urban sprawl,
regional planning, agrarian reform,
and land-use policies (Pinchemel,
1985, p.4).
Fig 1. The basis for geography’s contribution to the primary curriculum (source, Catling, 1992:14)
2.2. Aims of Geography Education
A. The analysis of locations and distributions:
• All earthly phenomena, visible or invisible, controlled or
spontaneous, are localized (Pinchemel, 1985). This
localization is manifested as ‘points’, as lines, as areas,
which result in spatial differentiation on the earth’s
surface.
• Considered separately and at different scales, each
phenomenon makes a characteristic pattern of
distribution which is not entirely due to chance but which
is related to social and economic processes.
• Geographical analysis is concerned with the description
and explanation of these patterns, searching out for the
multiple causes which may be found among physical and
human factors and whose origins may be recent or
ancient.
• Such distributions are not static but in evolution, consequently
geographic analysis must be dynamic.
2.2. Aims of Geography Education
B. Environmental analysis:
• Particular environments result from the co-
existence of several phenomena in one area
(Pinchemel, 1985).
• This spatial association and interdependence
of environmental phenomena contributes to
spatial differentiation and gives a certain
character to particular places.
• Human societies have established complex
relationships with the physical and biotic
environment, largely through the exploitation
of natural resources.
2.2. Aims of Geography Education
C. The analysis of spatial organisation:
• Individuals, families, villagers, citizens
and nations tend to perceive, build and
divide environments into regions.
• Regions’ poles of attraction are
population centres which, themselves,
are the basis of spatial organisation and
consequently of spatial differentiation
(Pinchemel, 1985).
2.3. Specific Objectives
• More specifically, the study of geography from the ages of 5 to 16 should
enable pupils to develop (Catling, 1992, p.20):

1. an informed appreciation and understanding of the world in which we live;

2. the ability to put information and experience in a geographical context;
3. an interest in, a sense of excitement about and the enjoyment of geography;
4. awareness of direct application of geography to their daily lives;
5. a sense of place;
6. an understanding of the relationships between places;
2.3. Specific Objectives
Objectives (contd...)
7. a framework of knowledge and understanding about their locality, other
places in their own country, in their continent, and the world as a whole;
8. knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the similarities and
differences in ways of life and cultures other than their own;
9. understanding of physical, economic, political and cultural relationships
linking people in places throughout the world;
10. understanding of and respect for natural environments;
11. understanding about how physical conditions influence and are affected
by human activity;
2.3. Specific Objectives
Objectives (contd...)
12. understanding of how physical processes and human actions bring about change
on the Earth’s surface and how these changes affect people’s lives;
13. understanding of the ways people use the Earth and its resources in making a
living and in seeking to improve the quality of their lives;
14. understanding of the impact of human activities on environments, and of the
costs and benefits of different activities;
15. their abilities in the skills and processes of geographical enquiry, including
collecting, analyzing, interpreting, reporting evidence; at first hand through field
study, including in the local area; from secondary sources such as maps, books,
photos, satellite images, diagrams, statistics;
16. an appreciation of maps.
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education

Core Geographic Concepts:

• All geographers are united by the similar questions they ask and
the common set of basic concepts they employ to consider their
answers.
• Of either a physical or cultural phenomenon, they will enquire
(Getis, Getis and Fellman, 2006, p.8):
• What is it?
• Where is it?
• How did it come to be what and where it is?
• Where is it in relation to other physical or cultural realities that affect it or
affected by it?
• How is it part of a functioning whole?
• How does its location affect people’s lives and the content of the area in which it
is found?
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education

Geography as a spatial science:

• The word spatial comes form space, and to geographers it always
carries the idea of the way things are distributed, the way movements
occur, and the way processes operate over the whole or part of the
surface of the earth (Getis, Getis and Fellman, 2006, p.8-9).
• The geographer’s space, then, is earth space, the surface area occupied or
available to be occupied by humans.
• Spatial phenomena have locations on that surface, and spatial interactions
occur among places, things, and people within the earth area available to
them.
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography
Education
Geography as a spatial science… :
• The need to understand spatial relationships, interactions, and
processes helps frame the questions that geographers ask.
• Those questions have their starting point in basic observations about the
location and nature of places and about how places are similar to or different
from one another.
• Such observations, though simply stated, are profoundly important to our
comprehension of the world we occupy (Getis, Getis and Fellman, 2006, p.8-
9).
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography
Education
Specific content:
A. Location, direction and distance:
• Location, direction and distance are everyday
ways of assessing the space around us and
identifying our position in relation to other
things and places of interest.
• They are also essential in understanding the
processes of spatial interaction that are so
important in the study of both physical and
human geography (Getis, Getis and Fellman,
2006, p.9).
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography
Education
Specific content… :
B. Size and Scale:
• Geographers are concerned with scale. One
can, for instance, study a problem such as
population or landforms at the local scale or
on a global scale.
• Geographic inquiry may be broad or narrow;
it occurs at many different size-scales (Getis,
Getis and Fellman, 2006, p.11-12).
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education
Specific content… :
C. Physical and Cultural Attributes:
• All places have individual physical and
cultural attributes distinguishing them from
other places and giving them character,
potential, and meaning.
• Geographers are concerned with identifying
and analysing the details of those attributes
and, particularly with recognizing the
interrelationship between the physical and
cultural components of an area: the human-
environment interface (Getis, Getis and
Fellman, 2006, p.13).
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education

Specific content… :
C. Physical and Cultural Attributes…:
 The physical characteristics of a place are such natural aspects as its

climate, soil, water supplies, mineral resources, terrain features, and the
like. These natural landscape attributes provide the setting within which
human action occurs.
 They help shape – but do not dictate -- how people live. The resource base,

for instance, is physically determined, though how resources are perceived

and utilized is culturally conditioned.
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education

Specific content… :
D. Changing attributes of a place:
• With growing numbers of people, and particularly with industrialization and
the spread of exploitative technologies throughout the world, the pace of
change in the content of area accelerated. The built landscape – the product
of human effort – increasingly replaced the natural landscape.
• Each new settlement or city; each agricultural assault on forests; each new mine, dam or
factory changed the content of regions and altered the temporarily established spatial
interconnection between humans and the environment (Getis, Getis and Fellman, 2006,
p.14).
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education

Specific content… :
D. Changing attributes of a place…:

• Characteristics of places today are thus the result of constantly changing past
conditions. They are the forerunners of differing human-environmental
balances yet to be struck.
• Geographers are concerned with places at given moments of time.
• But to understand fully the nature and development of places, to appreciate the
significance of their relative locations, and to understand the interplay of their physical
and cultural characteristics, geographers must view places as the present result of past
operation of distinctive physical and cultural processes (Getis, Getis and Fellman, 2006,
p.14).
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education
Discussion Session 2:

“Geographers must view places as the present result

of past operation of distinctive physical and cultural
processes”.

1. How do you understand this statement?

2. Give a concrete example using a known place in Ethiopia

Note: Form a group of two to three students

and discuss on the questions; and then share
you thoughts in class.
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education
Specific content… :
E. Interrelations between places:
• There is interchange between connected places.
• Spatial diffusion is the process of dispersion of idea
or a thing from a centre of origin to more distant
points (Getis, Getis and Fellman, 2006, p.15).
• The rate and extent of that diffusion are affected by
the distance separating the origin of the new idea or
technology and other places where it is eventually
adopted.
• Diffusion rates are also affected by such factors as
population densities, means of communication,
obvious advantages of the innovation, and importance
or prestige of the originating node.
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography
Education
Specific content… :
E. Interrelations between places… :
• Geographers study the dynamics of spatial
relationships.
• Movement, connection and interaction are part
of the social and economic processes that give
character to places and regions.
• Geography’s study of those relationships
recognizes that spatial interaction is not just an
awkward necessity but a fundamental
organizing principle of the physical and social
environment.
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education
Specific content… :
G. Place Similarity and Regions:
• The distinctive characteristics of places – physical,
cultural, locational – immediately suggest two
geographically important ideas.
• The first is that no two places on the surface of the
earth can be exactly the same. Not only do they have
different absolute locations, but the precise mix of
physical and cultural characteristics of place is never
exactly duplicated.
• Because geography is a spatial science, the inevitable
uniqueness of place would seem to impose
impossible problems of generalizing spatial
information.
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education
Specific content… :
G. Place Similarity and Regions… :
• The second important idea is that the natural
and cultural characteristics of places show
patterns of similarity in some areas.
• Often, such similarities are striking enough for
us to conclude that spatial regularities exist.
They permit us to recognize and define regions,
earth areas that display significant elements of
internal uniformity and external differences
from surrounding territories
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography
Education
Discussion Session 3:

“Places are... both unlike and like other places,

creating patterns of areal differences and coherent
spatial similarity” (Getis, Getis and Fellman, 2006,
p.16).

1. How do you understand this statement?

2. Give a concrete example using a known place in Ethiopia

Note: Form a group of two to three students and

discuss on the questions; and then share you
thoughts in class.
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography Education

Example: UK
• The UK National Curriculum requires the identification of attainment targets,
programmes of study and assessment arrangements in Geography.
• Attainment targets specify the aspects of geographical study to be covered in
the primary curriculum; the programmes of study outline the essential
experiences that will enable children to progress in achieving understanding
in the attainment targets, and the assessment arrangements will track
children’s progression (Catling, 1992).
2.4. The Subject Matter of Geography
Education
Example: UK (contd...)
• The UK Geographical Association’s National Curriculum Working Party
identified fourteen attainment targets for geography, ten of which it was felt
should be assessed in the primary years (Catling, 1992, p.18).
• The attainment targets are further categorised under three profile components, namely
understanding environments; investigating environments; and evaluating environments
(see next slide).
 Table: Attainment targets for geography in the UK

Profile Component One: Profile Component Profile Component

Understanding Environments Two: Investigating Three: Evaluating
Environments Environments
1. The local and regional 1. Fieldwork 1. Environmental
2. The wider world investigations issues
3. Landscapes and their 2. Understanding 2. The potential of
formation Maps places
4. Weather and atmosphere 3. Sources of 3. Environmental
5. Ecosystems and resource geographical appreciation
management information
6. People and settlements
7. Movement of people, goods
and information
8. The location and
organisation of economic
activities
2.5. Current Status of School Geography
Food for thought:
• It is evident that new disciples or
programmes of study are cropping up more
and more frequently over the past four to five
decades (e.g. Information Technology, Eco-
Tourism, Genetic Engineering, Development
Economics, etc.). It is also evident that some
of the traditional disciples or programmes of
study are either weakening or even dying out.
•
• How do you characterise the status of geography
in light of the developments over the past
century?
2.5. Current Status of School Geography
• Discussion Session 3:

• Has geography made any significant changes in its

content and strategies over the years?
• If yes, what changes?
• If no, give evidence that Geography remained stable
over the decades.

Note: Make a group of three to five and outline

the major changes Geography went through
since its inception as a discipline/school
subject (OR how it remained stable, if you
think there was no major change).
2.5. Current Status of School Geography

• Lambert (1992) suggests that there is a considerable difference

between geography as an academic pursuit at the ‘research frontier’
and geography in school education.
• One cannot, however, deny that there is a link between developments in
geography in higher education and in schools though it is necessary to be
cautious about the precise nature of these links.
• A school geography that centred upon the philosophical tensions in
the discipline would be difficult to teach and given the stage of
intellectual development of the young people, difficult to learn.
2.5. Current Status of School Geography

• Geography at university level is an area of academic research. As

such, the nature of the subject at the academic frontier is constantly
changing.
• Naish et al. (1987) thus comment that “in the sense that geography is
to be used as a medium for education, there is no requirement that all
new academic developments should necessarily be translated into the
school context”.
• On the other hand, a refusal to consider the applicability of new
developments to school level geography could lead to a fossilized school
subject lacking all academic rigor and based on tenets which have been
rejected by the community of academic geographers (Lidstone, 1992, p.187).
2.5. Current Status of School Geography

• At present, unlike the so called core subjects like language,

mathematics and science, the place of geography in the curriculum of
primary and secondary schools is believed to be relatively uncertain
(Tilbury and Williams, 1997, p.1).
• In some countries the separate identity of the subject is not recognized while
in others it is often squeezed into elective structures as pressures mount on
the limited amount of curriculum time.
• In primary schools, geography is sometimes included as one component of
topics studied there while in secondary schools it may be integrated into
courses labeled humanities, social studies or environmental education.
2.5. Current Status of School Geography

Discussion session 4:
• In the sense that geography is to be used as a medium for education,
“there is no requirement that all new academic developments should
necessarily be translated into the school context” (Naish et al.,
1987).

• A refusal to consider the “applicability of new developments to

school level geography could lead to a fossilized school subject
lacking all academic rigor and based on tenets which have been
rejected by the community of academic geographers (Lidstone,
1992, p.187).

• How do you understand the above statements and their implications

for geography curriculum development in Ethiopian schools?

Note: Form a group of two to three students and discuss on the

questions; and then share you thoughts in class.
2.6. School Geography: Country Experiences

Example: England and Wales

• Alongside its position as one of the ten subjects in the National Curriculum for
5-14-years-olds, geography is regarded as one of the big players in the school
curriculum of England and Wales (Kent, 1999, p. 287).
• It is further indicated that Geography remained a popular element in the
curriculum because many students at all levels see it to be relevant,
stimulating, and interesting.
2.6. School Geography: Country Experiences

Example: England and Wales …

• A significant factor in explaining geography’s continuing strength in secondary
schools in England and Wales is known to be the maintenance of programmes
of teacher education in geography both in older and newer universities (Kent,
1999, p.288).
• Initial teacher education in the form of a one-year PGCE (Postgraduate
Certificate in Education) course run by university schools of education and
schools in partnership remains a compulsory entry requirement for teachers
entering maintained schools.
• What is more, the success with which geography has convinced students at
secondary and tertiary levels that it opens up a range of career opportunities
is believed to be one of the most significant factors.
2.6. School Geography: Country Experiences

A Research Project

Topic: The Status of School Geography in Country X

Instruction:
• Make a library and/or online research and prepare a paper not longer than five pages.
The Paper must include, among others, the current status of geography in primary
and secondary schools; and the preparation of geography teachers for these schools.
• Choose one of the following countries for a case study: Canada, USA, Brazil, UK,
Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, India, China, Japan, Australia, Nigeria,
South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Turkey.
2.7. What Makes Geography Unique?

• What is unique about the subject that will provide students with something that others
cannot provide?
• Geography allows students:
• to answer questions about the natural and human worlds, using different scales of inquiry to view
them from different perspectives;
• to develop awareness and understanding of a range of peoples and cultures, and a respect for many
different attitudes, views and beliefs;
• to gain experiences that help them make connections between themselves, their communities and
the wider world;
• to explore issues of environmental change and sustainable development, and develop the skills and
attitudes necessary for active involvement as citizens;
• to develop and extend their investigative and problem solving skills, including skills in number and
information and communications technology (ICT), inside and outside the classroom;
• to recognize the need for a just and equitable society, and their own role in making this possible.
(Leeder, 2006, p.9)
Creating a Geographically Informed Citizen!
 3

Approaches to Teaching Geography

3.1. Catling’s Approaches to Teaching
Geography
• There are three distinct approaches to
teaching of geography:
• information-centred,
• analysis-centred and
• issue-centred.
3.1. Catling’s Approaches to Teaching Geography

• Through an information-centred approach, children/students will tend to

build up knowledge of the world.
• Example: Distribution of forests in Ethiopia
• This may be of value in answering quiz questions but it provides little insight into the
patterns discerned and the processes at work in the natural and human environment
and of the interactions, impacts and interdependence of these.
3.1. Catling’s Approaches to Teaching Geography
• In analysis-centred approach, information
is an aid to understanding, not an end in
itself.
• Example: Analyse the pattern of distribution
of forests in Ethiopia.
• Which areas have more/less forests, why?
3.1. Catling’s Approaches to Teaching Geography
• The issue-centred approach sees an
understanding of environmental feelings
and values which affect the way people
might make decisions and act within the
environment.
• Eg. What are the major causes of and
consequences of deforestation in Ethiopia?
• What can be done to control deforestation
and enhance regeneration of forest cover?
The focus of approaches to teaching primary geography (Source: Catling,
1992:24)

Focus Finding out about Study Enquiry focused on

places concerned with evaluation and action in
explanation relation to places
about places

Structural Information-centred Analysis-centred Issue-centred

focus
Focus for Building up locational Exploring pattern Examining environmental
understanding knowledge about the and process in values and potential for change
locality and the rest of physical and human from local to global scales
the world phenomena

Learning Information RECALL Information, Information, concepts, skills,

focus concepts, skills, values, DECISION-MAKING
UNDERSTANDING
3.2. Fien's Process Approach to Teaching and
Learning
• In process approach to teaching and learning, the teacher’s role is not to teach
students what to think, but how to think. This is done through a variety of ways,
including (Fien, 1992, p.121-22):

1. providing students with the background

information in a variety of forms and giving students training and
opportunities to find more information.
2. ensuring that a wide range of perspectives is
represented so that students see the value systems
operating in the issues being explored and, thus, understand
why society displays divergent views on the issues.
3.2. Fien's Process Approach to Teaching and Learning…

3. training and encouraging students to assess

the information they use by requiring them to
differentiate fact from opinion, investigate and verify
sources and recognize claims that are difficult to prove or
disprove.
4. ensuring that students analyse the pros, cons
and implications of each argument.
5. encouraging students to evaluate the
arguments presented by comparing, contrasting and
clarifying them.
3.2. Fien's Process Approach to Teaching and Learning…

6. using probing questions to help students

identify the deep fundamental values that underlie the
various arguments.
7. encouraging students clarify and take their own
values into account when evaluating different viewpoints.
8. providing opportunities for students to freely
choose their position on the issue.
3.2. Fien's Process Approach to Teaching and Learning

9. insisting that students be able to give

convincing reasons for their decisions and show evidence that
they have considered the consequences and implications of
their decisions.
10. providing information and opportunities for
students to explore various ways in which to act on their
decisions and evaluate the wisdom and implications
of the action.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

• In any teaching-learning situation there are numerous variables which

affect the choice of teaching styles and strategies. These include:
• the students (their values, attitudes and existing knowledge);
• the teachers;
• the school resources and those of the local area;
• the society/culture of which the school system is a part; and
• the content (knowledge or attitude or values) which is to be taught.
• It is therefore impossible to prescribe a course of action, a teaching
strategy, that will fit all circumstances.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

• How teachers teach is not so easily influenced as what they teach.

• Teachers adapt their styles and strategies to the cultures and subcultures in
schools and indeed to meet their own needs of coping with the day-to-day
demands of being a teacher (Roberts, 1992, p.237).
• There is no reason to expect consistency in a teacher’s day-to-day
practice.
• Research in the 1980s and 1990s is appropriately focused more on attempting
to understand, rather than on labelling what is taking place in the classroom
(Roberts, 1992, p.237).
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

• Glimpses into geography classrooms might catch (Roberts, 1992,

p.232):
• a teacher giving a talk and pupils taking notes,
• pupils copying notes from overhead transparencies,
• pupils working individually from worksheets and resources,
• pupils working at computers,
• pupils working in small groups having heated discussions,
• a whole class taking part in a mock public inquiry, and
• others preparing questionnaires for a fieldwork visit.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

A framework for thinking about style and strategy

• Three styles of teaching and learning are suggested: closed, framed and
negotiated.
• In this classification the main factor used to determine style is the amount of
control teachers maintain over subject content and activities.
• At one end of the spectrum teachers maintain tight control over all aspects of the
subject knowledge.
• At the other extreme there is maximum learner participation in the construction of
knowledge.
• The participation dimension ranging from closed through framed to
negotiated, can be adapted and applied usefully to geographical education
(Roberts, 1992, p.238).
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies
A closed style (Roberts, 1992, p.241-43)
• The teacher keeps control over the content of the work by
choosing the content and introducing it in direct way to
learners.
• The pupil’s role is to accept the knowledge or the
questions given by the teacher as valid, rather than to
challenge why this particular topic is being taught, why
these questions are being asked, or to add questions
which they personally might be interested in.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

A closed style (contd...)

• The data are chosen by the teacher and are presented as authoritative
knowledge.
• The pupils’ role is to accept the data as valid and to learn what is presented in them. The
sources of information are not probed.
• The teacher decides how the data are to be investigated. There is no choice of
method of analysis, and the reason for the choice of methods is not open to
discussion.
• Pupils are expected to follow the procedures given.
• The generalisations, evaluations or conclusions reached at the end of a period
of study can be predicated at the start and are not open to debate.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

A framed style (Roberts, 1992, p.243-45)

• The theme or focus is still decided by the teacher. The curriculum is planned
to encourage pupils to make the questions their own and to ask further
questions themselves.
• The teacher creates, by various strategies, ‘a need to know’ among the pupils.
This can be achieved in several ways:
• by giving the pupils a problem to solve or a decision to make;
• by asking pupils to speculate about facts, reasons, viewpoints before the data are given
so that pupils will want to check their perceptions against the presented data; or
• by the teacher successfully conveying a sense of curiosity at the start of the lesson.
• The essential feature is that the pupils make the questions their own.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

A framed style (contd...)

• The teacher still selects the data but it is more varied than in the closed style,
often presented as ‘evidence’ to be interpreted and evaluated rather than as
hard information to be accepted without question.
• In addition to pupils being expected to know and understand what is in the
data, they are introduced to the ideas of selection, bias, fact and opinion.
• The data are open to questions under the guidance of the teacher.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

A framed style (contd...)

• Teachers induct pupils in the techniques and principles of geography. These
constitute the frame which the teacher controls.
• Pupils might have to choose between several different ways of representing and
analysing data and become aware of the their merits and drawbacks.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

A framed style (contd...)

• Role plays, whole class and small group discussion can give an opportunity for
interpretations to be shared and ideas to be discussed.
• What is learned by individual pupils is less predictable than in the closed
style. Pupils could come to different conclusions from examining the data and
their views could be tested, and challenged.
• The extent to which the data supported a key idea or generalization would be open to
discussion.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

A negotiated style (Roberts, 1992, p.245-47)

• The broad area of study might be chosen by the teacher or by the
requirements of an examination syllabus, but the questions which guide the
study are asked by the pupil themselves. This means that the questions which
form the basis of subsequent study come form the learners.
• The data are provided by the learner, either as a result of a guided search
through available school or library resources, or by consulting other people,
or from first-hand collection of data. The leaner makes the choices, with
advice, about what data are appropriate to answer the questions to be
investigated.
3.3. Teaching Styles and Strategies

A negotiated style (Roberts, 1992, p.245-47)

• The responsibility for choosing methods of analysis and interpretation rests
with the pupils. The teacher’s role is as consultant.
• In concluding the work the final outcomes may not be known in advance or
be predictable. Both learners and teachers evaluate the success of the work.
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Is Geography value free?

• In the past, physical geography – even in certain respects human
geography, was regarded as an objective scientific study and therefore
value free.
• Today, it is widely accepted that value judgements affect scientific inquiry
simply because scientists are human (Brown and Meed, 1992).
• The focus on processes – especially human processes – has
automatically introduced value judgements of a social, political and
economic character. And the values in themselves are changing.
• Small wonder that perception studies have become a critical feature of the
contemporary syllabus.
3.4. Value Education in Geography

• Values clarification is an approach that encourages students to

analyse their own thoughts and feeling about an issue, while values
analysis encourages students to think about and analyse a range of
people’s viewpoints in relation to their own (Gough, 2011).
• Value clarification as a method of teaching is aimed at helping
students to (Coppens, 2006):
• become aware of and identify their own values and those of others;
• communicate openly and honestly with others about their values; and
• use both rational thinking and emotional awareness to examine their
personal feelings, values, and behaviour patterns.
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Value exercises:
• Value exercises are meant to make students conscious of their
opinions on range of issues.
• The exercises are constructed in such a way that everyone thinks for
himself, everyone listens, and everyone is able to express a personal
stand point (Brunner, et al., 1994).
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Value exercises:
• The exercises are based on questions which have no simple answers.
• Right or wrong does not apply.
• Value exercises create questions and force students to ask themselves:
Where do I stand?
• They must also accept responsibility for their opinions and defend them in
subsequent discussions: why do I think like this?
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Rules for value exercises:

• Rules that must be observed while conducting value exercises include
(Brunner, et al., 1994, p. 51):
• Everyone has the right to refuse (if any pupil finds that a question is sensitive
or difficult he/she has the right to decline to answer.
• Respect each others’ opinions (since the value discussions involve neither
right nor wrong, it is not possible to criticize each other, even when opinions
differ. On the other hand, everyone is entitled to state his/her opinion).
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Rules (contd…)
• Speak for no-one but yourself (in a discussion it is easy to make sweeping
statements and generalizations, such as ‘it is like this…, most people believe
that…etc.’). Instead, stress the use of the first person: ‘I think that…’.
• Don’t interrupt (besides seeming dismissive, an interruption disturbs
concentration and prevents participants from absorbing new concepts and
thoughts).
• A discussion never ends (value laden discussions often engage pupils’
interest and generate new insights. They may feel that the subject has not
been fully covered, even when time has run out. This will require some
explanation by the teacher).
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Strategy One: Rating

• Rating exercises present a question with several alternatives and pupils rate
them accordingly.
Procedure:
• Prepare questions with alternatives (rating list) and distribute the list to every
student;
• Each student rates his alternatives individually. All alternatives are to be rated.
• Form groups of three to five. Everyone in the group gives his rating in turn. The others
listen. This is followed by a group discussion.
• Assemble in a large group. Each group briefly presents its rating results. A large group
discussion may develop which reflects a general view of the topic.
• Allow plenty of time for the exercise. Discussions can sometimes be drawn out.
Rating guideline: (1) for best choice, (2) for second best choice, and (3) for third
choice
S/n Issues and alternatives Ratings
1 How do you rate the following modes of land ownership in rural Ethiopia?

a) State ownership

b) Communal ownership

c) Private ownership

2 What should the Ethiopian government do to control deforestation in rural

areas?
a) Make sure that modern sources of energy (like electricity
and kerosene) are accessible for rural households
b) Take legal measures to discourage forest cutting in
communal holdings
C) Increase supply of fuel wood through plantation
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Strategy Two: Opposites

• This type of exercise is called ‘stand on the line’ and it gives students
the opportunity to find out where they stand between two extremes.
• It also gives a student the confidence needed to physically demonstrate
his/her position in front of his/her fellow students (Brunner, et al., 1994, p.
53).
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Strategy Two: Opposites:

Procedure:
• Point out before the start of the exercise that the students should place themselves on the
number that corresponds to their opinions (without looking to check where their classmates
are standing).
• Ask a question which raises a problem. Present two extreme answers.
• The two answers represent opposites on a line. Mark line 1 to 6. The students then stand on
the number that corresponds with their opinion.
• The students who are standing on the same number tell each other why they are standing
there.
• Somebody from each group tells the whole group why they have chosen that particular
number. This is followed by a large group discussion. Any student can change places if he/she
changes his opinion during the discussion.
Opposites: Example:

In Ethiopia, priority should be given to production of sufficient

food for the hungry than protecting land as a natural reserve.

1 2 3 4 5 6
Makes Makes no
much sense sense
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Strategy Three: Unfinished sentences

• Unfinished sentences are very useful for evaluation, among other things, but they
also function well as an introduction to a new area of work (Brunner, et al., 1994,
p.54).

Procedure:
• Distribute unfinished sentences and let the students complete the sentences taking as much
time as necessary.
• Form groups of three to five. Everyone in the group reads his completed sentence in turn. The
others listen. This is followed by a group discussion.
• Assemble in a large group. Each group briefly presents its work. A large group discussion may
develop which reflects a general view of the topic.
• Allow sufficient time for the exercise so that clarifications are given in at least part of the cases.
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Strategy Three: Unfinished sentences

Example:
• To protect those species that are under high threat of extinction, Ethiopia
must…..
• If I see a leaking water pipe on my way home, I would……
• If I see my friend next door throw waste onto community’s green area, I
would……
• If a green political party starts campaign during the next Ethiopian election, I
would……
• To get rid of the recurrent danger of famine, Ethiopia must……….
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Strategy Four: Moral dilemma

• ‘Moral dilemma’ is one of effective ways to link teaching to the real
world outside the classroom.
• It is here that theory is confronted with practice and students learn whether
their attitudes and values are based on genuine convictions (Brunner, et al.,
1994).
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Strategy Four: Moral dilemma

Procedure:
1. Talk about a difficult situation like the following:
• You are a primary school teacher in a small village. The villagers arranged a small house for
you there and you started living among the community there. The community leader, who
lives in the nearby village, has three children who attend the school where you teach. You get
these kids in your Environmental Science class. Your favourite story in class is ‘how to keep the
neighbourhood clean’. One day you got invited to a coffee ceremony at the community
leader’s house. His village looked extremely filthy. Your three students appeared to be
ashamed as they saw you come to their village. At the end of the coffee ceremony, the kids
came to you and insisted that you tell all the villagers in the coffee ceremony to keep their
houses and neighbourhoods clean (the same way you tell them in class). What would you do?
3.4. Value Education in Geography

Procedure (contd...):
2. Ask the students to write down three suggestions as to what they would
do under the above condition.
• Then write what the possible consequences of each of the suggestions.
3. Form groups of 3 to 5. Everyone in the group would then take a turn to talk
about the alternatives he/she has proposed and their possible
consequences. This will be followed by a group discussion.
4. Gather in a large group. Each group gives a brief account of its discussion.
This may develop into a large group discussion reflecting a broader view of
the topic.
•
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Background
• The essential purpose of PBL is enabling students to generate a body
of knowledge intentionally geared towards solution of a real problem.
• Students would be guided to develop a vision of alternative actions
and potential solutions to the problem, which they use to devise a
plan of action (Cotton and Winter, 2010).
• The action may then be carried out, followed by a period of reflection and
evaluation.
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Background (cont’d)
• PBL is believed to enhance students’ confidence in their problem
solving skills and helps them to be self-directed learners (CTL, 2001).
• While such confidence does not come immediately, it can be fostered
by good instruction whereby teachers:
• give students a sense of ownership over their learning,
• develop relevant and meaningful problems and learning methods, and
• empower students with valuable skills that will enhance their motivation to
learn and ability to achieve.
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Key features:
• During a PBL, students work with classmates to solve complex and
authentic problems that help develop content knowledge as well as
problem-solving, reasoning, communication, and self-assessment
skills (CTL, 2001, p.1).
• On the other hand, instructors are expected to emphasize learning (as
opposed to recall), promote group work, and help students become
self-directed learners.
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Key features (cont’d):

• In PBL, learning is “student-centred” in the sense that students are
given the freedom to study those topics that interest them the most
and to determine how they want to study them.
• Students take part in identifying their learning needs, lead class discussions,
and assess their own work and their classmates’ work.
• PBL emphasizes depth rather than breadth of content coverage, with
students having from two to six weeks to work on one problem
depending on its complexity (CTL, 2001).
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Key features (cont’d):

• In addition to emphasizing learning by “doing,” PBL requires students
to learn to be conscious of:
• what information they already know about the problem,
• what information they need to know to solve the problem, and
• the strategies to use to solve the problem (CTL, 2001, p.1-2).
• Initially, however, many might not be capable of this sort of thinking
on their own. It is therefore important that instructors act as
“cognitive coach” who model inquiry strategies, guide exploration,
and help students clarify and pursue their research questions.
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

• Group work is an essential aspect of PBL for the following reasons

(CTL, 2001, p.2):
• First, group work helps develop learning communities in which students feel
comfortable developing new ideas and raising questions about the material.
• Second, group work enhances communication skills and students’ ability to
manage group dynamics.
• Third, group work is interesting and motivating for students because they
become actively involved in the work and are held accountable for their
actions by group members.
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Role of teachers:
• Teachers are expected to encourage students to develop group norms and ground
rules for group work, including establishing attendance policies, the schedule of
due dates, and the consequences for rule violation (CTL, 2001, p.2).
• With regard to problem identification, the instructor can create an extensive list
of topics and ask students to focus on those topics that seem most interesting.
• Students then work on the problems of their choice in groups of three to eight students,
depending on the number of students in the course.
• Teachers must also ensure that all students are involved in the problem-solving
process and must familiarize students with the resources needed (e.g. library
references, databases) to solve the problems, as well as identify common
difficulties or misconceptions.
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Assessment:
• A critical part of assessment in PBL is the feedback students receive
from their peers. Students are often asked to rate their group
members using a numerical scale based on (CTL, 2001, p.5):
• attendance,
• degree of preparation for class,
• listening and communication skills,
• ability to bring new and relevant information to the group, and
• ability to support and improve the functioning of the group as a whole.
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

PBL in Practice:
• "The worse example of poor sanitation I have seen was when I was in
Ethiopia in February (2011)," Barbara Frost, Chief executive, Water
Aid (Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15552967-accessed
on 18 November 2011)

The Problem:
• The ever deteriorating situation of toilets in Ethiopian
schools/colleges/universities
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Background:
• Sanitation poses a huge health and environmental problem throughout Ethiopia
(see the quotation above). Should it really be such a problem? Is it really
appropriate for Ethiopian households to seek UNESCO’s help to dig a private toilet
at the back of one’s house? Coming back to our schools/colleges/universities, no
one can deny that the conditions of student toilets (in some cases staff toilets too)
are extremely poor. The problem is not as such new but its gravity is increasing as
intake at schools, colleges and universities made a huge leap over the past ten to
fifteen years. Unless effectively addressed, the problem will continue to cause
health, psychological and pedagogical problems. Some blame the administration
of schools, colleges and universities for failing to address this apparently simple
problem. Others blame our culture/attitudes towards use of toilets for making the
apparently simple problem very hard to deal with.
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Objective:
• The major objective of this project is therefore to assess the problem and propose
workable solutions to change the existing condition in three years.
•
Procedure:
1. Form a group of three to five students.
2. Undertake literature review to understand the nature, causes and consequences of
pollution via shortage and/or abuse of toilets (students can get information from the
internet, visit the responsible offices in the City/Town Council and contact the officers in
charge of environmental protection, if they are in Addis Ababa or regional capitals.
3. Make a systematic observation of all the toilets in your campus and describe their situation
(for this purpose, it is advisable to develop a check-list based on the background reading).
3.5 Problem-based learning (PBL)

Procedure (cont’d):
4. Make a survey to understand the views of school/college/university communities
(students, academic staff, administrative staff, etc.) on the causes and possible
solutions to the problem.
5. Prepare a short but comprehensive report on the findings (not more than ten pages).
6. Based on the findings, prepare a letter to the Director of your school/Dean of your
college/President of your university whereby you suggest two to three alternative
ways to radically change the condition of toilets in three years.
7. Present both your general findings and the recommendations to your fellow students
and lead the discussions following the presentations.
8. Based on the feedback you get from your fellow students, prepare a final version of
your report and the letter to Directors/Deans/Presidents.
3.6. Effective Sequence of Mapping Education

• Research on mapping education shows that students will not have an

effective mapping education if they spend most of their studies in geography
in interpreting maps (Gerber, 1992, p.208.
• It is possible to identify three distinct processes in mapping education:
• competence in elements of maps;
• designing and making maps; and
• interpreting maps.
3.6. Effective Sequence of Mapping Education

• There is also a need for competence in cartographic language before effective

performance can be demonstrated by students.
• Educators must therefore make sure that students, working on their own ability levels,
can firstly develop competence in the elements of maps.
• Then, they should undertake a range of experiences involving the design and drawing of
maps using symbols that can be understood by each student.
• Finally, once their competence in maps has been confirmed, the students
should engage in deliberate interpretative activities (Gerber, 1992, p.208).
Sequence for developing effective mapping skills (source: Butler et al., 1984, cited in Gerber, 1992, p.
209)

1 What is a map?
 The elements of maps  Scale
 Making better maps  Relief
 Plan view  Map language
 Direction  Making a map from the globe
 Reference systems
2 How do you make a map?
 Making a mental map  Changing the scale of a map
 Making a real map  Making a thematic map
 Making a map in the field  Making a shaded map
 Making a single-concept map  Making an isoline map
3 How do you use a map?
 Cadastral maps  Political maps
 Road maps  Atlas relief maps
 Maps using a single concept  Topographic maps
 Maps using several concepts  Weather maps
 Orienteering maps  Drawing maps by computer