Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

of geography. In Singapore Social Studies has gained greater importance as it isrecognized as a useful vehicle for National Education or citizenship education.Opportunities for Geography in Southeast AsiaGeography has intrinsic qualities that make it relevant but it must also be made useful.Its relevance and usefulness can be appreciated through the following arguments,which also apply to Southeast Asia.a. Intellectual rigour – geography today is very different in intellectual content, depthand rigour than what it was three or four decades ago. A cursory glance at a bookentitled “Geography in the 20 th Century” edited by Griffith Taylor (1951), indicatesthat from the 50 papers presented the traditional treatment of the sub-disciplinesin geography showed no resemblance to what they are today. This reflects thevibrancy of geography in light of new developments in science and technologyand geopolitical and socio-economic environments.b. Today, human awareness of and concern for environmental degradation andresource depletion is at its highest. Geography, more than any other science,has traditionally been associated with the study of the environment and humanoccupation of that physical space. The decade 2005−2015 is the UN Decade ofEducation for Sustainable Development and geography is in an enviable positionto play a crucial role in helping to achieve its goals. At the very least, geographycurriculum should continue to emphasise this objective of creating environmentallyliterate citizens who would be able to transform cognitive understanding ofthe environment gained in the classroom to environmentally friendly behaviourand actions in real life.c. In its ability to handle IT, geography can strengthen itself through the introductionof the IT and GIS related skills to schools. Much progress in this has been achievedin the west, but gradual inroads are being made in Singapore schools (Zhu, et al,2004). But the same cannot be said of the other countries in Southeast Asia.In Singapore, geography is still vibrant. As a small island state with no naturalresources, the economic success of Singapore makes it a unique model of successfuldevelopment. In this microcosm of human society issues such as limited space,environmental conservation, housing, population growth, ageing, extraterritorialcatchments for both investments and resource development (for example, growthtriangle, water resource development), and its geographical location as the regionaland international hub of Multi-National Corporations, telecommunication giants,airline and shipping companies, and flows of goods and services, to name a few, alllend themselves to rigorous geographical scrutiny.Efforts at integration of ASEAN as a regional block will open up opportunitiesfor geography. Through fieldwork conducted outside ones own borders students ofgeography obtain a good appreciation of their neighbours. It is through this familiaritywith life outside ones own, gained through field research that can contributetowards building a more cohesive region.134