Current Status and Issues in Senior High School Geography Education - Geography Education in Japan - page 37

Table 4.1 Changes in enrollment and learning content patterns
Year Pattern of enrollment Subjects Learning content

1948 Elective subject Human geography Systematic geography

1963 Elective subject Geography A Systematic geography (four units)

Geography B Systematic geography (three units)

1973 Compulsory subject Geography A Systematic geography

Geography B Regional geography

1982 Elective subject Geography Systematic geography

1992 Elective subject Geography A Topical methods

Geography B Systematic geography

2003 Elective subject Geography A Methodological abilities

Geography B Case studies

and Geography B, whose organizing principles vary regarding learning methods
and learning content, have become elective subjects. In particular, since the cate-
gory of Social Studies, which had continued since the beginning of the new senior
high school system, was divided in 1992 into Geography and History and the Civics
categories. Within the Geography and History category, only World History-related
subjects have been mandatory; Geography-related subjects have become optional,
students choosing between Geography and Japanese-history related subjects.
More or less in parallel with alterations in the pattern of enrollment, course learning
content has also changed. A brief outline of these changes is described in Table 4.1 ,
following up on the work of Nishiwaki ( 2009 ).
Learning content of the fi rst geography-related subject introduced under the new
post-war senior high school system, Human Geography, focused on answering
the question, “How do human beings live on the earth's surface and build cities and
villages?” (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture 1951 ). Learning systematic
geography was emphasized, which revolved around productive activities. Efforts
were made to clarify the systematic geography learning content by arranging it into
topics such as “farming and herding” and “settlements”. Content related to maps
and outdoor fi eld surveys was added to this Human Geography subject, and geo-
graphic skills were also emphasized. In the next stage, the learning content of
Geography A and Geography B also focused on Human Geography, protection of
the natural environment, and Japan's land area. There was little difference between
teaching content of the two subjects; they only differed in the number of instruction
hours, with Geography A being three credit units and Geography B four credit units.
In the 1973 version of the educational curriculum, however, the teaching content in
Geography A and Geography B classes differed. The content of Geography A
focused on the existing systematic geography, that of Geography B centered around
world regional descriptive geography, studying world regions through such topics
as “characteristics of the natural environment,” “inhabitants and population,” and
“the current state and trends in industry and the economy” (Ministry of Education,
Science and Culture 1970 ).