Geography education. Geographic education - definition

The post-industrial transformation, which is increasingly affecting the most diverse structures of Russian society, poses completely new tasks, the solution of which is impossible in the absence of modern geographical thinking among millions of managers, managers, entrepreneurs, diplomats, and journalists. At the same time, the level of geographical education of both high school graduates and graduates of most universities, including MGIMO (U), remains at an extremely low level. In particular, at MGIMO (U) geography was almost completely excluded from the curriculum, leaving small and extremely compressed courses in general socio-economic geography (under different names) in only two faculties: international relations and international economic relations. There is no talk at all about any special courses with the invitation of leading geographers, as was done in the 70-80s. There is not even a general course on the geography of Russia. Unfortunately, the situation at MGIMO (U) reflects the general situation with geographical education in the country and is largely a consequence of the fact that recently the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, due to the incompetence of officials, has been pursuing a federal policy aimed at curtailing geographical education in secondary schools, despite numerous protests from teachers and the country's leading scientists.

The geography program and its structure have remained largely unchanged for more than half a century, but by the end of the twentieth century, geographical science had radically changed, the world had changed radically, and, finally, the students themselves had radically changed. All this was not taken into account in the new geography programs and was the reason for the rejection of geographical education from education in general in the public consciousness. The Russian Academy of Education cannot and does not want to do anything in this situation, since it is entirely under the influence of the Ministry of Education and Science.

Features of modern geographical science

The new integrated socially-oriented geography faces new challenges that did not exist until the early 70s of the last century, when the population was considered in our country primarily only as a productive force (Isachenko, 1998).

The crisis, which began as an energy crisis in 1973, was marked by accelerated structural restructuring of the economies of developed countries (Kotlyakov, 1995). The transition of these countries to the post-industrial phase of development caused a radical restructuring of the entire economic structure.

In new conditions humanization geographical science becomes its most characteristic feature. Not population for production, but production for population - this is the cornerstone of the humanization of geography.

Qualitative changes in the world in the context of the scientific and technological revolution are accompanied by unprecedented human pressure on the environment, as a result of which environmental problems are intensifying. Awareness of the onset of environmental danger quite quickly transformed into the greening of economic and social life and, as a consequence, into greening Sciences. This is a powerful process that has gripped the minds and activities of people in the last third of the last century. In the classical sense, ecology is the science of the relationships of living organisms with each other and with their environment, i.e. This definition contains a purely biological imperative. Now the concept of ecology has expanded significantly: ecologists have extended their interest not only to the natural, but also to the social sphere surrounding humans. The only science that can lay claim to the integration of such a wide range of natural and social phenomena in relation to territories of various scales can and is already becoming geography. This direction in geography is called geoecology.

Thus, the period, starting from the second half of the 70s, is marked by increasing attention to human - humanitarian - problems, to problems of environmental threats; the globe is perceived as a multidimensional and complex system of interconnected processes.

The current general crisis was largely a consequence of a new phenomenon - globalization, because in the conditions of post-industrialization, the “rules of the game” in the modern world are determined in basic terms by the main players, i.e. post-industrial countries, trade between which accounts for about 80% of global foreign trade and which have less and less need for the rest of the world. Geographical science, accordingly, is also “globalizing”, since not only physical, but also most socio-economic processes can only be considered from a global perspective.

Currently actively making its way politicization of geography. There is a need for a constructive analysis of the theoretical heritage of traditional geopolitics and political geography and the creation of a new methodology for explaining territorial and political processes.

In relation to all areas of social geography, the requirement for the active use of new technologies in research is sharply increasing. Particular attention is paid to new technologies in mapping, computer cartography, the use of geographic information systems and global information networks, i.e. occurs informatization geography.

G.M. Maksimov notes that the content of school geography is determined by the diversity of scientific geography (Maksimov, 1996). The first plan is the multi-objective nature of geography: the unity of nature, economy and population; the second plan is its complexity: the conjugate consideration of the complex structure of objects; the third plan is territoriality.

To summarize, we can conclude that the main factors determining the development of geography at the beginning of the 21st century were humanization, ecologization, politicization, globalization and informatization. They, in turn, intensified the development of some pre-existing geographical areas or even contributed to the emergence of new ones. Among them, it is necessary to highlight studies of post-industrial society, studies of a geo-ecological nature, problems of human survival, sustainable development, problems of a social nature, demographic, political-geographical, etc.

All these new trends in the development of geographical science should, to one degree or another, be reflected in school geography (Preobrazhensky, 1989; Morgan, 2002; Norman, 2000; Geographical Education.. . , 2000; Teaching Geography..., 1999).

Objectives of Geographical Education

Thus, the world has changed, geographical science has changed, and our children have changed. What are the tasks facing secondary geographical education in the new conditions?

The most important task of school geography is participation in the formation of the personality of a Russian citizen as a conscious member of civil society, committed to its ideals. This task is largely realized through the efforts of school geography through the development in students of an understanding of the geographical realities of modern society, its development trends and the ability to match their life plans and aspirations with these realities and trends. We have developed a comprehensive system to implement this task. This system is based on two important functions: educational (training) and educational. The educational function is implemented through three directions: a systematic approach, a problem-based approach and a practical approach. The systematic approach includes the study of the fundamentals of geographical science: general geosciences, general socio-economic geography, regional studies, etc. and special geographical areas such as climatology, natural resources, geotectonics, political geography, geodemography, geo-urban studies and some other areas. The problem-based approach involves the study of a number of modern problems: global problems of humanity, post-industrial development of society, sustainable development, geopolitical, interethnic and interstate relations, etc. And, finally, the practical approach is aimed at mastering practical research skills: working on the ground, working with maps, statistical materials, sociological research data, and the media.

And the second most important function of geographical education is educational. World pedagogical experience shows that the only way to implement this function is to put “reasonable, good, eternal” at the forefront, i.e. universal human values that have been developed throughout the history of civilization.

According to the research of Prof. V.A. Karakovsky - Land, Fatherland, Family, Labor, Knowledge, Culture, Peace and Man himself - those criteria that should be the basis for the education of the individual (Karakovsky, 1993). It is easy to see that the main paradigms of education proposed by V.A. Karakovsky are directly related to geography. If we evaluate the content of geographical science from an educational point of view, we will see the unique contribution of geographical knowledge to the formation of certain personality qualities and can fix this as the goals of geographical education.

We proposed to bring universal human values into a certain system, which, refracted through geographical education, should become the goal of the geographical educational process (Gorbanev, 2005b).

Thus, a unified system of teaching and educational guidelines is proposed, freed from opportunistic layers, in the implementation of which geography, with its inherent view of the world, must take its rightful place.

World trends in the development of secondary geographical education.

A special role in the organization of international research is played by the Commission of the International Geographical Union for Geographical Education (CGE/IGU). The commission has repeatedly studied the state of geographical education and came to the conclusion that with the transition of the most developed countries to the post-industrial phase of development, the role of geography began to decline under the pressure of studying computer science, programming, and foreign languages. This negative trend continued until the end of the 1980s. However, in recent years there has been a tendency for the situation to improve. Reforms of geographical education have begun in many countries.

The most important stage in strengthening geographical education at the global level was the 27th IGU Congress (1992), at which the International Charter of Geographical Education was adopted, showing the state and, most importantly, establishing the principles and main milestones for the future development of world geographical education (International Charter ... , 1992). The Charter emphasizes that geography is indispensable for understanding the present and future world, and expresses concern that geographic education has been neglected, resulting in geographic illiteracy in many parts of the world. The Charter specifically states that the teaching of geography should begin in primary school and continue in secondary and high school, as an independent subject, regardless of the person’s future specialty.

Over the past 20 years, a profound reform of geographical education has been carried out in the United States (Langren, 1995; Stoltman, 2001). Before this, “geographical illiteracy” reigned in the country. Newspapers and television widely publicized facts about Americans' poor knowledge of geography. As a result, in 1984, a fundamental document appeared: “Main directions of geographical education: primary and secondary school.” In particular, great attention was paid to working with the public and government education authorities. The problem of geographical education was raised to the federal level, and even the president noted that this problem is a national one. The media also gave her top priority.

The reform of secondary geographical education in Finland, which is rightfully considered one of the best in the world, deserves special attention (Gorbanev, 2005a). Today, geography is a compulsory subject from grades 5 to 9 in secondary schools in Finland; In high school, geography is also a compulsory subject, with at least two geography courses given. Beyond these courses, additional courses are already elective. Since 2005, the “Study of the Region” course has been introduced in high school (so far on an elective basis). This course is based on the introduction of the methodology for using the Global Information System (GIS methodology) and its practical application.

To summarize, we can formulate the main trends in reforming secondary geographical education abroad:

1. The emphasis is on general knowledge rather than highly specialized ones;

2. Strengthening the modern scientific base in the content of education;

3. Active introduction of new technologies in education, primarily GIS methods;

6. One’s own country is not considered as a separate course, but in the context of the world course through comparison with other countries and regions;

7. Foreign school geography, in terms of the form and content of the material, increasingly perceives the above trends; the general, general development of school geography seems to be proceeding in a single direction, while maintaining national characteristics.

In the last 15-20 years, in the entire foreign world, in contrast to Russia, there has been a renaissance of geographical education, and this renaissance goes in parallel with an increasingly deeper understanding of the role of geographical education in the upper echelons of political and economic decision-making management (Morgan, 2002; Geography Renaissance ..., 2002) .

Trends in the development of secondary geographical education in the USSR-Russia

In the Soviet Union, and later in Russia, secondary geographical education developed extremely unevenly, reflecting the political trends that existed in the country in one or another historical period.

A significant contribution to the development of geographical education in the USSR, albeit with an “ideological seasoning,” was made by N.K. Krupskaya (Krupskaya, 1960). It was she who insisted on including geography as a secondary school subject. In her opinion, geography at school plays a vital cognitive and educational role, especially economic geography.

In 1934, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was issued “On the teaching of geography in primary and secondary schools.” The emphasis was on ideologizing the geography course, although the Resolution contained many useful ideas. The largest Soviet scientists and, above all, N.N. were involved in the work of reforming geography at school. Baransky, who, in conditions of ideologization, managed to defend the best traditions of domestic pedagogical geography (Baransky, 1946). Therefore, we can safely conclude that despite the negative consequences of the “pedagogical debate” of the late 20s, school geography received a tangible positive impetus. In grades 3-5, physical geography based on local history was introduced, in grade 6 - a regional course on continents, in grade 7 - physical geography of the USSR, in grade 8 - economic geography of the world, and in grade 9 - economic geography of the USSR. This structure, adopted at the turn of the 20s and 30s, has hardly changed since the 1934 Resolution until the present day; only the courses in economic geography of the USSR and the world swapped places.

We have to admit that after the death of N.N. Baransky, we no longer have examples of such a fruitful integration of geographical science, school and university geography.

After the Great Patriotic War, geographical education experienced a new upsurge, although a rigid system of unity of command and uniformity prevailed. In the 50s The Soviet school was one of the best in the world. On geography in the late 40s - early 50s. allocated up to 16 hours, i.e. 2.5 - 3 hours per week in each class.

But in the 60s, geographical education, having lost its leader, began to lose its position. The decline of geographical education that began in the 60s, despite the liberalization of political life in the country during that period, as well as the restructuring of the second half of the 80s, and further very profound social reforms, continues to this day. In the curriculum of 1967-68. The “share” of geography dropped to 11 hours a week, and by the mid-80s. - up to 9.5 hours. The powerful reactionary administrative resources of the Academy of Education and the Ministry of Education, which did not want any liberal reforms, had an effect.

In 2004, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation adopted a new federal Basic Curriculum (New Federal Curriculum..., 2004). Unfortunately, the “offensive” on geography continued. With great difficulty, the teaching community managed to partially defend geography: in high school it was still not reduced, but in the 6th grade there was only 1 hour left for studying geography. At the same time, the program, textbooks - everything remained unchanged. In fact, the course was compressed twice and, as a result, the load on 12 and 13 year old children doubled . This plan now allocates just 9 hours a week to study geography: the lowest level in the last 100 years. (Fig. 1). True, some regions allocated an additional hour for geography from the regional component; in particular, this is exactly what Moscow did.

In this regard, the official explanation for the need to reduce the geography course in the 6th grade by half looks ridiculous. The document of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation says: “The academic subject “Geography” is reduced by 1 hour by combining the teaching of physical and economic geography into a single synthesized course, transferring part of its content (elements of economic and political content) to the academic subject “Social studies.”

How can physical and economic geography be combined in the 6th grade if the latter is simply not included in this course? What “elements of economic and political geography” can be transferred to the “Social Studies” course if these “elements” are also not available in the 6th grade? The wording given verbatim by the Ministry of Education is an example of a hypocritical approach to geographical education. But in essence, this is a purposeful curtailment of secondary geographical education in Russia.

So, over the past half century, secondary geographical education in Russia, especially in the last decade, has been catastrophically destroyed, schools are graduating a geographically illiterate generation of young people, as a result of which there is every reason to talk about an upcoming threat to national security.

As a result, in Russian secondary schools, geography does not ensure the formation of the political, economic, environmental, and, ultimately, geographical culture of youth, poorly develops geographical thinking, and does not sufficiently participate in the formation of the personality of a young person - a patriot of his country.

We recently conducted a small study: we tested 1st year students at the Faculty of International Relations of MGIMO (U), that is, students who graduated from studying geography 1.5 years ago. 120 people took part in the experiment.

The test results are seriously alarming. There were no excellent works. Good grades - 14%, satisfactory - 54%, unsatisfactory - 24% and bad - 8%; the average score was 2.5 (Fig. 2). Particularly surprising is the fact that the vast majority of graduates have good or excellent grades in their matriculation certificate in geography. There are many medalists among them.

Apparently, a similar situation has developed in other faculties of the institute. The only exceptions are students of the Faculty of International Business and Business Administration, who throughout the 11th grade specially prepared in geography to pass the entrance exam. Testing of this group of students showed a slightly higher result: the average score in this case was 3.5. Of course, this is also far from the best indicator.

From the above, the conclusion suggests itself: the school does not provide its own federal level of education and does not contribute to growth "rating" of geography.

Note: there were no great jobs

The negative attitude of schoolchildren towards geography, unfortunately, largely comes from adults, primarily from parents, and even from teachers who are not geographers. A low-priority attitude towards geography also exists among those at the helm of Russian education.

The current state of geographical education in Russia

In recent years, many good geography textbooks have been written in the country, and many proprietary programs have been developed. But there are no fundamentally innovative textbooks and programs and cannot be, since on the one hand, the state program no longer exists, and on the other, nothing other than the Basic Curriculum and state standards has been proposed by the federal educational authorities. Accordingly, it is not clear what the content of education should be, what to pay primary attention to, what are the principles of education and, finally, it is impossible to draw up state education standards.

In Russia there is no single, legally approved strategy, i.e. There is no federal concept for the development of secondary geographical education; accordingly, there is no updated content of education, which is fundamentally different from that which has existed for more than half a century.

The Russian authorities, unfortunately, are taking a different path: the conceptual foundations of the field of knowledge remain on the periphery of the reform process. Although it is quite obvious that until the concept of education is adopted at the federal level (best of all by the Federal Assembly or at least by the Government, as was the case during the time of N.N. Baransky), no significant shifts in education reform will occur.

As already noted, for many decades the geography program in our country has not changed fundamentally. Emphases changed, the ecological, regional studies, and humanistic components were strengthened, and a lot was said about the rapprochement of physical and economic geographies. But this did not change the essence. Therefore, the primary task of geographers should be considered the development of a fundamentally new structure and fundamentally new content of secondary geographical education. The basis of these innovations should be humanization, humanitarization of the course, as well as its reorientation to modern geographical science, to the modern realities of the world and Russia in a post-industrial society.

From 1988 to the present, more than a dozen concepts have been developed (Maksakovsky, 1989, 1998; Preobrazhensky, 1989; Svatkov, 1989; Gerasimova, 1989; Ryzhakov et al., 1989; Krischyunas et al., 1990; Maksimov, 1996; Dronov et al., 2000, etc. But all these proposals suffered a common fate: they all turned out to be unclaimed and remained on paper.

A similar fate befell the concept of secondary geographical education, developed by the author in the 90s. (Gorbanev, 1990, 1996). The concept is based on the challenges that geographical education faces today, as discussed above.

Let's take a closer look at the five-year geography course that has existed in the USSR and Russia for about 70 years.

The current geography course aims students at mechanical memorization of many elements. Of course, knowledge of geographical nomenclature within certain limits is necessary, but all education must be built not on the principle of memorization and reproduction, but on the principle of logical thinking, on the principle of linking certain geographical objects with certain problems or phenomena.

The content of education should be based on the study of space-time patterns. Above we examined the main changes in geographical science that have occurred over the past few decades. It is these changes that should be reflected in school geography. However, as before, in existing programs, excessive time is devoted to the secondary sector of the economy (industry, agriculture), the entire socio-economic geography is based on the study of intersectoral complexes and as a result, in the figurative expression of V.S. Preobrazhensky, it is becoming more and more similar to “engineering” » geography. Considering the ways of “modernizing” the course of economic geography of Russia, the author of the course of the same name V. Dronov, discussing at length on various topics, does not even mention the need to turn the content towards modern problems of Russian geography, first of all, the problems of drawing Russia into the processes of globalization and post-industrialization (Dronov , 2004).

The whole geography course is too difficult and drawn out. It contains many quite complex, sometimes ambiguous and at the same time narrow, secondary questions for schoolchildren. Many questions do not correspond to the age characteristics of children. For example, in the 6th grade, a course of general geoscience is essentially considered, which is taught to geography students at pedagogical universities in the first year. It is extremely difficult for students 12-13 years old to explain the geographic coordinates of a point, the origin of rocks, the formation of clouds, the concepts of absolute and relative humidity (especially since there is no physics course in the 6th grade yet), the geographic envelope (Gerasimova et al., 2003 ). In the 7th grade, schoolchildren struggle with the topics of lithospheric plate tectonics, general circulation of the atmosphere, and in the 8th grade - soil formation, folding eras, in the 9th grade - a detailed consideration of the geography of individual industries in Russia, technological processes in metallurgy, etc. . At the same time, the division of society into production and non-production spheres, which is completely inconsistent with modern scientific ideas, is considered; industrial, agro-industrial and other complexes are studied in detail, the existence of which in a market economy is simply impossible (Dronov et al., 2004).

It is advisable to simplify a number of topics, remove a number of topics from the program altogether, and it is advisable to teach some topics at an older age, such as, for example, the entire course of general physical geography.

In addition, many topics turned out to be fragmented across different years of study in order to “further deepen knowledge.” It is more advisable to shorten these topics, but give them to students at a time.

One of the most important tasks of transformations in geographical education is to unload the content, eliminate repetitions and rather complex, highly specialized issues. The principles of science and logical thinking should be the basis of geographical education; at the same time, it needs to be “turned” towards the study of modern challenges of global development, including the most pressing issues of geographical science in the program.

A serious negative side of modern geographical education is the lack of continuity of transition from primary school (5th grade) to secondary school (6th grade). Thus, it is necessary to ensure a smooth transition from primary to secondary school; the entire geography course must represent a single inextricable system, therefore the principle of consistency is one of the most important.

The principle of regionalization in courses on the physical geography of continents and oceans and the socio-economic geography of the world, where individual continents are taken as a basis, raises certain doubts in the modern geographical content. And even more doubtful is the principle of dividing Russia into economic regions, introduced even before the Great Patriotic War by the former State Planning Committee.

It is necessary to reconsider the principles of zoning the territory, taking into account its historical, cultural, natural, socio-economic features.

As many authors have noted, the geography curriculum draws a sharp line between physical and economic geography. Both courses are quite complex, especially the economic geography course, which has also become extremely technocratic with an agro-industrial bias. Moreover, the courses are not equivalent: physical geography is studied for three years, and socio-economic geography for two. It is necessary to change this ratio and move towards integrating both courses. Geography must be unified. Therefore, it is imperative to continue the course towards integrating physical and socio-economic geography, especially when considering certain regions and reducing the share of the physical-geographical component.

A serious drawback of the current program is its focus on the sectoral structure of the economy, while the main vector of education must be directed to studying the transformation of territories in the direction of their post-industrialization, as is the case, for example, in the Ruhr region of Germany.

Another significant drawback of the Russian program is that the study of Russia is, as it were, taken out of the context of the entire geographical course. Courses on the geography of the USSR, and later Russia, are in no way connected with global global processes.

The course on socio-economic geography of the world, on the contrary, is given without Russia, which looks extremely illogical (Maksakovsky, 2004). In the context of the globalization of society, increasing integration processes, Russia’s entry into the world economy as a market state, including its upcoming entry into the World Trade Organization, the exclusion of Russia from a course affecting the whole world is unproductive. In our opinion, this is the inertia of bloc thinking, when the world and the world economy were sharply divided into two unequal parts. In this regard, it seems important to integrate a course on the study of Russia into a general geographical course on the study of the world.

In addition, the issue of the need to complete geographical education with an integrated general course has been discussed for a long time, but such a course still does not exist (Evdokimov, 2005).

It should also be noted that today's courses in geography and geographical education in general are in no way consistent with the world experience of geographical education. Neither RAO nor the authors of the textbooks take into account the recommendations of the International Charter of Geographical Education, the recommendations of the European Union, or the experience of other countries (International Trends..., 1987).

Geography textbooks also require significant reform. In this regard, the experience of foreign colleagues could also be used (Gerber, 2002).

Therefore, one should consider the most important task of Russian geographical education to be its integration into the world system of geographical education, using, first of all, the experience of the International Geographical Union and taking into account the recommendations of the International Charter of Geographical Education.

The concept of secondary geographical education in Russia

The main goal of the proposed concept is to develop a coherent, inextricable, socially oriented, humanized system of secondary geographical education that contributes to the formation in children of a democratic worldview, civic consciousness, which has an environmental and cultural orientation in the conditions of the collapse of the bipolar world, the globalization of the world order and the transition of developed countries to post-industrial development phase (Gorbanev, 2005b).

The formation of the concept is based on the following principles:

1. Scientificity- this is the main principle underlying the concept. Secondary geographical education should, first of all, be focused on the key problems of our time and reflect the latest trends in the development of domestic and world geography.

2. Globality. Currently, this cornerstone principle of geographical education is timidly making its way into geographical programs. Russia is entering into partnerships with Western countries and is actively integrating into European and world structures. It is increasingly becoming part of the world community and at the same time aware of its national interests.

3. Humanization and humanitarization of education. The principle of humanization provides for a revaluation of geography itself, placing man at the center of all ongoing phenomena and processes. The principle of humanitarization provides for the dosed inclusion of elements of the humanities so as not to emasculate geography, but to give it a lively, attractive character for children.

4. Greening- This is another important principle of the concept. Elements of environmental protection are now present in many school courses - but only geography from the standpoint of sustainable development of society is capable of comprehensively covering the problem (Glazovsky et al., 2002).

5. Interdisciplinarity. Geography is a powerful collection program that generalizes and reinterprets the results obtained by other sciences, and therefore has a kind of innate interdisciplinarity. This property acquires special value when solving problems facing school geography. At the same time, information coming from other sciences is processed by geography, enriching it, and is used to solve the problems facing it.

6.Problematic. This principle was almost absent from courses prepared during the Soviet period. However, geography provides maximum opportunities for creative thinking, analysis of various situations or phenomena in their interrelation. All problems, both in nature and in society, have their past, present and future, and they all provide rich material for the development of thinking and resolution of problem situations.

7. Practicality. School geography provides not only the basics of fundamental knowledge, but is also the most important source of practical knowledge and skills that will be useful in the future life of every person, i.e. promotes the development of useful professional skills and civic action skills.

8. Systematicity and integrity. The concept's emphasis is on integrated geography with a social focus. The entire geography course is a single, inextricable system with a gradual complication of the material, which does not allow repetition of the same topics in different years of study.

9. Interest in the content. Geography course provides for the presence of elements of excitement, the exclusion of complex and highly specialized problems, taking into account the age and psychological characteristics of the child.

10. Internationalism. The principle provides for reliance on the achievements of the world community in the field of geographical education.

What are the main conceptual points of the concept we propose? (Fig. 3).

To ensure a smooth transition from primary to secondary school and to motivate schoolchildren's interest in geography, in the 6th grade it is proposed to begin the study of geography by studying the history of geographical ideas and discoveries. Such a historical and geographical course would be a successful “bridge” from the expectations with which 11-year-old children came to a geography lesson to a truly geographical science.

At the same time as studying the history of geographical discoveries, schoolchildren could “travel” around the map, memorizing geographical names and acquiring skills in working with maps.

At the same time, it is very important to pay attention to the fact that geography itself has now changed. If earlier geography answered the questions “what?”, “where?”, now it answers the question “why?” And How?". This entire course is proposed to be called "History of Geographical ideas and discoveries» .

A course is offered in 7th grade « General Geography", which actually continues the previous one. To some extent it should consist of information that is currently contained in courses

6th and partly 7th and 8th grades. Students become familiar with the most important properties of the main shells of the Earth and the processes occurring in them.

Here students are introduced to the concepts of natural-territorial complex, geographic zonality and azonality using examples of individual continents and oceans.

This course provides basic physical and geographical information in such a way that you will not return to it again.

A course is offered in grades 8-9 « Regional studies", in which the emphasis is not on the study of individual continents, but on the study of civilizational regions and individual “signature” states within them, and these regions may even extend beyond the boundaries of one continent.

The course begins not with studying your native land or Russia, but with studying the world. This issue may seem minor at first glance, but in fact there are complex socio-national problems behind it. A course in studying your region and country is necessary; it may even need to be strengthened, again through humanization and humanitarization, but this must be done at the final stage so that the “instinct of preserving place,” the national, is superimposed on the international (Krisciunas et al., 1990).

The course “Country Studies” is inherently integrated, harmoniously combining elements of physical and social geography. Along with the study of other countries, Russia is harmoniously woven into this course; Undoubtedly, much more time is devoted to studying Russia than any other country or region - approximately the entire 9th grade. The main methodological task of including Russia in the course of “Country Studies” is to show not the exclusive role of Russia with its special purpose and special path of development, but its current state and future development as an inseparable part of world civilization.

The course covers the entire geographical system: nature-population-economy.

In grades 10-11, it is proposed to introduce a new course - "Geography of the modern world», in which, unlike the current course “Economic and Social Geography of the World”, Russian topics should be reflected, and quite significantly. In this course, Russia is shown from a global perspective as an integral part of the world. A Russian schoolchild should feel not only like a Russian, but also an inhabitant of our planet. The course “Geography of the Modern World” has a predominantly humanitarian orientation, the main goal of which is to get acquainted with the most pressing problems of our time from the standpoint of post-industrialization and sustainable development. The proposed course differs from the current course “Economic and Social Geography of the World” in that it is more problematic, has a greater bias towards global problems due to weakening attention to individual industries and regions of the world, and a wider range of issues covered.

This is the essence of the new conceptual model we propose for secondary geographical education in our country. It is easy to see that the conceptual basis of the strategy for reforming geographical education lies in new ideas about its content and structure, based on the achievements of modern geographical science, which can and should play a decisive role in the radical restructuring of Russian secondary geographical education.

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Geographic education

system of training specialist geographers in universities. As an academic discipline, geography was introduced in some universities in Western Europe already in the Middle Ages, and in educational institutions in Russia - in the 17th century. (for example, at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy). In the 17th century The first textbooks on geography appeared, for example, translated into Russian at the beginning of the 18th century. “General Geography...” by the Dutch scientist Varenius. Already at the beginning of the 18th century. geography was an independent subject at the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences (See School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences), at the St. Petersburg Maritime Academy and was provided for by M. V. Lomonosov in the draft curriculum of Moscow University (where it was taught by D. V. Savich from the opening university). By the end of the 18th century. in geography (courses of which were already taught in many universities in Western Europe), three directions were clearly outlined - physical geography, economic geography (more often called statistical at that time) and regional studies. Physical geography was taught at universities in the faculties of natural sciences, statistics and regional studies - in the faculties of literature (historical and philological).

The emergence of geography as a university science in Russia was recognized by the university charter of 1804, according to which two departments were established in the literature faculties: world history, statistics and geography; history, statistics and geography of the Russian state. However, the training of specialist geographers was not provided; geography courses were “auxiliary” for the training of historians and philologists.

In the countries of Western Europe, the predominant direction in geography was regional studies; at the end of the 19th century. in Great Britain and France, major summaries on regional studies are published (H. J. Mackinder, G. Vidal de la Blache), in Germany - on geomorphology (A. Penck), general geography (A. Zupan), comparative geography (K. Ritter) , population geography (F. Ratzel). Significant influence on the development of G. o. The German geographer A. Humboldt provided assistance in higher education. The French geographer and sociologist E. Reclus organized a special higher educational and scientific institution in Brussels - the Geographical Institute. In the United States, unlike Europe, geography developed in close connection with cartography, especially in the military system.

In 1863, departments of physical geography were created at Russian universities, and in 1884 - departments of geography and ethnography. In this regard, a number of geographical disciplines were introduced into the university curricula—general physical geography, geography of Russia, geography of the continents, anthropogeography, ethnography, history of geography, and others. played by the scientific schools of Moscow universities (D. N. Anuchin, A. A. Borzov, A. S. Barkov, M. A. Bogolepov, A. A. Kruber, B. F. Dobrynin, S. G. Grigoriev, M. S. Bodnarsky) and St. Petersburg (A. I. Voeikov, P. I. Brounov, V. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, L. S. Berg, Yu. M. Shokalsky, etc.). At Novorossiysk University (Odessa) G. o. was headed by G.I. Tanfilyev, in Kazansky - P.I. Krotov, in Kharkovsky - A.N. Krasnov and others. At the beginning of the 20th century. a major role in improving G. o. new textbooks and teaching aids by A. S. Barkov, S. G. Grigoriev, A. A. Kruber and S. V. Chefranov were played at school; Instructional practice was introduced into the curricula of geographical specialties at universities, and training stations were created; training of specialists with G. o. for research and teaching work was carried out at the faculties of physics and mathematics.

The position of the highest G. o. changed dramatically after the Great October Revolution. In 1918-25, a university worked in Petrograd, at which a research institute of geography was created in 1922, and in 1923 the same research institute was established at Moscow University. By the end of the 20s. Universities have radically restructured the curricula and programs of geographical specialties, especially economic geography (N. N. Baransky); Mandatory practice for students on expeditions was introduced. In the 30s Independent geographical departments were created, and then geographical and geological-geographical departments of universities. In subsequent years, the specialization of those graduating from geography faculties deepened and new departments emerged. The modern standard structure of geographical departments at universities in the USSR includes the following specialties: physical geography, economic geography, geomorphology, meteorology and climatology, land hydrology, oceanology and cartography.

In the USSR, universities and pedagogical institutes train geographers in full-time, evening and correspondence education systems. The largest centers of the city region. are Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev universities and pedagogical institutes. Some universities have departments of geology and geography and biology. In their first years, university students receive broad general geographical training; in their senior years, they study a series of special (major) disciplines, work in seminars, undergo special practice (geological, geodetic, complex geographical in research institutes, schools, expeditions, etc.), complete and defend coursework and theses in their chosen specialty, and pass state exams in social disciplines. The training of geographers in pedagogical institutes is structured without division into narrow specialties. A significant place is given to the study of pedagogical disciplines (psychology, pedagogy, teaching methods) and pedagogical practice. Many pedagogical institutes train teachers in two fields: geography and biology (geographical-biological, natural-geographical faculties), history and geography, etc. The curricula of all pedagogical institutes also provide for field practice at educational bases, local history and in the form of long-distance excursions ( expeditions). The duration of study in geographical specialties is 4-5 years.

In 1970, geography teachers were trained by 33 universities (18.7 thousand students, annual graduation rate of about 1.6 thousand specialists) and 77 pedagogical institutes (40 thousand students, annual graduation rate of 6.2 thousand specialists, including about 300 with two specialties), admission to geographical faculties (departments, specialties) is about 10 thousand people.

Special geographical disciplines occupy a significant place in the curricula of a number of related specialties in universities that train cartographers, hydrologists, meteorologists, climatologists, land managers, agronomists, foresters, economists, transport engineers, etc., as well as in secondary specialized educational institutions (topographical, hydrometeorological, agricultural, etc.).

Universities, as well as the USSR Academy of Sciences and the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, have postgraduate courses that train scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel in geographical sciences.

Geography specialists are trained in all countries of the world where there are universities and pedagogical institutes. In socialist countries, G. o. develops in all branches of geography. Large centers of the city region. are the oldest universities - in Berlin (the capital of the GDR), Leipzig, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, etc. In capitalist countries, the nature, direction, and forms of state education. very different. For example, the largest universities in the USA (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, etc.) have a narrow specialization (geomorphology, meteorology, hydrology, economic geography of economic sectors); in France (Sorbonne and other universities), comprehensive geographical (country studies) training of geographers predominates, and the scientific school of population and economic geography is of great importance; In UK universities (Oxford, Cambridge, London), along with regional studies and economic geography, oceanography occupies a prominent place. Geography teachers in foreign countries are mainly trained by universities (3-4 years of study). Future teachers often combine two profiles (for example, geography and physics, geography and psychology, geography and a foreign language). Pedagogical practice occupies a smaller place in the learning process than in the Soviet Union. universities and pedagogical institutes.

General G. o. is given by a secondary school. In the USSR, geography as an independent academic subject is systematically studied in grades 5-9 (initial course of physical geography, including information about the topographic plan and geographical map, knowledge about the spheres of the Earth and methods of their study, etc.; physical geography of the continents, USSR, economic geography of the USSR and foreign countries). In some capitalist countries, school curricula and textbooks on geography have a regional focus.

Lit.: Baransky N.N., Historical review of geography textbooks (1876-1934), M., 1954; his, Economic geography in high school. Economic geography in higher education, M., 1957; Geography at Moscow University for 200 years (1755-1955). Ed. K.K. Markova and Yu.G. Saushkina, M., 1955; Butyagin A. S., Saltanov Yu. A., University education in the USSR, M., 1957; Solovyov A.I., Current state and objectives of higher geographical education. Materials for the 4th Congress of the Geographical Society of the USSR, Leningrad, 1964; Education in the countries of the world, M., 1967.

A. I. Soloviev.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

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Modern education, constantly modernizing, sets itself the task of developing a harmoniously developed and highly educated personality of the student. The development of science every year makes significant changes to educational programs, which form the knowledge that is fundamental for the individual. In the list of sciences that set themselves the above goals, it should be noted the special influence that geography directly has on the formation in the student of the necessary knowledge that allows him to correctly perceive and evaluate the existing scientific picture of the world.

From the advent of the science of geography until the mid-twentieth century, scientists assessed this discipline as descriptive, while its importance in the educational process was unreasonably underestimated, and the knowledge it gave to subjects studying it was assessed as general and of no practical importance, such as knowledge of the basics of mathematics items. The attitude towards this science changed radically after the Great Patriotic War, when its contribution to the victory was appreciated and its enormous practical significance was recognized. During this period, according to the Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the Commission for Geological and Geographical Services of the Red Army, Academician A.E. Fersman, geography came to the forefront among those sciences that prepared strategic, tactical and operational decisions practically on the battlefield. At the same time, he noticed that “geography is not at all a science about individual facts of the world around us. Geography is the science of connections, of the deepest relationships that exist in nature between individual phenomena and the person working in it.” Since this period, geography has made a big leap in its development, powerful educational programs have been created that allow students to study this science gradually, fully immersing themselves in it and absorbing the enormous potential that it represents for those who study it.

Now, in the era of globalization, in the era of a rapidly developing world, the importance of geography in personal education is coming to the forefront. It carries many useful functions, the implementation of which allows the subject of studying this discipline to obtain fundamental, comprehensive, meaningful, relevant knowledge and form a harmoniously developed personality.

Let us highlight the main aspects of the impact of geographical education on the development of a child’s personality and briefly characterize each of them:

The general educational aspect is characterized by providing the student with the necessary primary knowledge about the world around him, which shapes his worldview and allows him to find answers to typical questions in the knowledge of the surrounding reality and to feel the interconnection of a large number of phenomena and processes that directly influence the development of society.
The social aspect is characterized by the fact that geographical education allows the student to become familiar with those social processes and phenomena that can be explained from the point of view of this science, and allow the student to perceive himself as an integral part of society, which, in turn, is closely connected with nature.
The economic aspect is clearly manifested in the fact that geographical education allows the student’s individual to obtain the most important economic knowledge related not only to his country, but also to the entire world community, which, of course, gives him powerful guidelines in an objective assessment of the existing and constantly changing reality. This knowledge best describes the dynamics, causes and consequences of certain economic events that directly affect the progressive development of society.
The political aspect can be characterized by providing the student with the necessary knowledge of geopolitics and politics, which, in close connection with economic knowledge, allows an adequate and multilateral assessment of the processes and phenomena occurring in the world, complementing the individual’s worldview with specific knowledge of this area.
The patriotic aspect is characterized by endowing the individual with the necessary knowledge about his country, which allows him to respect those natural, cultural and economic factors that together form the cultural code of the nation and country. It is this aspect that forms in an individual a love for his homeland, a desire to preserve its unique characteristics, introduces him to the enormous diversity that exists within it, creating genuine patriotism.
The spiritual aspect allows us to invest in the student’s personality those value guidelines that contribute to the development of his caring attitude towards nature, and the desire to protect it and preserve its unique diversity.

Thus, to summarize what has been said, we note that geography is directly related to providing competent and adequate responses to modern challenges of a technogenic, socio-economic, political and environmental nature, which are sounding louder and louder, as V.V. Putin noted at the congress of the Russian Geographical Society : “geography is one of the fundamental sciences on which knowledge of the entire surrounding world is based.” The main object of geographical research is the environment in all its diversity and complexity of changes as a result of increasing, multiplying complexity of anthropogenic impact. The importance of geographical education for the formation of a comprehensively developed personality cannot be overestimated in connection with the above aspects; it remains to be hoped that in the near future new educational standards will improve educational standards in this area, continuing the powerful traditions of geographical education in society.

For the full text of the report: “The role of geographical education in the development of a child’s personality at the present stage,” see the downloadable file.
The page contains a fragment.

system of training specialist geographers in universities. As an academic discipline, geography was introduced in some universities in Western Europe already in the Middle Ages, and in educational institutions in Russia - in the 17th century. (for example, at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy). In the 17th century The first textbooks on geography appeared, for example, translated into Russian at the beginning of the 18th century. "The State of the World..." by the Dutch scientist Varenius. Already at the beginning of the 18th century. geography was an independent academic subject at the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences (See), at the St. Petersburg Maritime Academy and was provided for by M.V. Lomonosov in the draft curriculum of Moscow University (where it was taught by D.V. Savich from the opening of the university). By the end of the 18th century. in geography (courses of which were already taught in many universities in Western Europe), three directions were clearly outlined - physical geography, economic geography (more often called statistical at that time) and regional studies. Physical geography was taught at universities in the faculties of natural sciences, statistics and regional studies - in the faculties of literature (historical and philological).

A. I. Soloviev.

century, in educational institutions of Russia - in the 17th century. (for example, at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy). In the 17th century The first textbooks on geography appeared, for example, translated into Russian at the beginning of the 18th century. “General Geography¼” by the Dutch scientist Varenius. Already at the beginning of the 18th century. geography was an independent subject in School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences , at the St. Petersburg Maritime Academy and was provided for by M.V. Lomonosov in the draft curriculum of Moscow University (where it was read by D.V. Savich from the opening of the university). By the end of the 18th century. in geography (courses of which were already taught in many universities in Western Europe), three directions were clearly outlined - physical geography, economic geography (more often called statistical at that time) and regional studies. Physical geography was taught at universities in the faculties of natural sciences, statistics and regional studies - in the faculties of literature (historical and philological).

In the countries of Western Europe, the predominant direction in geography was regional studies; at the end of the 19th century. in Great Britain and France, major summaries on regional studies are published (H. J. Mackinder, G. Vidal de la Blache), in Germany - on geomorphology (A. Penck), general geography (A. Zupan), comparative geography (K. Ritter) , population geography (F. Ratzel). Significant impact on development Geographic education The German geographer A. Humboldt provided assistance in higher education. The French geographer and sociologist E. Reclus organized a special higher educational and scientific institution in Brussels - the Geographical Institute. In the United States, unlike Europe, geography developed in close connection with cartography, especially in the military system.

In 1863, departments of physical geography were created at Russian universities, and in 1884 - departments of geography and ethnography. In this regard, a number of geographical disciplines were introduced into the university curricula - general physical geography, geography of Russia, geography of the continents, anthropogeography, ethnography, history of geography, etc. A significant role in the development of domestic Geographic education played by the scientific schools of Moscow universities (D. N. Anuchin, A. A. Borzov, A. S. Barkov, M. A. Bogolepov, A. A. Kruber, B. F. Dobrynin, S. G. Grigoriev, M. S. Bodnarsky) and St. Petersburg (A. I. Voeikov, P. I. Brounov, V. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, L. S. Berg, Yu. M. Shokalsky, etc.). At Novorossiysk University (Odessa) Geographic education was headed by G.I. Tanfilyev, in Kazansky - P.I. Krotov, in Kharkovsky - A.N. Krasnov and others. At the beginning of the 20th century. big role in improving Geographic education new textbooks and teaching aids by A. S. Barkov, S. G. Grigoriev, A. A. Kruber and S. V. Chefranov were played at school; Instructional practice was introduced into the curricula of geographical specialties at universities, and training stations were created; training of specialists with Geographic education for research and teaching work was carried out at the faculties of physics and mathematics.

Position of the highest Geographic education changed dramatically after the Great October Revolution. In 1918-25 he worked in Petrograd (university), at which a research institute of geography was created in 1922, and in 1923 the same research institute was established at Moscow University. By the end of the 20s. Universities have radically restructured the curricula and programs of geographical specialties, especially economic geography (N. N. Baransky); Mandatory practice for students on expeditions was introduced. In the 30s Independent geographical departments were created, and then geographical and geological-geographical departments of universities. In subsequent years, the specialization of those graduating from geography faculties deepened and new departments emerged. The modern standard structure of geographical departments at universities in the USSR includes the following specialties: physical geography, economic geography, geomorphology, meteorology and climatology, land hydrology, oceanology and cartography.

In the USSR, universities and pedagogical institutes train geographers in full-time, evening and correspondence education systems. The largest centers Geographic education are Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev universities and pedagogical institutes. Some universities have departments of geology and geography and biology. In their first years, university students receive broad general geographical training; in their senior years, they study a series of special (major) disciplines, work in seminars, undergo special practice (geological, geodetic, complex geographical in research institutes, schools, expeditions, etc.), complete and defend coursework and theses in their chosen specialty, and pass state exams in social disciplines. The training of geographers in pedagogical institutes is structured without division into narrow specialties. A significant place is given to the study of pedagogical disciplines (psychology, pedagogy, teaching methods) and pedagogical practice. Many pedagogical institutes train teachers in two fields: geography and biology (geographical-biological, natural-geographical faculties), history and geography, etc. The curricula of all pedagogical institutes also provide for field practice at educational bases, local history and in the form of long-distance excursions ( expeditions). The duration of study in geographical specialties is 4-5 years.

Geography specialists are trained in all countries of the world where there are universities and pedagogical institutes. In socialist countries Geographic education develops in all branches of geography. Large centers Geographic education are the oldest universities - in Berlin (the capital of the GDR), Leipzig, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, etc. In capitalist countries, the character, direction, forms Geographic education very different. For example, the largest universities in the USA (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, etc.) have a narrow specialization (geomorphology, meteorology, hydrology, economic geography of economic sectors); in France (Sorbonne and other universities), comprehensive geographical (country studies) training of geographers predominates, and the scientific school of population and economic geography is of great importance; In UK universities (Oxford, Cambridge, London), along with regional studies and economic geography, oceanography occupies a prominent place. Geography teachers in foreign countries are mainly trained by universities (3-4 years of study). Future teachers often combine two profiles (for example, geography and physics, geography and psychology, geography and a foreign language). Pedagogical practice occupies a smaller place in the learning process than in the Soviet Union. universities and pedagogical institutes.

General Geographic education is given by a secondary school. In the USSR, geography as an independent academic subject is systematically studied in grades 5-9 (initial course of physical geography, including information about the topographic plan and geographical map, knowledge about the spheres of the Earth and methods of their study, etc.; physical geography of the continents, USSR, economic geography of the USSR and foreign countries). In some capitalist countries, school curricula and textbooks on geography have a regional focus.

A. I. Soloviev.

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