Climate change and geography education : Could young people’s geographies and powerful disciplinary knowledge make a change?

Non peer reviewe

Foreword

Non peer reviewe

Meaningful Encounters with the Built Environment as the Basis for Urban Environmental Education

As the majority of people in the world now live in cities, it makes sense to question the state of urban environmental education and how it could be developed going forward. In this article, we suggest a way forward based on the essays written by Finnish university students. The students reflected on their relationship with an environment that is meaningful to them. In the essays selected for this case study (n = 25), the built environment of Helsinki—the capital of Finland—and its characteristics are in focus. In this qualitative research, inductive content analysis was used for processing the essays. Many students described the connections between urban nature and built environments, but the results also show that the built environment is especially significant because of its social and cultural aspects. Students described the importance of social bonding and how meeting different sorts of people supports their acceptance of diverse perspectives. Personal experiences and meanings attached to the city, as well as their lack, were mentioned; that is, without these personal bonds, meaningful relations to urban environments cannot be developed. Architecture, aesthetics, and soundscapes were also mentioned. In addition, it was expressed that feeling safe in the built environment is important. In urban environmental education, it is therefore important to pay attention to the social and cultural aspects, too, and not just to the ecological dimension. It is crucial that children and young people have access to the city in order to construct their personal relationships with the built environment

Meaningful Encounters with the Built Environment as the Basis for Urban Environmental Education

As the majority of people in the world now live in cities, it makes sense to question the state of urban environmental education and how it could be developed going forward. In this article, we suggest a way forward based on the essays written by Finnish university students. The students reflected on their relationship with an environment that is meaningful to them. In the essays selected for this case study (n = 25), the built environment of Helsinki—the capital of Finland—and its characteristics are in focus. In this qualitative research, inductive content analysis was used for processing the essays. Many students described the connections between urban nature and built environments, but the results also show that the built environment is especially significant because of its social and cultural aspects. Students described the importance of social bonding and how meeting different sorts of people supports their acceptance of diverse perspectives. Personal experiences and meanings attached to the city, as well as their lack, were mentioned; that is, without these personal bonds, meaningful relations to urban environments cannot be developed. Architecture, aesthetics, and soundscapes were also mentioned. In addition, it was expressed that feeling safe in the built environment is important. In urban environmental education, it is therefore important to pay attention to the social and cultural aspects, too, and not just to the ecological dimension. It is crucial that children and young people have access to the city in order to construct their personal relationships with the built environment

Meaningful encounters with the built environment as the basis for urban environmental education

As the majority of people in the world now live in cities, it makes sense to question the state of urban environmental education and how it could be developed going forward. In this article, we suggest a way forward based on the essays written by Finnish university students. The students reflected on their relationship with an environment that is meaningful to them. In the essays selected for this case study (n = 25), the built environment of Helsinki—the capital of Finland—and its characteristics are in focus. In this qualitative research, inductive content analysis was used for processing the essays. Many students described the connections between urban nature and built environments, but the results also show that the built environment is especially significant because of its social and cultural aspects. Students described the importance of social bonding and how meeting different sorts of people supports their acceptance of diverse perspectives. Personal experiences and meanings attached to the city, as well as their lack, were mentioned; that is, without these personal bonds, meaningful relations to urban environments cannot be developed. Architecture, aesthetics, and soundscapes were also mentioned. In addition, it was expressed that feeling safe in the built environment is important. In urban environmental education, it is therefore important to pay attention to the social and cultural aspects, too, and not just to the ecological dimension. It is crucial that children and young people have access to the city in order to construct their personal relationships with the built environment.Peer reviewe

Geography and sustainability education in Finnish schools

Non peer reviewe

Reflected places of childhood : Applying the ideas of humanistic and cultural geographies to environmental education research

The article investigates people–environment relationships from the viewpoint of humanistic and cultural geographies and highlights the importance of subjective experiences and emotional place attachment in the construction of environmental attitudes. Some core concepts of these research fields (e.g. ‘place’, ‘insideness/outsideness’, ‘topophilia/topophobia) are defined and their meanings for environmental relations are interpreted. Empirical material is based on the written essays of 65 students who participated in the Introduction Course of Environmental Education at the University of Helsinki, Finland. The analysis concentrated on students’ childhood memories to find out what kind of environmental experiences were regarded as significant from the adults’ perspective. The essays showed how the students’ environmental attitudes were not always based on their experiences of nature but their connection to the environment could also be constructed in urban settings. The role of everyday environments and other people during childhood years were regarded as essential elements in constructing close bonds with the environment.Peer reviewe

Maantieteen opetus tässä maailman ajassa

Non peer reviewe

Maantieteen opetuksen haasteita : digitalisaatio, opetuksen eheyttäminen ja opettajan roolin murros

The article investigates three challenges that school geography faces in Finland. First, the digitalization has changed aims and contents of the Finnish national curricula. In the context of geography education, geographical information systems, geo-media and digitalization of matriculation examinations have strengthened the status of digital material in teaching, which can be seen as a possible threat for value-based themes of the subject. Second, the emphasis of phenomenon- based integration can be seen as a problem when complex issues are taught. Third, trendy ideas of ’learning to learn’ pedagogies can be seen as a threat for disciplinebased teaching. The article questions these challenges and highlights geography’s potential in enhancing students’ critical thinking skills and their abilities to construct links between people and environment, local and global and natural and social phenomena. Geography teacher’s role as a subject specialist is seen essential in geography education.Peer reviewe

Powerful disciplinary knowledge and the status of geography in Finnish upper secondary schools : Teachers' views on recent changes

The article examines the status of geography education within Finnish upper secondary schools. During the past few years, there have been many reforms which have affected how much geography ought to be taught and the teaching methods for doing so. In this article, the general aims of the upper secondary geography and content of the compulsory geography course are analysed from the perspective of powerful disciplinary knowledge. The empirical data set was collected through an online survey, which was filled out by 63 Finnish geography teachers in September 2017. The results show that even though the compulsory course in geography was regarded as being important and student-oriented, teachers felt that there were too many geographical phenomena to teach and too many time-consuming digital methods to be used. Teachers highlighted the importance of critical reflection and geographical thinking in the aims of geography curriculum, and they had a positive attitude towards emphasis on current issues in the compulsory course. Many respondents expressed their concern about the fragmented character and the illogical structure of the course. The compulsory course has its focus on global risks and therefore, students have to study the consequences before the causes. The required information on physical and human geography is studied later in optional specialisation courses, which the respondents saw as a major problem. Overall, even when the aims of the curriculum support the ideas of powerful geographical knowledge relatively well, limited time for studies in geography threatens students’ access to powerful knowledge in geography education.Peer reviewe