ABSTRACT A Study on the Contents of Geography Education in Countries around the World ? Focusing on 8 Countries of Germany, France, U.K., U.S., Russia, China, Japan and Korea Nam, Seonae ... ABSTRACT A Study on the Contents of Geography Education in Countries around the World ? Focusing on 8 Countries of Germany, France, U.K., U.S., Russia, China, Japan and Korea Nam, Seonae Department of Geography Graduate School of Sungshin University Geography is the study of spatial structures and mutual relationship caused by continuous interaction between people and nature. Geography has positioned itself as an important academic field in the era of localization and globalization, which presents a fundamental solution to current international issues including environmental problems based on in-depth and transcendental study on various social phenomenon. Geography education is to learn the geographical structure of a nation or of the world based on basic concept, principle, reasoning and research method of geography, leading people to equip with comprehensive and logical way thinking. In Korea, geography has been continuously studied from the ancient times through the Joseon Dynasty until today, serving as an academic field that analyzes the relationship between human/nature factors and local community in a comprehensive way. In this study, comparison and analysis on geography education among in Germany where the modern geography was established, France, U.S., and Russia which play a leading role in regional studies and social issues with the early development of geography, and China and Japan from Asian countries are conducted. In the case of Korea, the changes in geography education from the Joseon Dynasty until today are analyzed. First, common features, similarities and differences of geography education in each country are analyzed by comparing and analyzing the contents of geography textbooks for the first, second and third grade of an a high school. Classification criteria were established by referring to the method for classifying geography of each geographer based on the review of geography history. What those 8 countries had in common in their geography education is that industry and economy parts account for the largest share in education as those two areas are the basis for economic power. The difference notified was based on each country’s policy focus that is reflected and incorporated in education. Natural environment or natural landscape are not the subject that can be managed by a country alone. Therefore, those subjects were found to be similar containing the information on neighboring countries or around the world. Germany emphasizes climate area accounting for the largest share in geography education. France deals with politics and society areas most significantly. U.K. emphasizes natural environment, in particular disaster caused by environmental changes and counter measures. U.S. puts a particular emphasis on cultural and historical areas while Russia allocates a significant portion of education to population. China deals with industry and economy areas, which are the common focus of all countries, significantly making the portion of those areas upto 40%. Geography education in Japan is unique in terms of explainng the world or each region according to the subject of human geography. Geography education in Korea is classified into 4 period with 10-year term each, such as the Joseon Dynasty of the pre-modern education period, the beginning period of modern education, the period of Japanese colonialism and the period after the independence. The position of geography can be confirmed by looking at the contents of geography books of 8 provinces edited by government and by individuals in the Joseon period. For the time of enlightenment, the contents of <What Everybody Must Know about Geography> which was translated into Korean in 1889 present the world view at that time. Geography education textbook during the Japanese colonialism was degraded to be used as a guidebook for Japanese for the purpose of exploiting underground resources and travel. However, after the independence, it is confirmed that the geography textbook contributed to the establishment of sound view of state and education contents were changed based on the changes in national policy. Since 2000, geography education of Korea has been transformed based on the western geographical studies, and contributed to promugate the nation’s land policies. To conclude, the analysis on geography education in 8 countries shows that geography contributes to regional research and analysis on social changes. In addition, it is expected that geography will play an important role in establishing and implementing national policies to deal with social changes.
논문개요 지리학은 자연과 인간 사이의 끊임없는 상호 작용으로 인한 공간상의 구조 및 상호 관련성을 연구한다. 지방화, 국제화 시대의 지리학은 과거의 여러 사회 현상에 대한 깊이 있는 ... |
