Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Development education has been searching for a long time for ways that learners
can participate on a global scale. Its attention is now focused on the immediate
local areas, with the notion that it is critical to nurture children's identity in the
formation of multilayered regions within social participation learning. If this per-
spective is applied to the introduction of social participation learning in geogra-
phy education, it may be necessary to defi ne that identity as the fundamental core
of geography education.
9.4.2
Makeup of Children's Identity in the Formation
of Multilayered Regions
The abilities and skills that make up children's identity in the formation of multilayered
regions contribute to societal change in the following ways:
• The foundation includes abilities and skills developed through direct experiences
in the immediate local area. Participation in social activities that support the
development of local society is grounded in values and rationales of the
citizens.
• In a contemporary society where globalization is increasing, students need
abilities and skills that allow them to be stakeholders who make decisions on
issues across a range of spatial scales, from local to global.
• Students develop abilities and skills to understand issues from a broad perspec-
tive through investigating how issues across spatial scales are intertwined in the
search for optimal solutions. Through this learning process, children should realize
that they are citizens of the local, national, and global society, and that they need
to be engaged in decision making and societal contribution.
Despite these educational efforts, is it possible for children to relate personally to
issues at different spatial scales, thereby teaching them that they should participate as
actors? Delanty (
2006
), who elucidated the plight of communities in the contempo-
rary world, argues that communities are not systematic structures, shapes, or forms
with symbolic meaning, but rather a community is constructed from a dialog-like
process. An attribute of today's world is that communication is more important than
anything else, and communities can take part in various means of communication.
For example, the expansion of social interaction through social media and the Internet
translates to building new social bonds at a global scale. As a result, “the citizens of
today can participate not only within the social framework of the nation state, but
also in the global society and the local society” (Delanty
2004
, p. 254). Although
children's current relationships are primarily founded on face-to-face interaction in
their immediate local area, it has become possible through the various forms of
communication for their identity to emerge in the face of formation of multilayered
regions, at many different spatial scales.
