Publication: COĞRAFYA EĞİTİMİ VE TOPLUM
Abstract
Coğrafya bir toplum bilimidir. Toplumda yaşayan bireylerin yaşadığı ortamı bilmesi gerekmektedir. Yaşadığı coğrafyayı bilmeyen bir birey bazı değerlerin farkında değil demektir. Sosyologlar ve psikologlar insanın taşıdığı özellikleri, içinde bulunduğu ortamdan dışarıya yorumlayamazlar. Yani toplum ve insan yaşadığı çevreye göre şekillenir. Coğrafya disiplini insanlarda birtakım kimlikler oluşturur. Kimliklerin oluşturulması için öncelikle bireyin kültürünü, yaşadığı toplumu, ülkeyi, bunları oluşturan nedenleri fiziki beşeri unsurlarıyla tanımasına coğrafya eğitimi katkı sağlar. Coğrafyasını öğrenen insanda bir vatandaşlık bilinci olur. İnsan yaşadığı topluma ve çevreye karşı kendini sorumlu hisseder. Coğrafya eğitimi günümüzde bu açıdan ülkemizde etkili bir eğitim sunamamaktadır. Coğrafya da bilimlerin genelinde olduğu gibi toplumda yeni gelişen veya meydana gelen olaylarla yakından ilgilenir. Nüfusun artması, bir ülkenin kalkınması, savaşların asıl sebebi gibi, içinde yaşadığımız dünyayı anlama ve olayların meydana gelmesindeki asıl nedenleri belirleyebilme özelliğine sahiptir. Coğrafyanın konularıyla günlük hayatta çok karşılaştığımız için çağdaş dünyayı da anlamamızda ve yorumlamamızda yardımcı olur. Bu araştırmayla, Türkiye’de coğrafya öğretmen adaylarının coğrafya eğitimi ve toplumla ilgili düşüncelerinin nelerden oluştuğunu anlamanın önemli bir katkı sağlayacağı ortadadır. Bu nedenle, çalışmanın amacı coğrafya öğretmen adaylarının, coğrafya eğitimi ve topluma ilişkin görüşlerini belirlemektir. Bu araştırmada öğretmen adaylarının görüşleri incelenerek nitel verilere dayalı bir çalışma yapılmıştır. Marmara Üniversitesi Atatürk Eğitim Fakültesi Orta Öğretim Sosyal Alanlar Coğrafya Eğitimi anabilim dalı tezsiz yüksek lisansında öğrenim gören, toplam 35 öğrenci araştırmanın çalışma grubunu oluşturmaktadır. Bu çalışmada veriler, öğretmen adaylarının coğrafya eğitimi ve toplumla ilgili görüşlerini öğrenmek amacıyla, bireysel ve bir haftalık arayla aynı bireylerle tekrarlanan üst üste üç görüşme yapılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonucunda, coğrafya eğitiminin insanları toplumsallaştırır, toplumun yapısını, kültürel özelliklerini inceler ve toplumun görgü kurallarına saygı duymayı, onunla birlikte yaşamayı öğretir. Toplumlar, yaşanan yerin coğrafyanın belirleyici karakteristik özelliklerini yansıtırlar. Coğrafi özellikler biz fark etmesek de hayatımızı yönlendirir. Ülkemizde coğrafya eğitiminin gerektiği biçimde sunulmaması sanki coğrafyanın bunlar değil de çok bambaşka şeyler olduğu izlenimini vermekte olduğu ortaya çıkarılmıştır.
Geography is a social science. It is necessary for individuals to know the environment they live in. An individual who does not know the geography within which s/he lives cannot be aware of some values. Sociologists and psychologists cannot interpret an individual’s traits of characteristics without considering his/her environment. Namely, societies and individuals are shaped by and in accordance with their environments. The geography as a discipline enables people to form their own identities. Geography education helps the individual in learning and understanding his/her culture, society, country and the founding physical and human aspects of them. The consciousness of citizenship is formed in an individual who has learned the geography surrounded him/her. This individual senses responsibility to the society and environment s/he live in. Today, the geography education in Turkey cannot be helpful in this respect. As is the case in science in general, geography also pays attention to new events or occurrences in the society. It considerably mirrors the main reasons lying behind some turning points in societies, such as the rises in population, socio-economic development of countries or causes of wars. In this manner, geography is of crucial significance in understanding and interpreting the modern society, in particular and the contemporary world, in general. It is obvious that this study has important contributions and implications in terms of understanding what constitutes the main cements of Turkish geography teacher candidates’ thoughts about geography education and society. In this vein, the aim of this study is to determine opinions of geography teacher candidates about geography education and society. Here, a study based on qualitative data was carried out by investigating opinions of geography teacher candidates. The study group of this research is comprised of thirty five students from the out-thesis Master of Arts in the Department of Geography Education- Secondary Education Social Fields taken part in the Ataturk Education Faculty of the Marmara University. In this study, the data were collected by means of one-to-one interviews made in a weekly interval and subsequently three times with same persons with the aim to learn teacher candidates’ opinions about geography education and society. At the end of the study, it was found that geography education socializes people, examines structure and cultural characteristics of the society and teaches to respect to and to live with social codes of conduct. Societies mirror distinctive characteristics of the geography they are surrounded. Even if we do not realize pretty much, geographical characteristics give direction to our lives. It was reached such conclusion that because geography education is not presented adequately, geography is given the impression as if it referred something so different from above-mentioned real meanings.
Geography is a social science. It is necessary for individuals to know the environment they live in. An individual who does not know the geography within which s/he lives cannot be aware of some values. Sociologists and psychologists cannot interpret an individual’s traits of characteristics without considering his/her environment. Namely, societies and individuals are shaped by and in accordance with their environments. The geography as a discipline enables people to form their own identities. Geography education helps the individual in learning and understanding his/her culture, society, country and the founding physical and human aspects of them. The consciousness of citizenship is formed in an individual who has learned the geography surrounded him/her. This individual senses responsibility to the society and environment s/he live in. Today, the geography education in Turkey cannot be helpful in this respect. As is the case in science in general, geography also pays attention to new events or occurrences in the society. It considerably mirrors the main reasons lying behind some turning points in societies, such as the rises in population, socio-economic development of countries or causes of wars. In this manner, geography is of crucial significance in understanding and interpreting the modern society, in particular and the contemporary world, in general. It is obvious that this study has important contributions and implications in terms of understanding what constitutes the main cements of Turkish geography teacher candidates’ thoughts about geography education and society. In this vein, the aim of this study is to determine opinions of geography teacher candidates about geography education and society. Here, a study based on qualitative data was carried out by investigating opinions of geography teacher candidates. The study group of this research is comprised of thirty five students from the out-thesis Master of Arts in the Department of Geography Education- Secondary Education Social Fields taken part in the Ataturk Education Faculty of the Marmara University. In this study, the data were collected by means of one-to-one interviews made in a weekly interval and subsequently three times with same persons with the aim to learn teacher candidates’ opinions about geography education and society. At the end of the study, it was found that geography education socializes people, examines structure and cultural characteristics of the society and teaches to respect to and to live with social codes of conduct. Societies mirror distinctive characteristics of the geography they are surrounded. Even if we do not realize pretty much, geographical characteristics give direction to our lives. It was reached such conclusion that because geography education is not presented adequately, geography is given the impression as if it referred something so different from above-mentioned real meanings.