Curriculum thinking, ‘capabilities’ and the place of geographical knowledge in schools

Miejsce wiedzy geograficznej i umiejętności w tworzeniu curriculum

Author(s): David Lambert / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: curriculum;curriculum making;powerful knowledge;capabilities

This paper argues that curriculum thinking in education has been enormously influential on selecting what is taught and learned in geography classrooms. Although this may appear to be self-evident, we are reminded that in the UK at least the idea of curriculum only really emerged in geography educational thought in the last quarter of the twentieth century. During this time curriculum thinking in schools has managed to cement the importance of ‘aims’. This paper argues that although beneficial in manyways, aims-led curriculum planning and development has arguably been somewhat careless with knowledge, and has even undermined the place of knowledge in the classroom. The paper argues for a re-emphasis on knowledge-led curriculum making, asone of the cornerstones of genuine progressive educational practice. It introduces the possibility of a capabilities approach as a heuristic to connect and reconcile aims-led and knowledge-led curriculum thought and action.

Geographical education in the Land of the Rising Sun

Edukacja geograficzna w Kraju Kwitnącej Wiśni

Author(s): Joanna Angiel / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: geographical education in Japan;geographical education in Poland;superior aims of education;spiritual development;intellectual development;upbringing;balancing in education;paideia

The article presents educational system in Japan and the position of geographical education in it. The conditions of obtaining teacher’s license are described, as well as the rules, cultural norms and solutions regarding upbringing and educating. The author analyzes geographical contents in textbooks (not only geography textbooks), as well as similarities and differences between education in Poland and Japan. The ideas, values and educational aims in Japan are presented. The differences between understanding education in Japanese and European cultures are highlighted. Nihonjin ron, fursato and kokoro are presented as the essence of Japanese upbringing and educating, and related to geographical education, as they are its core and they determine the importance of teaching geography in Japan. The fundamental differences in aims and directions of education between Poland and Japan are indicated. With relation to this, the author reflects on the crisis in culture and values, as well as the crisis in education. The lack of balance between upbringing and educating in curriculum and school reality is pointed out, as well as very strong cognitive aspect (intellectual development) together with the aspect of physical development and negligence of spiritual development of students. Theauthor recounts paideia – ancient Greek rule of educating individuals, and refers back tothe essence of education in Japan, including kokoro. In the summary, the opinions of Polish philosophers, educators and geographers on the necessity of balancing educationand introducing education turned to values are recalled.

Geography as a study subject in the education system in Ukraine

Geografia jako przedmiot nauczania w systemie oświaty na Ukrainie

Author(s): Natalia Tomczewska-Popowycz / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: geography school education;education system in Ukraine

The purpose of the study is an explore the role and place of Geography education in schools in Ukraine, as well as to compare how Geography is taught in schools in Ukraine and Poland. First, the study provides a comparative analysis of the school curricula and the legal bases that regulate education in the two countries. Then it compares the goals and contents of Geography curriculum at different stages of education, from elementary to high school. The results of the comparative analysis indicate that these two systems differ. Compared to Poland, in Ukraine the duration of studies in elementary school is shorter by two years, while it is longer by two years in middle school. The duration of studies at the high school level is also different. The underlying legal systems also differ. For instance, the curriculum used in Ukraine tends to be remarkably more detailed, although there is a considerable overlap in the curriculum content in the two countries. The most notable differences were observed in how textbooks are made available to the students: in Ukraine, the Ministry of Education provides textbooks free of charge, ensuring that the secondary education is basically free.

Skills developed through geography textbooks in Poland, England, France and Germany (Saxony)

Umiejętności kształcone za pomocą podręczników do geografii w Polsce, Anglii, Francji i Niemczech (Saksonii)

Author(s): Arkadiusz Głowacz / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: developed skills;learning;geography textbook

The aim of the work is to determine the similarities and differences in the scope of skills developed through geography textbooks in selected European countries. In the analysis textbooks from Poland, England, France and Germany (Saxony) for ISCED 2 level have been examined. Questions accompanying standard textbook content constituted the main research material. In the author’s opinion the instructions influence the activities undertaken by students. Thus they contain the information concerning the type and scope of the developed skills. A bunch of methods have been applied, among which the most important was content analysis derived from sociology. As a result a set of question categories have been created. The fundamental criterion of the categories delimitation was the character of activities performed by students. Once the list of categories was complete, all the instructions form the textbooks were matched into the categories. This enabled a semi-qualitative comparisons between countries. The researchled to the formulation of several crucial conclusions. The most general one states that the largest scope and variety of skills could potentially be developed through the English and German textbooks.

Contemporary directions of changes in teaching geography in secondary school – case study of Finland and Russia

Współczesne kierunki zmian w nauczaniu geografii w szkołach ogólnokształcących na przykładzie Finlandii i Rosji

Author(s): Mariola Tracz / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: geography;curriculum;concept of geographical education

In many countries have been significant changes in the structure of educational system in recent years. Are formulated new aims and tasks for education as a resulting of social and economic changes and development of ICT. The paper present how this changes influence of geography education in Russia and Finland. It was analysed the concept of geographical education and the place geography in national curriculum. In the research was tested curricula, reports, textbooks of geography and same materials for teachers.

Eye tracking in the research on the perception and construction of geographical knowledge

Okulografia w badaniach postrzegania i konstruowania wiedzy geograficznej

Author(s): Iwona Piotrowska / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: eye tracking;sources of geographical knowledge;perception;determinants of perception process

Eye tracking is a modern method of studying perception, cognitive and thought processes that occur when various sources of geographical information are used. It allows determining the visual competence of the recipient. Saccades (eye movements) and fixations (points at which the eyes are relatively stationary) offer an insight into the process of perception of various geographical objects, the way in which text and graphic information is read and absorbed, and the identification of those parts of the contents that the user finds the most interesting and useful. This article, therefore, seeks to present a new approach in the research on geographical education. The eye-tracking method shows the role of an individual perception of reality, the keenness of the observation conducted, and the time necessary for an individual to obtain information, and hence for the process of learning.

School expeditions and scientific camps as an alternative form of learning by action – an example of teacher’s good practice in School Complex No. 1 in Tychy

Wyprawy i obozy naukowe jako alternatywna forma uczenia się przez działanie – przykład dobrej praktyki nauczycieli ZS nr 1 w Tychach

Author(s): Katarzyna Dacy-Ignatiuk,Ireneusz Oleksik / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: education;fieldworks;school scientific expeditions

The acquisition of knowledge and skills by action has long been an important aspect in education. Each of practising teachers, however, knows that at a present-day school it is extremely difficult to find the time and technical capability to carry out practical activities properly. The pursuit of conducting the appropriate number of hours of the course, effectively discourages many teachers from the implementation of the curriculum beyond the school walls. The authors, a geography teacher in SC No. 1 in Tychy, along with a colleague – a biologist, worked out his own way to deal with this problem:for a decade they have been organizing school scientific camps across the country, and for six years – school expeditions to various parts of the world. The article introduces the forms of working with students, along with the notable effects, as well as the logistic side of the project, together with conclusions for the future.

Motives that stand behind the choice of geography class in selected post–secondary schools of Greater Poland voivodeship

Motywy wyboru klas geograficznych w wybranych szkołach ponadgimnazjalnych województwa wielkopolskiego

Author(s): Arkadiusz Marek Tomczyk / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: secondary school;Greater Poland;geography class

Aim of this thesis is to diagnose motives that stand behind the choice of classes with extended learning program from geography in selected secondary schools. Materials to ananalysis were provided by the survey research conducted in September 2013. Research included 170 pupils from second classes from four secondary schools in Greater Poland. Conducted research have shown that the main motives of choosing geography classes are: interests in geography, usability of geography during recruitment for studies, easy material to learn. Geography classes were mainly chosen by the pupils, who obtained at the end of first class from geography: fair grade (35%) and good grade (30%). Fields of studies that were most often enumerated by the pupils for their further education are: economy, tourism, recreation and geography.

Introduction

Предисловие

Author(s): Sergei Gennadievich Bocharov,Ayrat G. Sitdikov / Language(s): English,Russian / Publication Year: 0

Personality traits and language anxiety: intrinsic motivation revisited

Cechy osobowości i „uczucie niepokoju językowego”: analizując ponownie motywację wewnętrzną

Author(s): Larysa Sanotska / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: intrinsic motivation;conscientiousness;openness;risk-taking;self-efficacy;individual beliefs

This paper reports on the outcomes of the comparative study on motivation of learners of English in further-education English Philology programme in Ukraine and Poland. The research aims to determine principle characteristics of intrinsic motivation, which is among the most effective personal management strategies and as such helps build appropriate L2 study skills. Alongside with inborn personality features, such as extraversion/introversion,such traits as conscientiousness, openness, risk-taking and self-efficacy are formed by sociocultural, and in some cases, historical factors. The students from Ukraine and Poland were chosen for the reason of similarities in historical development of the two countries, as well as relatively different ‘paths’ of development in the more recent period. Similarity and diversity factors retrieved from observation, interviews with students an danswers to an open-ended questionnaire provided data which allows to determine the scale of influence of social and historical aspects on decision making and performance of the students alongside with their personal beliefs and expectations. The study also aimed to establish the connection between the systems of individual beliefs of the learners of both countries in the sphere of L2 learning.

The impact of first language acquisition by blind children on second language learning — didactic implications for foreign language teachers

Wpływ nabywania języka pierwszego przez niewidome dzieci na naukę języka drugiego — implikacje dydaktyczne dla nauczycieli języków obcych

Author(s): Małgorzata Jedynak / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: visually impaired;special educational needs;language learning;teacher implications

The paper focuses on learners with special educational needs who are visually impaired due to vision loss. Typhlomethodology has already recognized a potential of these learners in the field of second language acquisition, particularly in the phonological domain. The comparative analysis of blind and sighted learners provides a great deal of information about the nature of language acquisition. In the paper the author has insights into L1 acquisition of pronunciation and lexis by blind children since the command of these phenomena allows better understanding of L2 learning process and application of more effective foreign language methodology for the blind. A discussion on the above-mentioned issues seems particularly relevant in the light of the fact that the Council of Europe promotes in Education and Training 2020 the idea of FL teaching to learners with special educational needs, including these with vision loss.

European educational programme as a form of cultural and professional cognition

Projekt edukacyjny Unii Europejskiej formą poznania kulturowo- zawodowego

Author(s): Edyta Bochnia / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: interculturality;intercultural learning;intercultural competence;vocational training;youth exchange

The processes of globalisation and the development of a common, united Europe entail the migration of people to various parts of our continent. Nowadays migration is mostly related to the search for employment by people at various stages of their lives. The contact with a different cultural and professional reality might be surprising and often arouses feelings which are far from positive. In the context of these processes intercultural competence, now called a key competence, a prerequisite for functioning in the post-modern, multicultural world, is assigned a particular significance. Equally central is, however, becoming familiar with the conditions of a country’s professional culture. Only then can we talk about effective functioning on the European job market. Numerous young people at the stage of high school education declare the will to build their future abroad. Therefore, it is necessary to search for tools which would render it possible for trainees to enter into professional life and cultural reality of a foreign country. One of such tools are the Leonardo da Vinci mobility programmes, which help students grow to know chosen professional fields while simultaneously “immersing themselves” in the deepest cultural strata of a given country. The essence of the above subject matter shall be discussed on the example of a mobility programme carried out in Germany, in the Construction Training Centre.

How much history is needed in classes of German as a foreign language? The role of historical content in the process of learning and teaching German

Ile historii potrzeba na lekcji języka niemieckiego? Rola treści historycznych w procesie uczenia się i nauczania języka niemieckiego

Author(s): Marta Trzybulska / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: culture and society studies;foreign language learning and teaching;historical contents

Language is always used in a socio-cultural context. It is a part of culture; therefore, it is impossible to teach and learn a foreign language excluding knowledge about culture and society. Culture and society studies as an auxiliary discipline of glottodidactics have an interdisciplinary character. They are connected with other fields focused on human and their surroundings, including history. This article aims to show history as an auxiliary discipline of culture and society studies, its role in learning and teaching process and possible criteria of historical contents selection. Also, the results of a questionnaire filled out by students of third grades of high school on the meaning of historical contents during German as a foreign language lessons will be presented.

Polish learners’ attitudes towards learning English pronunciation: revisited

Stosunek polskich uczniów do nauki wymowy języka angielskiego: analizując od nowa

Author(s): Dorota Lipińska / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: L3 pronunciation;L2 pronunciation;segmental production;vowels;L2 status

It is widely agreed that acquisition of a sound system of a second language always presents a great challenge for L2 learners (e.g. Rojczyk, 2010). Numerous studies (e.g. Nowacka, 2010; Flege, 1991) prove that L2 learners whose first language has a scarce number of sounds, encounter difficulties in distinguishing L2 sound categories and tend to apply their L1 segments to new contexts. There is abundance of studies examining L2 learners’ successes and failures in production of L1 and L2 sounds, especially vowels (e.g. Flege, 1992; Nowacka, 2010; Rojczyk, 2010). However, the situation becomes more complicated when we consider third language production. While in the case of L2 segmental production the number of factors affecting L2 sounds is rather limited (either interference from learners’ L1 or some kind of L2 intralingual influence), in the case of L3 segmental production we may encounter L1→L3, L2→L3, L1+L2→L3 or L3 intralingual interference. This makes separation of L3 sounds a much more complex process. The aim of this paper is to examine whether speakers of L1 Polish, L2 English and L3 German are able to separate new, L3 vowel categories from their native and L2 categories. The research presented in this article is a part of a larger project assessing production of L3 segments. This time the focus is on German /y/. This vowel was chosen since it is regarded as especially difficult for Polish learners of German and it is frequently substituted with some other sounds. A group of English philology (Polish-English- German translation and interpretation programme) students was chosen to participate in this study. They were native speakers of Polish, advanced speakers of English and upper-intermediate users of German. They had been taught both English and German pronunciation courses during their studies at the University of Silesia. The subjects were asked to produce words containing analysed vowels, namely: P /u/, P /i/, E /uÉ/, E /iÉ/, E /ɪ/ and G /y/. All examined vowels were embedded in a /bVt/ context. The target /bVt/ words were then embedded in carrier sentences: I said /bVt/ this time in English, Ich sag’ /bVt/ diesmal in German and Mówię /bVt/ teraz in Polish, in a non-final position. The sentences were presented to subjects on a computer screen and the produced chunks were stored in a notebook’s memory as .wav files ready for inspection. The Praat 5.3.12 speech-analysis software package (Boersma, 2001) was used to measure and analyse the recordings. The obtained results suggest that L2 affects L3 segmental production to a significant extent. Learners find it difficult to separate all “new” and “old” vowel categories, especially if they are perceived as “similar” to one another and when learners strive to sound “foreign”.

Investigating the attitudes towards learning a third language and its culture in Polish junior high school

Badanie podejścia do uczenia się języka trzeciego oraz jego kultury w polskim gimnazjum

Author(s): Zuzanna Kiermasz / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: attitude towards language learning;L2;L3

It is believed that attitudes to languages and culture tend to affect achievement in foreign language learning (Baker, 1997). Thus, this factor may be seen as crucial when it comes to the discrepancies in attainment in different languages learnt by the same students. Therefore, it seems vital to investigate variation in attitudes towards both learning L2 together with the approach to the L2 culture and the corresponding issues with respect to L3. Nevertheless, the general attitude towards learning languages needs to be taken into account as well. This article discusses the attitudes towards learning two pairs of languages, specifically: English as L2 and German as L3 and German as L2 and English as L3. A group of lower high school learners from Poland took part in the study and the data was gathered by means of questionnaires, which included both closed and open-ended questions. The study is based on and inspired by a similar survey by Simsek et al. (2007). The main objective of the present paper is to shed light on the well-known problem that students who are reasonably successful in learning L2 have a problem with studying L3 (Hufeisen & Neuner, 2004).

How do we make use of the knowledge of Present Perfect, Past Simple and Past Continuous when teaching their Spanish “equivalents”?

Jak wykorzystać znajomość czasów Present Perfect, Past Simple i Past Continuous w nauczaniu ich hiszpańskich „odpowiedników”?

Author(s): Witold Sobczak / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: tense system;language typology;aspect

The aim of this article is to present the possibilities of making use of the knowledge of Present Perfect, Past Simple and Past Continuous when teaching their Spanish “equivalents”. Taking into account some typological criteria which connect English with Spanish and distinguish these languages from Polish, the researcher will attempt to indicate some basic similarities and differences between Present Perfect, Past Simple and Past Continuous, and their Spanish “counterparts”. Furthermore, the author will endeavour to point out the main reason for the incorrect usage of Past Simple and Past Continuous, and Pretérito Indefinido and Pretérito Imperfecto by Polish speakers due to confusion between the category of aspect and tense.

Adaptation of educational requirements for foreign languages to individual developmental and educational needs as well as psychophysical abilities of lower primary pupils on the basis of a psycho-pedagogical diagnosis

Dostosowanie wymagań edukacyjnych z języka obcego do indywidualnych potrzeb rozwojowych i edukacyjnych oraz możliwości psychofizycznych uczniów w młodszym wieku szkolnym na podstawie diagnozy psychologiczno-pedagogicznej

Author(s): Werona Król-Gierat / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: foreign language;foreign language teacher;educational requirements;special educational needs

According to ministerial directives, foreign language teachers are obliged to adapt educational requirements to pupils’ individual developmental and educational needs as well as psychophysical abilities. Translating recommendations of psycho-pedagogical service centres into specific tasks is teachers’ responsibility and is brought into fruition while being in direct contact with pupils in their charge. At the same time, the planned actions have to ensure the realization of the core curriculum. The interpretation of psycho-pedagogical statements or opinions may cause difficulties for teachers not qualified in special education. Making an effort to meet their needs, the present article focuses on translating bureaucratic paperwork into teaching practice.

Word formation in selected grammar books for teaching Polish as a foreign language

Słowotwórstwo w wybranych gramatykach do nauczania języka polskiego jako obcego

Author(s): Mateusz Gaze / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: grammar books;Polish as a foreign language;word formation

The purpose of this article is to analyze derivational issues presented in the grammar books for teaching Polish as a foreign language. Both the variety of issues presented and their graphic design were analyzed. Gramatyka języka polskiego. Podręcznik dla cudzoziemców by B. Bartnicka and H. Satkiewicz transpired to be too difficult for a foreigner because of the complicated scientific style used when describing analyzed phenomena. In Odkrywamy język polski by L. Madelska and M. Warchol-Schlottmann errors appeared, often connected with incorrect classification of derivatives to derivational categories, which may cause chaos in learners` mental dictionaries. Gramatyka języka polskiego dla cudzoziemców by Z. Kaleta does not include derivational issues at all. Word formation, despite being often overlooked by Polish teachers, plays a vital role in the process of teaching / learning Polish as a foreign language. Derivation is one of the most important processes of the formation of new words. Linguistic changes are lexical changes to a great extent. Word formation helps organize lexis (to classify the new words to appropriate categories, and thus determine their meaning). Derivational formations also show the linguistic perception of reality by the users of a given language.

What are they like? Linguistic image of Polish family and graphic design in selected textbooks for Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language

Jacy oni są? Językowy obraz polskiej rodziny oraz szata graficzna w wybranych podręcznikach do nauczania języka polskiego jako obcego

Author(s): Paula Góralczyk-Mowczan / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: textbooks for Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language;linguistic image;polish family;graphic design

The article presents selected elements that contribute to a linguistic and graphic image of a Polish family, namely appearance, personality, age, names and surnames. As a source of the research materials I used selected textbooks for all levels of proficiency (from A1 to C2), which first edition appeared in or after 1989. So how does a “typical” textbook family look like? The head of the family is thirty-nine-year-old Jan/Adam/Paweł Kowalski/ Nowak. He is a handsome brown-haired man with a beard and moustache. His wife is thirty-three-year-old Maria, an elegant blonde. They have two school-age children — Monika and Marek/Jan. Monika is pretty and resembles her father while Marek/Jan is tall and very slim. The present article also deals with the relationships between the emerging picture of the family and the textbook, its level and the date of issue.

Intergenerational Learning in the Context of Life History Research

Międzypokoleniowe uczenie się w kontekście badania historii życia

Author(s): Marcin Rojek / Language(s): English,Polish / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: learning;intergeneration learning;life course;sociology of knowledge established by Karl Mannheim;role of intergeneration learning

This article presents some of possible understanding “learning” term and juxtaposes it with model of intergeneration relationship by Karl Mannheim in order to present one of possible understanding intergenerational learning phenomenon of this role of adults life.