Preface: Learning and teaching across geographical curricula

摘要

In January 2010, the Waikato Branch of the New Zealand Geographical Society hosted the Positioning Geography: Strategic Issues in Geographical Education Conference. The conference was held at the University of Waikato in Hamilton and offered plenary sessions, the presentation of themed papers, workshops, field trips and round table sessions. The full record of the proceedings is recorded on the DVD distributed to participants.The authors of papers at the conference were offered the chance to submit their papers for publication in themed forums in academic journals through a refereeing process. The three papers offered in this issue were selected by the editors of the conference proceedings because they represent different but related statements about the issues faced by those teaching geography across the curricula. The first paper we selected deals with an innovative approach to teaching and learning geography.David Lloyd, Bill Boyd and Kristin den Exter explore the nature of mind mapping as an interactive learning tool. The technique is interesting in the challenges it provides to more conventional linear models and text-based responses that are familiar to most of us teaching geography.The case studies provided allow us to think about how we can use new approaches to complement our existing classroom skills.As the authors note, there are sections of our learning community that respond positively to the potential of mind mapping approaches, which liberate practitioners from the constraints of formal English writing. Shelagh Waddington writes about secondary curriculum development in Ireland, a country with a population not much greater than New Zealand’s (NZ) and with experience of introducing a new curriculum in 2004 after over 30 years of stability. Waddington’s commentary allows us to reflect on generational contrasts between the 1971 (Irish) and 1974 (NZ National Geography Curriculum Committee ) curricula and the models we are now implementing in Ireland (2004) and in NZ (2007). Waddington’s detailed work also points to the importance of the ‘second-tier’ documents currently under development in theNZMinistry of Education. Ian Fuller, Martin Brook and Kat Holt argue for integrating good research practice as early as possible in geographic education. They describe an undergraduate physical geography programme at Massey University and the involvement of graduate students in supporting research.Their advocacy for both physical geography and modelling best practice in research is as relevant to senior geography as it is to undergraduate programmes. Achievement Standard 90705 (Carry out and present geographic research with consultation) provides a useful introduction to the research practices Fuller et al. report.