Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
its livelihood and to foster the attitudes and abilities in them to contribute their
energy to its development.” Thus, its purpose was stipulated to help young people
understand society and foster attitudes and abilities for contributing to building
society (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture
1947
). The nature of Social
Studies is to provide students with the knowledge and understanding of society
necessary to become contributing citizens. It was defi ned as a discipline that “fosters
citizenship through an awareness of society” (It
ō
1971
) and Social Studies contin-
ues to play this role.
Geography education, which is part of Social Studies, contributes equally to
citizenship formation. For example, the study of one's immediate local area or
Kyōdo
(native place) in junior high level geography, has two aspects: (1) learning
about geographical knowledge, techniques, and geographical perspectives as well
as ways of thinking; and (2) nurturing students' interest in their local area (
Kyōdo
),
which leads to a desire to contribute to its advancement (Kikuchi
1969
).
Outcomes from these two aspects, as Shibusawa (
1998
) points out, have been
included in the National Curriculum Standards since 1977. Thus, an arguably
important part of fostering practical citizenship is learning from social participation,
the central topic of this chapter.
9.2.2
Social Participation in the Community
Within Social Studies and geography education, the relationship between the devel-
opment of social perspectives and citizenship has been changing over time.
In the early inception of Social Studies, a large part of the curriculum emphasized
child participation in their local society. Social Studies in the mid-twentieth century,
such as the Nishi-Tama Plan (Imai
1950
), supported children's identifi cation of
problems in their community and the search for solutions. Together with adults,
students were actively involved in improving the local area.
However, the approach to learning through problem solving in early Social
Studies was criticized. From the mid-1950s onward, there was a shift toward system-
atic learning, and the social participation element in Social Studies and geography
was gradually phased out. For example, the 1958 National Curriculum Standards
(Ministry of Education, Science and Culture
1958
) included the idea of
Kyōdo
in
junior high geography, which was a shift in pedagogy centering on methods and
concepts (Kikuchi
1960
). Specifi cally, in the
Kyōdo
lessons, the goals advocated the
inclusion of uniform targets and methodological concepts. However, implementation
into lessons was diffi cult. Instead, the curriculum focused on guiding geographic
perspectives and thinking, as well as geographic techniques (e.g., map reading and
construction) through local surveys and fi eld trips followed by methods of analysis.
Thereafter, lessons about one's local area or
Kyōdo
in Social Studies and geography
focused on learning methodological concepts instead.
When Japan entered a period of rapid economic growth between 1954 and 1973,
problems such as depopulation, overpopulation, and environmental pollution posed
