Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Creating a curriculum that responds to students' desire to take Geography B instead of
Contemporary Society or Politics and Economy is being considered. This is especially
true for students at senior high school level who are applying to science-related
universities, but who until now have been choosing to take exams in Contemporary
Society or Politics and Economy within the National Center exams.
4.3
Learning Content of the New Geography A
and Geography B
High school administrators are uncertain which of the two described scenarios may
occur. They are required to respond to the new learning content stipulated in the
offi cially published revised national curriculum of March 2009.
In the 2009 national curriculum (MEXT
2009
), two new geography subjects
were established, the new Geography A (two credits) and Geography B (four cred-
its). With respect to learning content, the new Geography A is composed mainly of
thematic subject methods, and the new Geography B primarily of systematic geog-
raphy and descriptive regional geography methods. In the basic framework of their
organizational content, there are no differences between the new and existing
Geography A and B. However, some new characteristics and a number of differ-
ences are evident in specifi c learning content (Table
4.6
). One of these, common to
both the new Geography A and Geography B, is the goal of advancing student learn-
ing with maps. Particularly in Geography B, learning content related to maps and
geographic skills is established from the very beginning under a separate heading
“All kinds of maps and geographic skills,” which is positioned as the basis for sub-
sequent content. Another characteristic shared by Geography A and B is an emphasis
on learning that explores geographic issues. At the end of the new Geography A
course, students investigate geographic issues in the living environment using
learning accumulated to that point, in the module called “Geographical issues of the
living environment and fi eld surveys.” In “The contemporary world and Japan” at
the end of the new Geography B, students investigate Japan's various geographic
problems by applying knowledge learned.
In addition to these, new characteristics and differences are seen in each subject.
In the new Geography A, the aim is to strengthen learning content that relates to
everyday life and emphasizes the utility of geography. Specifi cally, together with
existing content related to the contemporary world, content that deals with issues of
the living environment as considered from a geographic perspective was newly
added under a separate major heading, “Geographical consideration of various
issues in the living environment”. Within this initiative, learning about maps of the
immediate surroundings (“Maps that are tied together with everyday life”), about
disaster prevention in response to the wave of earthquake disasters (“The natural
environment and disaster prevention”), and similar topics have been added. In the new
Geography B, the goal is to provide learning content that emphasizes the contem-
porary world, in which regional descriptive geography is strengthened. Current
descriptive geography learning focuses on two or three exemplary regions, depending
