1 / 13

The Essential Role of Physical Geography in Education

Explore the relevance and importance of physical geography in education, highlighting its integration of human societies and the Earth's physical components. Discover why physical geography is essential for a comprehensive understanding of our world.

gcastro
Download Presentation

The Essential Role of Physical Geography in Education

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Is physical geography essential? Steve Brace Head of Education and Outdoor Learning Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) s.brace@rgs.org

  2. Why physical geography? • What is geography? • The language for our landscapes • Where else would it go? (Into science?) • A combined subject’s relevance • It’s what geographers want (I hope!)

  3. 1. What is geography?“Writing the Earth” Geography

  4. 1. The subject discipline of geography • Geography occupies a distinctive place in the world of learning, offering an integrated study of the complex reciprocal relationships between human societies and the physical components of the Earth. • The discipline is characterised by a breadth of subject matter in which the traditional division has been between human and physical geography. • HE Geography Benchmark Statement

  5. 1. Why the physical and human matter together • Geography can focus on the many processes and issues at the interface of society, environment, landscape and economy, and to analyse how these play out in places, regions and across communities.

  6. 2.The language for our landscape (its what we do - I do – as geographers)

  7. 2. And it’s a language geographers instinctively use

  8. 3. Where else would physical geography go? • 2011 Science teachers identified ‘earth sciences’ (broadly categoried) as one of the least popular subjects for inclusion in NC science. • Survey by the National Science Centre • Into science as with ‘earth sciences’ in the first 1990sNational Curriculum?

  9. 3. Working with the Earth scientists: RGS, Geol Soc, ESTA, RMetS and GA

  10. 4. Geography’s relevance • Three recent Government Foresight enquiries – Migration and Global Environmental Change; Land Use Futures and International Dimensions of Climate Change - all had one or more leading geography academics on or chairing their expert panels • Geog. graduates have low levels of unemployment. Why? • May be it’s the combination of physical science with social impact?

  11. 4. And in relation to in the National Curriculum review The RGS strongly believes that the following should be identified as statutory within the geography curriculum rather than the science curriculum: • Earth Science • Weather, climate and the water cycle • “(Geography) The understanding of the processes by which our physical and human environments and landscapes are shaped and change.” • RGS-IBG submission to NC review 2011

  12. 5. Do teachers agree? • “It is the Society’s experience that geography teachers share our view that earth sciences belong as a fundamental element of the subject discipline of geography and they would relish the opportunity to teach it as part of a coherent geographical programme.” • RGS-IBG submission to NC review 2011

  13. So is physical geography essential? • YES! • S.brace@rgs.org

More Related