Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
9.4
Perspective of Social Participation Learning
in Geography Education
9.4.1
Establishing Children's Identity in the Formation
of Multilayered Regions
In exploring the concept of self-governing community-building by citizens from a
sociology standpoint, Matsuno (
2004
) argues that the goal should be a citizen-
initiated form of regional social operations. This idea positions the fundamental
values as coming from a new “citizen-based communality” instead of the traditional
top-down administrative communality, thus Matsuno coining activities such as
“local area societal formation” (pp. 1-5). From another perspective, if Social Studies
can fulfi ll the role of fostering students' ability to form a civil society, then the lack
of critical thinking skills and value judgments in the current curriculum will be
resolved (Ikeno
2001
). This refers to a set of abilities and skills for creating a society
based on democratic principles. The assumption is that self-suffi cient citizens who
make up a democratic society are those described in the National Curriculum
Standards as “shapers of a peaceful and democratic nation and society who live
within an international society” (MEXT
2008b
).
Social participation learning aims to nurture children to become actors within a
local society, with rights and responsibilities, i.e., citizens involved in “local area
societal formation” (Matsuno
2004
). The elements of social participation learning
in geography education include abilities and skills that do not end at the limits of
local area societal formation. Thus, such learning fosters Ikeno's aforementioned
ability to form civil society. Geography is well positioned, because it imparts stu-
dents with knowledge of geographic phenomena and social problems that occur on
different spatial scales (local area, national scale, international and global society).
The abilities and skills that students cultivate through social participation learning
are at times learned from residents and citizens in their immediate local area, and
at times from citizens nationwide or worldwide. The following section discusses
children as stakeholders in shaping multilayered regions at varying spatial scales,
aligning with a principle proposed in the national curriculum of “identity in the
formation of multilayered regions.”
The movement to establish this identity in children has attracted attention in
the fi eld of development education, which has aimed to cultivate practical global
citizens. Yamanishi (
2008
) observed that practical development education has
until now emphasized problematic situations in developing countries with a global
perspective. Thus, the perspective of having learners connect the immediate com-
munity problems to the global issues and imagine a model for a new society has
not been suffi ciently recognized. Nor has it been actively put into practice, and
consequently perhaps at the level of rationale, practice is going around in circles.
Yamanishi (
2008
) appealed to the importance of developing mutually reinforcing
approaches that move “from global to local” and “from local to global.”
