Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 16
Trends in Japanese Geography Education
Research in Recent Years
Hiroya Yoshimizu
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to examine research trends in Japanese geography
education, published in academic journals and books from the 1980s to the present.
Geography education refers here to school education, namely, elementary, junior
high, and senior high school. Attention is paid to several types of research areas in
the country, including cognitive, historical, overseas, and practical research such as
curriculum or lesson plan development. Recent research on geography education
has been infl uenced by the new national curriculum in Japan and other countries.
However, there is a paucity of work in the area of lesson and evaluation studies,
which focuses on curriculum evaluation and instruction lessons developed from
educational standpoints. Therefore, increased accumulation of research results is
expected in the future.
Keywords
Geography curriculum • History of geography education • Japanese
geography education research
16.1
1970s and 1980s
Japanese scholars are active in geography education research. This section describes
the types of research and their contributions to capacity building and strengthening
of the fi eld in Japan.
16.1.1
Cognitive Research
Human geography became prominent and infl uenced geography education during
the 1970s. Experimental geography education research focused on spatial and
locational awareness. Researchers aimed to experimentally measure changes in
children's experiences, perceptions, and awareness (Iwamoto et al.
1985
).
