Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
projections of what humans of the past thought about, i.e., their intellectual space.
According to this view, regions and the world as they will exist tomorrow must be
conceived in the intellectual space of human beings living today. The argument is
that the signifi cance of geography education will increase with the implementation
of teaching that goes beyond merely analyzing and understanding present conditions
in regions, but that extends to the consideration of how oneself and one's world can
and should be in the future. The background to this activity lies in the development
of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and information sharing.
It is from here that we begin to see the challenges of Japanese regional geography
education. The fi rst obstacle is how geography education should be imparted at the
elementary school level. Geography lessons since the 1977 National Curriculum
Standards (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture
1977
) rarely included
countries outside of Japan. A modest revival has been attempted since 1989, but the
situation is still very different from that of Europe and the U.S., where children,
right from the start of geography education, are encouraged to understand the world
by comparing it with their home region and country.
The second issue concerns secondary school geography education. In Japan,
the role of regional geography education in junior high school is to foster an under-
standing of the world. Regional geography education has been criticized for being
too focused on rote learning. In response, a variety of schemes have been attempted
that have accumulated a large amount of teaching experience. It would be pragmatic to
make use of the accumulated lessons and to consider new approaches to effectively
teach regional geography. Conversely, in senior high schools, while systematic
geography education has a certain role, it is different from that of regional geogra-
phy education in junior high schools. Japan should look to the manner in which
regional geography education is conducted in Europe and the U.S., where impor-
tance is placed on uncovering challenges faced by a region and learning how they
could be resolved.
The third issue concerns the practice of regional geography education and the
direction in which it is moving. In Europe and the U.S., rather than keeping to a
simple understanding of present conditions, regional geography education is clearly
oriented toward the question of how future society should be constructed. This
instills an active attitude for involvement in constructing regional and global civil
societies. The importance of taking such a direction has also been indicated in Japan
(e.g., Izumi
2009
), and the National Curriculum Standards for junior high school
(MEXT
2008
) has clearly suggested this with its reference to investigating the chal-
lenges in a region. However, this statement does not appear to apply to specifi c
educational activities that use materials such as data and maps. This is because of a
lack of data and materials for student use, as well as little regard for the importance
of these skills. Thus, teachers turn to case studies to illustrate regional phenomena.
The more specifi c case studies become, the more students and teachers are likely to
make value judgments and political appraisals of the regions studied. In the Japanese
educational system, where political neutrality is considered important, education
tends to go no further than teaching general concepts.
