Geography is the study of the Earth, its inhabitants and the interrelationships between them in the context of place, space and environment. It is concerned with the nature, distribution and interaction of human and natural features over the Earth's surface, the processes which create, sustain or change these features, and the contribution they make to the distinctive character of places.
Geography helps children to make sense of their surroundings and the wider world. By studying their local environment and other areas, children learn about people and places and the interrelationships between them. They come to understand the natural and human processes and patterns present in these environments, and they can learn to appreciate the similarities and differences between places. Geography also provides opportunities to acquire a range of investigative, graphical and other skills.
Geography encourages children to appreciate the interdependence of individuals, groups and communities. It promotes an understanding of, and respect for, the cultures and ways of life of peoples throughout the world and it fosters an informed sense of individual and community responsibility for environmental care.
The geography curriculum
The nature of geography in the curriculum
Geographical education is concerned fundamentally with developing the child's understanding and appreciation of the world in which he/she lives. This involves the child in exploring and learning about the natural and human environments which he/she encounters while simultaneously developing an awareness of spatial patterns and using a range of investigative and communicative skills.
The geography curriculum has been designed to reflect the diversity of the subject, to encourage a balance between the acquisition of skills and knowledge, and to draw attention to the important values and attitudes with which geography is concerned.
The content of the geography curriculum
The content of the geography curriculum is presented in three strands:
- Human environments
- Natural environments
- Environmental awareness and care.
Human environments
For many children, the environments which are of most importance to them are those which have been wholly or largely created by human activity. Children's homes, the areas which surround them, their schools and play spaces, roads, streets, walls, fences and farmland have been shaped or created by the actions of people and their interaction with natural environments. A knowledge of these features helps the child to structure his/her experiences of the world.
Of even greater significance are the people who live and work in these environments and the events that occur in these places: the ways in which people interact with individuals and groups and how they move about, work, play and react to physical conditions. All these elements help to explain some of the features which people construct and they define the character of a place as significantly as any natural elements of the landscape.
It is a fundamental principle of the geography curriculum (and of the other curricula in SESE) that children should develop an understanding of the world through direct experience and activity. Thus the curriculum recommends that the exploration of human environments should be based firmly in the local environment of the child at all levels in the primary school, and should expand to include examples from a growing range of wider environments.
These studies should foster important aspects of the child's social and attitudinal development. By exploring the lives of people in the locality and wider contexts, children should come to value the contribution of people from a diversity of cultural, ethnic, social and religious backgrounds. Children's understanding and appreciation of their local, regional and national identity should be fostered and they should develop a sense of their European and global citizenship. Studying people's social and economic interactions can make the child aware of human interdependence, not only between people within the local environment but between people in urban and rural areas, and between those in Ireland and beyond. In particular, the inclusion of units on development issues in the senior classes provides opportunities for children to explore how the lives and actions of people in developed and developing countries are interrelated.
Natural environments
One of the major concerns of geographers has always been to explore, describe, explain and record the natural features of the Earth. These features -- the mountains, hills, lowlands and other landforms, the seas, oceans, weather systems and climate -- give places their distinctive character. A knowledge of these features and how they relate to one another is an impor tant aspect of children's growing awareness of their environment. Geographers and geographical education are also concerned with examining how these features have been formed by physical forces and processes -- for example, heating, cooling, erosion, deposition, movements of the Earth's crust -- and how flora and fauna interact with them.
As in the case of human environments, the curriculum provides for the exploration of natural features and processes in the local environment and the development of weather observation and recording skills at all levels in the primary school. As the children's understanding of the features and processes are developed through local examples, this knowledge may then be applied in wider contexts and the curriculum recommends that older children should become familiar with some features from regional, national, European and global contexts. Finally, the study of natural environments introduces children to the wider setting of the Earth in the solar system and space, an area of knowledge which involves very abstract concepts yet one which has an inherent fascination for adults and children alike.
Environmental awareness and care
Geography is not just concerned with understanding and explaining the nature of environments but it inevitably leads to an informed concern for these environments. A fundamental aspect of the geography curriculum (and of SESE in general) will be to awaken in the child an appreciation of the environments which he/she encounters and a sensitivity to the impact of change and human actions on the character of these environments.
An enhanced perception of environments and environmental change should lead to the development of a sense of personal and community responsibility for environments and should foster the notion of people as custodians of the Earth for future generations. The strand Environmental awareness and care provides opportunities for the child to develop and apply knowledge and skills so as to contribute in a meaningful way to the discussion and resolution of environmental issues. These issues will range from matters of local concern to global environmental problems and many will arise out of children's study of specific natural and human environments within the first two strands of the curriculum.
The areas of geography and science have complementary roles to play in the development of the child's environmental awareness. For this reason the strand is repeated in each of these curricula and should be developed as a major cross-curricular theme throughout the primary school years.
Skills and concepts development in the geography curriculum
As children develop knowledge and understanding of human and natural environments, they should also have opportunities to develop important geographical concepts and skills. These are delineated in a Skills and concepts development section at the beginning of the content for each level and will be fostered most effectively by activity in, and experience of, a range of environments.
A sense of place and space
Some of the most fundamental geographical concepts to be acquired by the child are those concerned with A sense of place and space. The child's sense of place refers to his/her understanding of, and feeling for, the essential character of different places: an understanding of how landscapes have been formed and shaped by the interaction of natural processes and human activity, and an appreciation of the distinctive contribution made by the motivations, beliefs, values and attitudes of people. A sense of place enables the child to recognise the unique identity of a place and to appreciate what it would be like to live there. The curriculum describes how the child's sense of place is first developed in the home and locality and is then extended as he/she explores a balanced range of human and natural environments in local, national and international contexts.
A sense of space refers to the child's understanding of where places are and how they are interconnected. As the child explores his/her surroundings he/she builds up a knowledge of where places and objects are located. Gradually, a concept of how and why these places and objects are related to each other is developed. In doing so, the child is acquiring locational knowledge and spatial awareness and is refining his/her mental image (or cognitive map) of the world. The curriculum outlines how, through the exploration and study of human and natural environments, the refinement of the child's cognitive map is enhanced. Mere rote memorisation of the names of physical features, towns and countries contributes little to this learning process which is concerned with the development of a very distinctive geographical skill.
Maps, globes and graphical skills
The recording, communication and interpretation of spatial information through the use of maps, plans, diagrams, photographs, models, globes and other means is a further and very distinctive skill to be developed in the geography curriculum. Understanding and using maps and other representations is dependent upon a sense of perspective, particularly an aerial perspective. The curriculum outlines a series of activities which will enhance children's awareness of perspective, and should help the child to use and understand a wide range of graphical (i.e. non-verbal, nonnumerical) forms of data representation. These graphical techniques and the communication of geographical information in text will involve the use of conventional and electronic media.
Geographical investigation skills
Some of the skills used in geographical investigations are common to other areas of the curriculum, for example skills of literacy, numeracy, recording and communication. Investigations will also foster co-operative and group working skills. However, an important aspect of the work of many geographers is the application of scientific skills and knowledge to the investigation of geographical phenomena. The skills outlined in Geographical investigation skills, which include questioning, observing, predicting, investigating, estimating, measuring, and analysing, mirror those included in the science curriculum under the heading of Working scientifically. Their inclusion in the geography curriculum indicates not only that a critical, empirical approach should inform children's investigations of the environment but that significant aspects of the science curriculum can be achieved through geographical topics.
Geography and the integrated curriculum
Geography and other areas within SESE
While geography makes an important and distinctive contribution to the development of the child it also complements the growth of his/her historical and scientific learning. All three contribute to the wider social and environmental education of the child, and their complementary roles will be reflected in the organisation of learning. Throughout the primary school, and in the early years especially, much learning in geography, science and history will take place through the integrated themes or topics which teachers use to organise their work. Many of these topics will arise out of the child's need to explore and understand his/her immediate environment and local community. The curriculum and its accompanying guidelines suggest how the development of valuable geographical skills, concepts and attitudes will be achieved as these topics are explored.
Geography and other areas of the curriculum
Geography has close links with many other areas of the curriculum. The use of integration as a teaching technique is more fully described in the accompanying teacher guidelines but links with two particular curricular areas merit special attention.
The study of human environments and the communities which create them will involve the child in understanding and coming to appreciate the diversity and interdependence of people in local and other settings and will equip the child to participate fully in the life of his/her local, national, European and global communities. While the topics of the geography curriculum will provide many of the contexts within which this learning will take place, units outlining the development of the child's sense of citizenship have been delineated fully in the curriculum for social, personal and health education (SPHE) and are therefore not repeated in this geography curriculum.
The development of many geographical skills, in particular those concerned with spatial awareness, graphicacy and mapping, will be dependent upon and will complement the growth of the child's mathematical understanding.
Language and geography
Language is a pervasive influence throughout the teaching and learning process. Hence, while possible instances of integration between geography and other subjects are suggested within the curriculum statement and guidelines, examples involving language are not included. However, geographical education makes a critical contribution to the child's language development: the growth of the child's geographical understanding and the acquisition of language skills are interdependent and mutually enriching. It is largely through language that children describe and interpret their experience, organise their thinking and attempt to make sense of the world around them. Activities in the geography curriculum will engage the child in describing a wide range of human activities, environments and processes. Hypotheses will be formed and discussed, conclusions drawn, and judgements made and enunciated. All these activities provide rich opportunities for the enrichment and extension of children's language.
Literacy is also enriched by geographical education. As children explore geographical topics they will draw upon a wide range of materials and record their findings in a number of formats. Many of these, including maps, charts, books, signs in the environment, internet web pages and other computer applications will encourage the development of skills in reading and writing.
Geography also has a language of its own. The gradual introduction of geographical terms enables children to describe and discuss features in the environment more closely and the development of children's understanding of locational and directional terms is critically linked to their sense of place and spatial awareness. Therefore, the extent to which language is an integral part of the teaching and learning process should be a consistent concern in the planning and implementation of the geography curriculum.
Information and communication technologies
Geography provides many opportunities for the development and application of skills in the area of information and communication technologies and the curriculum encourages the use of ICT in the development of children's geographical concepts and skills. The teaching of many aspects of the geography programme may be enriched by the use of multimedia packages, some of which, for example, demonstrate geographical processes, present information about places and peoples or allow children to explore the possible consequences of cer tain actions on the environment. Electronic media such as CD-ROMs and the internet can give children access to a vast range of pictorial, film and other sources which can greatly enrich their geographical understanding. In particular, many useful maps and atlases are available on CD-ROM.
Information and communication technologies may also be used as a tool during geographical investigations and to facilitate children's presentation of their own geographical findings. The results of investigations may be analysed and presented using computer programs so that patterns and processes may be identified. Information can be exchanged with others, allowing illuminating similarities and differences to be explored, while written, aural and visual accounts may be readily created and edited. Moreover, the descriptions and accounts of places which children have created may be easily communicated both to others in the school and to a wider audience throughout Ireland and other parts of the world.
Assessment
Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning in geography as in other areas of the curriculum. The section on assessment outlines how a range of informal and more formal assessment techniques can assist in enriching the learning experience of the child and provide useful information for pupils, parents, teachers and others.
Aims
The aims of geography are
- to develop knowledge and understanding of local, regional and wider environments and their interrelationships
- to encourage an understanding and appreciation of the variety of natural and human conditions on the Earth
- to develop empathy with people from diverse environments and an understanding of human interdependence
- to develop the ability to use a range of communicative methods, especially those concerned with the development of graphicacy (mapping and other non-verbal, non-numerical forms of data presentation)
- to encourage the development of a sense of place and spatial awareness
- to encourage the development of caring attitudes and responsible behaviour towards the environment, and involvement in the identification, discussion, resolution and avoidance of environmental problems
- to develop an understanding of appropriate geographical concepts.
Broad objectives
When due account is taken of intrinsic abilities and varying circumstances the geography curriculum should enable the child to
- develop knowledge and understanding of natural and human environments in the locality, region, Ireland, Europe and the world
- understand some of the natural, social or economic processes which create, sustain or change environments
- study the impact of environmental conditions on the lives of people in the locality and in other areas, and come to appreciate some of the ways in which humans use, modify or influence their environments
- engage in active exploration of local and other environments as an intrinsic element of learning
- acquire the ability to use and understand appropriate investigative methods in the study of natural and human features and phenomena in local and other environments
- develop a sense of place: an understanding and appreciation of the major characteristics of different places
- develop a sense of space: an understanding of how natural and human features are located and distributed in local and other environments and how and why they relate to each other
- develop an appropriate cognitive map of the local area and extend the process to wider geographical settings
- acquire an ability to understand, develop and use a growing range of plans, maps and globes
- develop an ability to acquire, analyse and communicate geographical knowledge using a wide variety of sources, including oral, written and graphical forms, models and globes, information technology and other media
- extend, refine and apply artistic, linguistic and mathematical skills
- learn that the sharing, responsible use and conservation of the Earth's natural and human resources are necessary for the continued existence of life
- develop aesthetic sensitivity to the natural and human elements of the environment and to the repercussions of human actions
- learn of and come to value the diversity of peoples, cultures and societies in Ireland and throughout the world, acquire an awareness of human interdependence and develop empathy with others
- use and value creative, innovative thinking in the exploration and/or resolution of human and environmental issues.