Abstract
This chapter presents Geography as a blending of the Physical Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities. Through an analysis of the attempts to define Geography in primary school settings, we determine that Geography is about developing values and attitudes and should be taught weekly so that the child learns to understand their world as it occurs around them. The two International Charters on Geographical Education (from 1992 and then 2016) are explored in terms of how Geography is defined, and then more recently, in terms of an action plan for geographical education. Geography education is seen as a transformative subject where attitudinal shifts of being and growing into an agent of change are advocated. The chapter highlights a model where the student is central to a geographical education that promotes attitudinal change where the student becomes an agent of change. The chapter also presents the necessary development of Advanced GeoSkills that blend key 21st Century skills and Geography’s discipline-specific investigative tools and thinking through inquiry practices to develop the leaders of tomorrow.
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Kidman, G., Schmeinck, D. (2022). Defining Geography in the Primary School: Classroom Experiences and Understandings. In: Kidman, G., Schmeinck, D. (eds) Teaching Primary Geography. Key Challenges in Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99970-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99970-4_1
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