Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

Fieldwork in forest areasIn the Czech Republic school excursions are commonly heading into forested areas.The excursion field work program routinely deals with forest canopy cognition,usually its living segment. Pupils are being taught to recognise individual treespecies, parts of tree bodies, their flowers and fruits. The pupils are learning aboutthe relationships of forests and trees with animals. Pupils learn to identify individualforest herbs (Barányová, Novák, 2004). The specialized ecological education makespupils familiar with forest ecosystems as a whole, their structures and dynamics,relationships between their compounds, their roles and functions. The spatial aspectsof the forest – its territorial differentiation – remains only marginal. Geographystudies presents an opportunity to explore and explain such spatial aspects of natureand in this way will help its understanding.Geographer´s view on the forestWoodland plays many important roles in the European cultural landscape. Woodproduction was the original forest function for humans. The present understandingof forest functions is quite different beacause of deep changes in the production technologiesin industry, housing, construction, heating, etc. as well as better knowledgeabout other important abilities of woodland. Other forest functions include:• protecting the soil against soil erosion,• climatic influences like air humidification, cooling and wind speed reduction,• hygienic functions such as dust absorbtion, noise reduction• aesthetic aspects like the psychological role of green colour and diverse horizon• recreational and health features where the input of chemicals has a positive effect• ecological aspects where biodiversity protection of species and societies• water protection supporting water accumulation and filtration• educational through teaching in and about forests and• scientific issues with a study of various aspects of forest ecosystems.Many of these functions are hidden not only from the broad public but also to educationand research specialists as well. Developing opportunities that will increase theawareness of the importance of and opportunities to understand forested area is thusvery important.Role of an integrated terrain education centreThe problem of forest teaching lies in the question of how to explain the importanceand significance of forests to pupils in primary schools. Field and class educationoffers opportunities to involve pupils in the subject. If the objective is to encourageactive pupil participation it is important to apply attractive educational methods ina series of stages of forest study. These stages can be represented by the collectionof data about forest functions (in field, literature, maps, aerial and satellite imagery)and data processing and presentation of results to other schoolmates. The most attractiveteaching approaches can best be achieved in the field and in computer-assistedclasses. The establishment of an “integrated terrain education centre“ can be usedsuccessfully for both these purposes.44