A Detailed Identification of Erosionally Endangered Agricultural Land in Slovakia (Case Study of Nitra Upland)

Water erosion and its processes are the most widespread and serious degradation phenomena in Slovakia (occurring in about 37% of the agricultural land). Given the increasing use of precise land management, it is necessary to have more detailed databases, especially in erosion-accumulation areas. The aim of the research was to identify in detail the areas of erosion-accumulation processes induced by water erosion, which can be considered as highly heterogeneous. In the territory of the Nitra upland the field survey methodology and grid mapping were used, the results of which were verified through soil erosion models. The mapping was done at the topic level and was verified using the USLE and ERDEP soil erosion models in ArcGIS. A comparison of the results of the potential model and real field parameters of soil erosion in the Nitra upland enabled us to generate dominant factors, respectively identify areas prone to soil erosion, and provided a detailed database for precise farming. At the same time, the results became the basis for a review of the current classification by erosion endangered soils. Overall, the methodology is suitable as a basis for developing sustainable management proposals in agricultural land affected by soil erosion risk

Specifics of Geography Teacher Training at the Faculty of Natural Sciences Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra

The Slovak education is currently experiencing a turbulent period associated with ongoing efforts to reform the education system, under-funding of education with low teacher salaries, overworked and feminized teaching staff, low social status of a teacher in society, problems in the creation and distribution of current textbooks, insufficient interest in studying natural sciences, leaving of young people to study abroad, etc. This situation is also reflected in the training of future teachers including the geography teachers (in combination with other subjects). The aim of this study is to provide basic information on the development of future geography teacher education in Nitra, which has almost a 60-year tradition. Moreover, it characterizes the current state of this education in the context of the subject field didactics and pedagogical practice and identifies the challenges of their future preparation. Methods of text analysis, information comparison, and statistical processing of quantitative information were used in this study. Key findings include the dynamics of the number of graduates from geography teaching study programs, responding to the situation in education system and demographic decline in the population, and reduction of contact lessons at the university leading to a reduction in the professional and didactic extent of knowledge and skills of future teachers. The most important conclusions or recommendations as well as scientific contribution concern the necessity to change the attitude of teachers towards the practically oriented teaching with stronger emphasis on training students’ creativity not only through ICT, but also using creative and critical thinking strategies

MICROGEOGRAPHY AS PART OF THE GEOGRAPHY TEACHING STRATEGY

The current trend is, despite the continual globalization of society, increasing in-terest in the immediate surroundings. At the time of the information society, the local (so-called microgeographic) knowledge have strategic importance, becau-se it is basis for planning of the regional development of the specific territories, respectively the regional policy. By the term „microgeography“ we mean com-plex regional geography on a local level, usually a municipality. The aim of the paper is to provide an innovative view of microgeography as a part of the geography teaching strategy at primary, secondary and higher education. In detail, we focus on identifying the strategy of teaching microgeography at the Department of Geography and Regional Development of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. We present the curriculum analysis, examples of specific learning materials, and activities targeted at developing of critical and creative thinking of geography students