Abstract
This chapter discusses the future prospects of geography education in Japan by first examining its current status and associated issues within Social Studies education. The structure of Social Studies is divided into multiple subjects areas (i.e. Geography and History, and Civics) with increasing grade levels. Whereas geographic content forms a large part of elementary school Social Studies, it is taught alongside History and Civics in junior school Social Studies. With the 1989 revision of the National Curriculum Standards, Social Studies in senior high school was reorganized into two subjects “Geography and History and Civics”, as well as “World History” that became compulsory subjects. Since this amalgamation, the status of Geography in senior high school has rapidly declined. Geography taught within Social Studies instruction plays a crucial role in developing students’ social awareness, a premise of value judgments and decision making for thinking about how to make society better. Geography studies specific phenomena and the relationship between human and nature, making it a valuable contribution to ESD.
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References
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Murayama, T. (2015). Geography Education as Part of Social Studies Education in Japan. In: Ida, Y., Yuda, M., Shimura, T., Ike, S., Ohnishi, K., Oshima, H. (eds) Geography Education in Japan. International Perspectives in Geography, vol 3. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54953-6_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54953-6_18
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