| dc.description.abstract | This paper deals with the issue of the didactics of the Czech lands geography process and the
position of geography as a scientific branch in its system. It describes new trends and styles
in teaching geography in the Czech Republic. At the same time, it mentions some current
teaching difficulties at Czech primary and secondary schools. The first stage of teaching developing
theory, the period from 1948 to 1965, is tagged “applied period” (Hájek, 2003). The
theory of teaching geography (nowadays called the didactics of geography) was at that time
only a pedagogical discipline. It has been focused on searching and working out in detail the
middle ground for the methods, the organization forms and materials specified for geography
teaching. The period after the year 1990 is called “the period of the transformation of the
didactics of geography”. The attention in teaching geography has been focused on new topics,
for example the upbringing for the human rights and democracy, multiculturalism, international
understanding and peace, informational or worldwide education, etc. The didactics of
geography is already a border science, penetrating two systems –geography and pedagogy
(Wahla, 1991).
Primarily, the task of the scholars in the field of the didactics of geography was searching
for an answer to the question: “What type of knowledge should the students be provided with
and what are the reasons and methods for that transfer of knowledge?”. The explanation of
the influence of the way geography was taught on the student´s development of imagination,
thinking and positive relation to their environment was, to some extent, already provided.
Similarly, this influence was also observed in the attention to the quality of the teacher, teaching
methods and organization of the forms of teaching, teaching environment, and some specific
geography tools (maps, books of maps, etc.). The contemporary concept of the didactics
of geography comes from the International Geography Union, which declares not only the
value of educational geography importance for individual education, but primarily its application
in international and environmental nation education context. The determination of
basic questions directed at students is also inconsistent. It is crucial that students are able to
react to questions like: “Where is it? What is it like? Why is it there? How did it come into existence?
What is the influence of it? How should it be adapted to be beneficial for the people and
nature at the same time?”. Contemporary geography education should take aim at students´
knowledge and their skills and phrasing progress, creating the basic attitudes and life values,
and also the sense of responsibility. The interdisciplinary and broad multidisciplinary of the
thematic range guarantees a strong integrating role of geography education in schools. It is
essential for the progress and the formation of all cross-sectional topics (Matoušková, 2005).
There is more interests in the way the science subjects, including geography, are taught. It
is realized primarily through familiarization of the content – relating to students´ daily life
and solving actual questions and topics. In geography teaching the emphasis is put both on
practice, fieldwork and working in geo-laboratories, and on class-work. Therefore, the basic
principles of researchable orientating education as well as the progress of geographical informational
systems and their application in geography teaching at primary and secondary
schools are fulfilled.
Geography as a subject at Czech schools is considered by students to be of mediocre or even
low prestige. There are many reasons for that, but the main one is the unqualified and poorly
qualified geography teachers. Geography is seen as a subject concerned with toponymic
terms. The prestige of geography can be improved by ensuring that teachers are properly
qualified and are specialists in their field. Those teachers should be interested in the subject
and teach not only the necessary quota (“general knowledge”), but also a notion of “the intertwined
aspects of the world”. A geography teacher should help the students understand
the global connections, be able to get students interested in traveling and learning about different
cultures and occurring differences, as well as teach the students how to be tolerant of
something that is foreign to them (Karas, Kuhnlová, 2011). Additional training for teachers is
crucial for improving the quality of geography teaching and it should become an integral part
of their pedagogical experience. | en_EN |
