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Volume 4

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Author/s:

Geography Edition of HSSE In this special geography issue of HSSE Online, we acknowledge geography teachers’ role in geographical education by inviting classroom practitioners to share their reflections on issues in geography education research. As noted by former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1959, “It is no exaggeration to say that the 10,600 teachers […]

Past Issues

27 Mar 2023

Volume 4, Issue 1 2015

Geography Edition of HSSE

In this special geography issue of HSSE Online, we acknowledge geography teachers’ role in geographical education by inviting classroom practitioners to share their reflections on issues in geography education research. As noted by former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1959, “It is no exaggeration to say that the 10,600 teachers in all our schools constitute the most influential group of 10,600 people anywhere in Singapore” (cited by Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Education, at the MOE Promotion and Appointment Ceremony, 2015). What teachers do in their classrooms has profound implications for students’ learning and development.

This collection of articles, though centred around geography education, is largely applicable to a wider humanities education audience as it deals with disciplinary value and purpose, the organisation and prioritisation of curricular content, and teachers’ roles in negotiating these various issues and perspectives. Zainab Banu Hassan’s article applies the curriculum making model advocated by the Geographical Association in the UK as a means to evaluate curriculum resources for developing students’ geographical thinking. Liu Zhen considers the applicability of a conceptual approach to geography as a means to organise geographical content for teaching, while Paul Seah reflects on Young’s (2010) powerful knowledge and the debates within geography education about whether pupils’ experiences should be part of the formal curriculum. Ng Mui Leng’s article examines the debates surrounding whether the study of the earth’s systems sits better within a geography or science curriculum, as well its value in the education of students in Singapore. Finally Peh Shi Yun considers the relationship between teachers’ geographical knowledge and their classroom practice within a wider analysis of other types of powerful influences on what they do.

The final two articles in this issue address issues that have great relevance to geography teachers in their practice. The article by Norfarahin Binte Abdul Rahim and Wu Bing Sheng highlights the importance of disaster education in countries like Taiwan that suffer natural hazards frequently, and assesses the success of disaster prevention literacy in an elementary school. The article also reveals how fieldwork and qualitative and quantitative analyses help geography teachers analyse, interpret, and represent in-situ data. The last article by Adelina Chandra and her colleagues is invited to share their regional study in Southeast Asia. The authors explore impacts of tourist facilities on the transition of Gubugklakah Village, Malang, Indonesia. Their findings reflect how local people benefitted from the growing number of tourists and how the new tourist facilities are geographically expanded along the popular attraction sites. Geography teachers can be inspired by the fusion of qualitative and quantitative analyses in fieldwork study.

Tricia Seow
Bing Sheng Wu

Author/s:

Zainab Banu Hassan (River Valley High School, Singapore) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Curriculum Making Artefact Thinking Geographically Introduction This paper examines and evaluates a

Zainab Banu Hassan (River Valley High School, Singapore)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Curriculum Making
Artefact
Thinking Geographically

Introduction
This paper examines and evaluates a curriculum artefact that could be used in teaching about food aid as a strategy to alleviate the problem of food shortage in the Secondary Four human geography chapter on Food Resources. This paper discusses the Curriculum Making model introduced by the Geographical Association (2012) as its main curriculum theory to evaluate the chosen artefact. It evaluates the role of the teacher as a curriculum maker and the curriculum artefact’s effectiveness in allowing the students to think geographically. In doing so, it critically evaluates the geography that is being taught and learnt in the classroom.

In recent years there have been many concerns raised by academic geographers on the teaching and learning of geography in United Kingdom (UK) as a subject in school and the role of teachers in teaching it. Many debates have risen over the geography being learnt in the classroom with the revision of the National Curriculum in UK in 2008 (Lambert & Morgan, 2009).

On a curriculum level, there have been arguments put forward to transform the current UK school geography curriculum into a knowledge-based curriculum (Young, 2010), where careful attention is given to the selection of geography content to be taught in the classrooms to connect it closer to the subject discipline (Lambert & Morgan, 2009), to allow students to study geography holistically (Rawding, 2013) and not through a selection of content or concepts which are incoherent. Besides the content, there has been a greater emphasis on the student learner. Proposals have been made to include students’ everyday lived experiences and interests into subject content to make it more meaningful and relevant for them and to help them connect larger global issues with local ones (Brooks, 2006; Biddulph, 2013). Roberts (2014) has also asserted the need to equip young people with the necessary thinking skills and values that will allow them to access the content knowledge and to make it meaningful for them.

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Author/s:

Liu Zhen (Loyang Secondary School, Singapore) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Geographical concepts Teaching Geography Thinking Geographically Within geography education, there is discussion about what

Liu Zhen (Loyang Secondary School, Singapore)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Geographical concepts
Teaching Geography

Thinking Geographically
Within geography education, there is discussion about what it means to “think geographically” (Jackson, 2006). One argument is that geographical content (the lists of names and places) is the “vocabulary” of geography, and geographical concepts are the ”grammar” which helps us makes sense of places and names (Jackson, 2006; Lambert, 2004). Jackson argues that what sets geographers apart from other professions is their ability to make connections between information and knowledge about seemingly unrelated matters (Jackson P. , 2006, p. 203), but expressed concern that the public perception of the discipline focuses only on the “vocabulary” aspect (Jackson P. , 2006).

Jackson is not alone in stating that the study of Geography should not be purely about making lists and remembering names. Bonnet (2012) sees the taxonomy of Geography – using geography to “order the world” – as one of the existential functions of Geography (Bonnet, 2012, p. 40). Advocates of holistic geography (Rawding, 2013) support Jackson’s argument that geography students need to move beyond studying geography topics in isolation. They argue that students need to see the interconnection between different systems (Bonnet, 2012; Lambert, 2004; Rawding, 2013), that is they need to think geographically. Holistic geography poses a stark contrast to the topical approach typically employed in schools, where the textbook is divided distinctly first into human and physical geography, then separate topics such plate tectonics or weather and climate.

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Author/s:

Paul Seah (Beatty Secondary School, Singapore) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Geographical Concepts Introduction Johnston and Sidaway (2004) posit that there exists a body of

Paul Seah (Beatty Secondary School, Singapore)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Geographical Concepts

Introduction
Johnston and Sidaway (2004) posit that there exists a body of knowledge that is taught by experts who produce new knowledge and reproduce old knowledge within disciplines that is identified by their subject matter. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant classified this knowledge in three different ways (Azócar Fernández & Buchroithner, 2014). One way was to classify facts according to the type of the objects studied. The second way was to examine the temporal dimension by looking at things in relation to their history. The final way was to understand facts relative to their spatial relationships. It is the final method of knowledge classification that is what we know today as geography.

The understanding of knowledge, as with other phenomena in our society, is “ever-changing and is multifaceted” (Boettke, 2002, p. 266). More recently, Firth (2013) proposed three other conceptions of knowledge: absolutist, relativist and realist, and argues that such “different conceptions of knowledge (and truth) imply and encourage different ideals of thinking, learning, teaching and curriculum in geography” (p. 59).

However it seems that knowledge is “somehow taken for granted or something we can make fit our political goals” (Young, 2010, p. 21) and that there is a need for another way of conceptualizing the curriculum by seeing what knowledge can do, calling it “powerful knowledge” (Young, 2009). He argues that because the curriculum had evolved to tackle social problems and fulfill the needs and interests of learners, it “played down the fundamental educational role of the curriculum, which derives both from what schools are for and what they can and cannot do” (Young, 2010, p. 23). Young (2010) therefore takes a radical stand and argues that “we need to make the question of knowledge our central concern and this involves developing a knowledge-led and subject-led, and not, as much current orthodoxy assumes, a learner-led approach to the curriculum” (p. 21). This paper will critically examine Young’s (2010) arguments and comment on how these arguments are relevant to geographical education in Singapore.

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Author/s:

Ng Mui Leng (Dunman High School, Singapore) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Physical Geography Education Citizenship Education When the new Lower Secondary Geography Syllabus was

Ng Mui Leng (Dunman High School, Singapore)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Physical Geography Education
Citizenship Education

When the new Lower Secondary Geography Syllabus was launched in 2014, there was much talk among teachers that there seemed to be a downplaying of “pure” physical geography topics. Units on the traditional four spheres of physical geography (i.e. biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere) were taken out, though physical geography topics are still represented at the upper secondary level. This leads us, as geography educators, to ponder – is physical geography’s position in Singapore’s school geography curriculum at risk?

This paper draws on Duncan Hawley’s chapter “What is the rightful place of physical geography?” in Debates in Geography Education (Lambert & Jones, 2013). It appositely explores the “rightful place of physical geography” by presenting the different arguments about physical geography’s position with regard to other disciplines (especially the sciences) and within the discipline itself. It also critically reflects on the implications of Hawley’s arguments on the teaching and learning of geography in the Singapore context.

Earth Science – Geography or Science?
With the use of Earth science as an example, Hawley (2013) presents the various viewpoints on the debate of whether Earth science should be positioned in the geography or science curriculum. Physical geography topics such as climatology and weather, geology and ecosystems, which can be collectively known as Earth science, often overlap in content with the sciences (biology, chemistry and physics), leading to academics like Gregory (2002, cited in Hawley, 2013, p. 90) to question the appropriateness of physical geography within geography. Hawley also acknowledges King’s argument (2011) that Earth science’s “rightful place” in education should be in the science curriculum as international test data has shown that students in countries where Earth science is an established science subject taught by teachers who specialise in Earth science, performed much better than the students who are from countries where “Earth science is not so strongly demarcated” (cited in Hawley, 2013 p. 91).

For this part of the debate on physical geography’s position with regard to the sciences, Hawley concurs with the complementary approach to understanding the physical aspects of the Earth, as advocated by the Geographical Association (2013, p. 91). He draws on the Geographical Association’s justification of how the “commonalities of earth science in physical geography and ‘deep’ earth science do not duplicate learning but are complementary, and both perspectives are advantageous and essential for effective learning” (Hawley, 2013 p. 92). Though Hawley (2103) does not openly state his stand, he seems to be supportive of this approach as he argues that it differentiates itself from the “conventional sciences” and is less generic than the usual Earth System science (p. 92).

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Author/s:

Peh Shi Yun (Innova Junior College, Singapore) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Teachers’ Geographical Knowledge Teachers’ Practice Cultures Of Influence Introduction What is the role

Peh Shi Yun (Innova Junior College, Singapore)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Teachers’ Geographical Knowledge
Teachers’ Practice
Cultures Of Influence

Introduction
What is the role of the geography teacher in the classroom today? This is a complex question that has surfaced as a result of the recent (and upcoming) changes to the Singapore geography curriculum both at secondary and tertiary level. But perhaps the more important questions we should be asking are those that Brooks (2006) attempts to evaluate in her paper on Geography teachers and the making the school geography curriculum. She examined the “sort of geographical knowledges (that) trainee teachers are recreating in their classrooms” and questioned the “geographical knowledge the students may actually understand” (p. 75). Therefore, this paper attempts to review her paper by briefly outlining the main arguments and supporting evidence in Brooks’ (2006) paper whilst critically reflecting on its implications for teaching and learning geography in the Singapore context.

Argument 1: The Importance of (Accurate) Subject Knowledge Representation to Students
The first major argument in Brooks’ (2006) paper is how geography teachers influence the students’ takeaway of what school geography is by acting as a “mediator of geographical knowledge and a maker of the curriculum” (p. 77). She uses her lesson observations of 3 trainee teachers to bring out this complex role of the teachers in recreating geographical knowledges in the classroom. For example, through the study of the first trainee teacher’s lesson on solving acid rain, she noted how the study of acid rain had been simplified to a mere problem that could be solved using scientific means. She argued that the geographical aspect of the lesson was lost since the link between the “borderless nature of acid rain and its consequences in terms of the difficulty of establishing legislation and preventive measures” (Brooks, 2006, p. 78) across different countries due to differing political agendas was not brought out during the lesson. Hence, in presenting the issue of acid rain to students in this simplistic problem-solving manner, the geography teacher had mediated (or to put it in a more direct manner for this case study, restricted) the students’ understanding, both of the complexity of the issue of acid rain and the geographical nature of the problem. Brooks (2006) even went as far as to say that the “geography teacher has failed to teach them geography” (p. 83) if solving the issue of acid rain as a problem was all they took away from the lesson. This style of evaluating the geographical aspects (or lack thereof) in the lesson was similar across all 3 case studies presented in her paper. This was then used to illustrate how the geography teacher plays an important role in mediating the geographical knowledges of the students and even with the right materials, subject knowledge and pedagogical skills are required to effectively tease out the (accurate) geographical knowledge for the students.

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Author/s:
,

Norfarahin Binte Abdul Rahim (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Bing Sheng Wu (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Physical Geography Education Introduction

Norfarahin Binte Abdul Rahim (National Institute of Education, Singapore)
Bing Sheng Wu (National Institute of Education, Singapore)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Physical Geography Education

Introduction
Earthquakes can have significant and catastrophic consequences to populations and the areas where they live and work. One way to mitigate the negative effect of the hazard on lives is by building the preparedness of people in at-risk areas (Panić, Kovačević, Miljanović,  2012). However, the level of preparedness for earthquakes in not only developing but also developed countries is still problematic (Shaw, Shiwaku, & Kobayashi, 2004). Traditional approaches such as lecturing or book-reading about natural disasters rarely equip students with the skills and attitude of preparedness to respond effectively and survive future disasters (Panić, Kovačević, Miljanović,  2012). Effective education is especially important for earthquake-prone countries to reduce the vulnerability to death when a disaster strikes (Chang & Lin, 2012).

Ranked by the World Bank as the fifth highest risk country in the world in terms of full-spectrum disaster risk, the social, economic and geologic environment of Taiwan is highly volatile to the real threat of earthquakes (Lai, Lei, Fang, Chen, & Chen, 2012). The destructive impact of the 921 earthquake in 1999 led to 2415 people killed, 11305 injured, and monetary damage that totalled $300 billion (Seplaki, Goldman, Weinstein, & Lin, 2006). The 921 earthquake along with the recognition that earthquakes have been occurring so frequently in Taiwan has motivated the Ministry of Education (MOE) to revamp its definition of what the achievement of disaster prevention literacy should encompass. Instead of teaching earthquake prevention through textbooks, Taiwan’s educational effort focused on the development of skills to act and respond appropriately during natural disaster and attitudes to improve people’s preparedness for disaster in the future (Chen & Lee, 2012). Disaster education in Taiwan now begins in elementary school (Sharpe, 2009). Once taught to students through mere theories in the school curricula, this crucial component has been infused into experiential learning processes which put drills at the centre of the learning cycle (Sharpe, 2009). In addition, all schools are required by MOE to conduct mandatory drills at least once in a semester (Chang & Lin, 2012). This ensures that all students are equipped with the skills needed to respond to an upcoming earthquake disaster, should it occur on school grounds.

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Author/s:
, ,

Adelina Chandra (Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia) Diah Rossy Pratiwi (Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia) Noer Sulistyarini (Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia) Keywords Geography Junior

Adelina Chandra (Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia)
Diah Rossy Pratiwi (Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia)
Noer Sulistyarini (Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Spatial analysis; tourist facilities; tourism village; transition

INTRODUCTION
Tourism villages in rural areas that offer unique tourist attractions such as physical features of the natural environment or social and cultural activities in rural communities can support economic development (Department of Culture and Tourism of Malang, 2006). Tourism villages are also a form of integration between attractions, accommodation and support facilities that integrates community life with traditions (Nuryanti, 1993). As a result, the development of tourist facilities should be a key factor in forming a tourism village and should be easily accessed by visitors. Two types of facilities which should be considered in the tourism village: primary and supporting facilities (Burton, 1995). The primary facilities are the main construction of tourist attractions while the supporting facilities represent the secondary facilities and conditional facilities. The secondary facilities are  facilities that  serve tourist’s needs, such as accommodation, restaurants and shopping centres. The conditional facilities consist of infrastucture and public transportation. In the supporting facilities, accommodation is a key consideration for tourists (Inskeep, 1991). When tourists stay in certain areas, it is important to experience local people’s daily lives and their physical environment if an accommodation package is well planned. It will also help tourists have a better understanding of the culture in the tourism village, which integrate attractions, accommodations, and support facilities in a local life’s structure (Nuryanti, Wiendu, 1993).

Gubugklakah village, located in the eastern of Malang, Indonesia, is famous for its abundant natural resources and a wide variety of vegetables. It is also well-known for tourist attractions such as Coban Pelangi Waterfall, Apple Agrotourism, and Ndayung Adventure along the main road to the tourist center of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. To enrich the tourist activities along the main road to the tourist sites of Bromo Tengger Semeru Park, Lembaga Desa Wisata (LADESTA), there has been an initiative to develop tourist facilities to help Gubugklakah transfer its status from a traditional village to a tourism village. The purpose of this change is to increase local participation and  develop a friendly village for tourists. This initiative was approved by the local government in 2011. In terms of the initiative, there have been significant changes in the landscape of Gubugklakah. More houses have been converted to homestays to make tourists feel the real life of the local community. Residential development located on the main street of Bromo Tengger Semeru also has undergone dramatic changes due to the spatial restructuring in this region. As a result, this study will focus on the spatial-temporal changes of Gubuglakah village and explore how the development of tourist facilities changed the status of Gubugklakah.

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Author/s:

Goh Chor Boon (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Keywords History Junior College Secondary School History of Singapore’s growth Why are some nations rich and some poor?

Goh Chor Boon (National Institute of Education, Singapore)

Keywords
History
Junior College
Secondary School
History of Singapore’s growth

Why are some nations rich and some poor? Who are the winners and losers of colonialism and why? These questions have recently gained much attention, not only amongst historians but also economists who are now looking into global history to provide a fuller understanding of why and how had nations developed. One of the most recent works was Why Nations Fail by economist Daron Acemoglu and political economist James Robinson. They hypothesise that the nature of political institutions are the causes of why some countries are rich and some are poor today. Their works raised lively debate and comments, including those made by Jeffrey Sachs who argues that such mono-causal explanation is too simplistic. Both works made references to Singapore as one of the many case examples to illustrate their arguments. How is Singapore’s economic transformation explained in the light of this debate? The small city-state had a history of 145 years of colonial rule under the British and for about three years it was known as Syonan-to or the “Light of the South”, under the Japanese Imperial Empire. Acemoglu and Robinson are pessimistic that former colonies of European empires are ever able to become rich nations. The economic transformation of Singapore, a colony of the British Empire, has proven otherwise.

By the end of the Second World War, the British Empire was effectively gone. At its apogee, it was one of the largest territorial empires the world has ever witnessed and it profoundly shaped the lives of people both in Britain and overseas. The debate as to whether former colonies of Britain – and the other European empires – came out as “winners” or “losers” is still popularly debated. Undoubtedly, some imperial nations were better rulers than others and their colonies performed better after gaining full sovereignty and independence. For the Spaniards, the conquest of the Americas was accomplished with much cruelty and treachery, and all in the name of seeking and controlling the treasures of the lands. For the Portuguese in Asia, fortresses and defensible strongholds such as Goa had to be built in order to control trade, the local merchants and the population at large. As for the Dutch, their rule of the Indonesian archipelago was largely exploitative. Economic historians have also debated much on the impact of “developmental colonialism” in former colonies in the East and Southeast Asia. It is well documented (Myers & Beattie, 1984; Fuess, 1988; Haggard, Kang &  Moon, 1997; Kohli, 2004) that the two former Japanese colonies of South Korea and Taiwan have achieved remarkable economic growth post-1945. In her comparative study of the economic performance of colonies in East Asia and Southeast Asia, Anne Booth concludes that those who argue that “it was post-colonial policies which were crucial in transforming both states [Korea and Taiwan] and in holding back South East Asian countries would still seem to be on stronger ground” (Booth, 2005).

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Author/s:

Teddy Sim Y.H. (National Institute of Education (Singapore)) Keywords History Junior College Secondary School History of Singapore before Raffles’ coming Brief survey of the field The

Teddy Sim Y.H. (National Institute of Education (Singapore))

Keywords
History
Junior College
Secondary School
History of Singapore before Raffles’ coming

Brief survey of the field
The education and awareness of the pre-Rafflesian Singapore history has seen much progress since the turn of the millennium. First, there is the publication of Early Singapore 1300-1819: evidence in maps, text and artefacts and Iberians in the Singapore-Melaka area and adjacent regions: 16th to 18th century in 2004. In 2009, the publication of Singapore: a 700-year historySino-Malay trade and diplomacy from the tenth through the fourteenth century and Singapore and Melaka Straits: violence, security and diplomacy in the 17th century provide the general public and the specialists alike a chance to explore the subject comprehensively or delve into the China-Malay Archipelago relations in the post Classical period as well as the relations between European empires and native powers in the Western Malay Archipelago in the early modern period. In between, there is the appearance of the Maritime heritage of Singapore which adds on to the list that the general readers can delve into. In 2013, the publication of Singapore and the Silk Road of the sea summarizes years of painstaking archaeological work done by J. Miksic in Singapore. The appearance of the Memoirs and memorials of Jacques de Coutre and Journal, memorials and letters of Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge as well as their abridged versions in quick succession enrich the narrative of the European empire-Malay native power interaction across a spectrum of audience immeasurably. To top it off, the CPDD-produced textbook for Singapore in 2014 has incorporated the pre-1819 developments of the island substantially compared to previous versions of the text.

Works by J. Miksic (2013) and Derek Heng (2010) have been urging for the pre-1819 history of Singapore to be seen from the large perspective of the trade passing through the region as well as from the intimate angle of activities occurring on the island. The broad phases of pre-1819 Singapore developments can be seen in the context of the chronology of Southeast Asian history: 1. post-Classical kingdom period (600-1400 C.E.), 2. early modern period (1450-1750 C.E.). Focusing on the latter half of the early modern period (17th and 18th centuries), this essay is written with three objectives: 1. as a brief review to the abridged version of P. Borschberg’s Jacques de Coutre’s Singapore and Johor and Matelieff’s Singapore and Johor; 2. to connect the coverage of Borschberg’s works to other primary sources and archaeological findings so as to delve into certain aspects of the subject and period in question; 3. as an in-service orientation of Borschberg’s 2015 works for Ministry of Education (MOE) teachers.

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