Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
techniques were agreeable to teachers and fi t course content. Thus, these proposed
teaching styles became an impetus to the development of new geography educa-
tion content and promoted further research on Social Studies education.
16.1.4
Geographical Simulation Teaching Materials
In the 1970s teaching community, there was a shift from a real knowledge towards
a constructionist approach to building knowledge. This shift led to a decrease in
traditional regional geography studies and an increase of simulation teaching mate-
rials developed in England. In Japan, these materials attracted attention from the
education community, which saw entertainment as a learning method. Simulation
teaching was introduced in the school systems in the 1980s, and a report on interna-
tional implementation was published. For example, Watanabe (
1984
) introduced a
simulation game in geography textbooks in England and Nishiwaki (
1989
) reported
the practice with original simulation resources. Research on simulation teaching
and materials in Japan was treated in a book (Yamaguchi et al.
1993
).
16.2
The 1990s
In the 1990s, a geography curriculum analysis of the U.S. revealed notable
approaches, which spawned interest in the fi eld of geography education.
16.2.1
Curriculum Analysis
The National Curriculum Standards in Japan was created after World War II, under
the supervision of the General Headquarters (GHQ). The provisional guidelines
were initially created in 1947 and since, they have been periodically revised and
serve as a legally binding document. Therefore, the motivation for elementary and
junior high school teachers to individually develop their own curricula did not arise.
Schools only needed to teach according to authorized textbooks. A byproduct of this
education system was that teachers lost interest in the mandated curriculum.
However, Ito (
1994
) argued that the greatest mistake and crime of Social Studies is
that history and geography were included within the same subject. The delicate
balance between geography and history within the mandated Social Studies class
has sparked countless debates. Social Studies and geography education researchers
studied the curriculum within the courses offered and focused on foreign curriculum
theories, in hopes of gaining insight from foreign practices.
Nakayama (
1991
) reported on the geography education movement in the U.S.
from 1987 to 1988. In particular, the state of Minnesota's “Elementary and Junior
