Introduction to Thinking and

Literacy in geography
Muhammad Asyroful Mujib
Thinking Geographically
• As a discipline, Geography has many different aspects and draws on a
wide range of concepts, subject areas and skills. Because of this,
students require a range of literacy skills to develop their
understanding of Geography (Balderstone, 2006).

Thinking Geographically ≠ Everyday Thinking

• Thinking geographically is not everyday thinking. If we thought these

were the same, there would be little point in having geography
lessons
What does it mean to think like geographer?
1. Memorizing Places?
▪ Countries, Capital Cities, River
▪ School Geography or Geography Department (Prodi Pendidikan
geografi UNEJ)

2. Pareidolia
a psychological phenomenon involving a vague, random stimulus (often
an image or sound) that is perceived as important. Common examples
include seeing pictures of animals or faces in the clouds
Pareidolia
Pareidolia
The Face on Mars was
one of the most striking
and remarkable images
taken during the Viking
missions to the red
planet. Unmistakeably
resembling a human
face, the image caused
many to hypothesize that
it was the work of an
extraterrestrial
civilization. Later images
revealed that it was a
mundane feature
rendered face-like by the
angle of the Sun
Thinking Geographically and The Role of Organising Concept

• geographical thinking includes relating the local and

the global, the near and far, the physical and the
human, people and environments, the economic and
the social, time and distance ... and so on.

• A few large, organising concepts underlie a

geographical way of investigating and understanding
the world
Thinking Geographically and The Role of Organising Concept
• These are high level ideas that can be applied across
the subject to identify a question, guide an
investigation, organise information, suggest an
explanation or assist decision-making.

• They are the key ideas involved in framing the unique

contribution of geography as a subject discipline
The three main organising concepts of geography
▪ PLACE

▪ SPACE

▪ ENVIRONMENT
1. PLACE
• A place is a specific part of the Earth's surface that has been
named and given meaning by people, although these
meanings may differ.
• Places range in size from the home and locality to a major
world region. They are interconnected with other places,
often in complex ways.
• Places are unique, but do not have to be studied as if they
were singular, for in seeking understanding and explanation
geographers study general processes and look for similarities
as well as differences
What can we learn about places
1. Describe and explain places in increasing depth.
Their characteristics include population, climate, economy,
landforms, built environment, soils and vegetation, communities,
water resources, cultures, minerals, landscape, and recreational and
scenic quality.
2. Explore people's aesthetic, emotional, cultural and spiritual
connections with places
3. Recognise that places may be altered and remade by people, and
that changes promoted by one group may be contested by others.
4. Use the uniqueness of places to explain why the outcomes of
universal environmental and human processes may vary, and why
similar problems may require different strategies in different places.
2. SPACE
Space in geography is the three-dimensional surface of
the Earth. While historians study change over time,
geographical study emphasises differences across
space.
This is of particular interest in understanding the rich
diversity of environments, peoples, cultures and
economies that exist together on the surface of the
Earth
Understanding of Space/Spatial in Geography
1. Investigating the spatial distribution of phenomena and explaining
them, often by looking for a spatial association between several
distributions.
2. Learning how to evaluate the environmental, economic, social and
political consequences of particular spatial distributions.
3. Studying the influence of absolute and relative location on the
characteristics of places and on people's lives.
4. Recognising that improvements in transport and communication
systems have greatly reduced the time taken to send goods, capital
and information between places, which has increased the speed at
which economic and cultural impacts spread around the world.
Understanding of Space/Spatial in Geography
(continue)

5. investigating the ways that space is structured, organised and

managed by people for different purposes.
6. Recognising that people perceive and use space differently, and
may feel accepted and safe in some and unwelcome or unsafe in
others.
7. Understanding the role of values and beliefs in influencing decision-
making about how space may be used in the future.
8. Exploring the ways space is represented, such as by maps, art,
literature, films, songs, stories and dance, and the influences of
these representations on people's perceptions.
3. ENVIRONMENT
• The term environment means our living and non-living
surroundings. The features of the environment can be
classified as natural, managed, or constructed. However, we
also recognise that these boundaries can be contested and
are fuzzy: there is much interaction and cross-over.
• The concept of environment provides a powerful way of
understanding, explaining and thinking about the world.
Understanding of Environment in Geography
1. Recognising the environment as an ecosystem - with environmental
benefits, such as genetic diversity, pollination or nutrient cycling.
2. Investigating the structure and functioning of environments as
systems: of weather, climate, hydrology, geomorphology,
biogeography and soils.
3. Examining the ways that people use, alter and manage
environments (intentionally and unintentionally).
4. Exploring different worldviews about the relationship between
humans and the environment, and applying ideas such as
stewardship and sustainability in their studies of the environment.
Understanding of Environment in Geography
(continue)

5. Recognising that studies of the environmental change have an

ethical dimension, succinctly captured by the question: who gets
what, why and where (and why care)?
6. Investigating the effects of the environment on people and places
through the opportunities and constraints it presents for economic
development and human settlement.
7. Reflecting on the extent to which the environment contributes to
human beings' sense of identity
Thinking geographically and relational thinking
Peter Jackson writes that
"thinking geographically offers a uniquely powerful way of
seeing the world and making connections between scales,
from the local to the global”.

Jackson's main contribution is to emphasise in this way that it

is relational thinking that characterises the geographical
perspective. Jackson's paired list, slightly adapted for our
purposes
Thinking geographically and relational thinking
(continue)

• Space and place

This pair draws directly from the broad framework. They remind us
that although places are unique they are not cut off or isolated but
connected to other places. The flows between places and through
places are important.
• Scale and connection
This is the 'zoom lens' attribute of geography that shows how
decisions and events at a local level can have global consequences
and global processes can have differential affects locally
Thinking geographically and relational thinking
(continue)

• Proximity and distance

This does not just mean physical distance as expressed in kilometres, but
includes perceptions and imagined distances. Geographers have had to
adopt more flexible understandings of distance especially in the electronic
age.
• People and environment
This concerns geographers enduring concern to understand similarities
and differences. This includes, for example, examining distinctions such as
'us' and 'them' which in school geography is important in work on uneven
development. It also includes the propensity geographers have to link the
physical and human world, to keep the world 'whole' rather than
separate.
Differences in the Approach of thinking of geography
with other disciplines

1. Relationships between people and the environment

2. Importance of spatial variability (the place-
dependence of processes)
3. Processes operating at multiple and interlocking
geographic scales
4. Integration of spatial and temporal analysis
A Geographic Advantages
• Idea that geographers have something to offer that
others do not.
• Hanson's formulation relates closely to what we have
called thinking geographically, drawing on knowledge
about place, space and environment and encouraging
relational thinking
Geographical literacy and literacy in Geography
Geographical Literacy
• Geographical literacy refers to the ability to build and apply
geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to explore, discuss,
analyse and communicate geographical information, concepts and
ideas in a variety of ways.
Literacy in Geography
• Literacy in geography involves students developing their reading and
viewing, writing and creating, and speaking and listening skills. They
use this to explore, interpret and evaluate geographical phenomena
and issues, and communicate their ideas geographically. It also
involves students working with a variety of print, oral, visual and
digital texts to gather, synthesise and analyse information, and
present and justify ideas, conclusions and opinions across a broad
range of geographical contexts.
Understand and Communicate geographic ideas
effectively
To understand and communicate geographical
ideas effectively, students need to acquire:
• geographical language
• visual literacy skills
• spatial literacy skills
Geographical Language
• Languages have vocabulary (the terms) and grammar (the rules,
concepts and procedures for the construction of meaning). The
geographical language is a unique way of thinking about the world.
• Learning a geographical language is as much about learning the
meaning of words used by geographers as it is about learning the
geographical lenses through which the world is viewed.
• For instance, the word 'relief' in everyday language refers to the
alleviation of pain or need. However, in geography, 'relief' refers to
the height or slope of the land, and often requires students to be able
to read and interpret contour lines on a map.
Geographical Language (continue)
• Understanding geographical language also means that students
understand how language is used and modified for specific purposes,
and question attitudes and assumptions embedded in texts.
Visual Literacy Skills
• Maps are a key text used by geographers (Butler, 2014), but other
visual modes like photographs, moving images, graphs and cartoons
also feature heavily in geographical texts. Geography students also
need to develop visual literacy skills as they make meaning of
information communicated through various visual modes.
• Importantly, since space is a key concept in geography, geography
students also need to develop spatial literacy skills, which includes
the understanding of spatial relationships and awareness of how
geographical space is represented, and analysing issues and
developing solutions within a spatial framework.
Visual Literacy Skills
The literacy demands of Geography draw on the inquiry skills
embedded in the critical and creative thinking capabilities. Students
develop their disciplinary knowledge by
• investigating geographical questions through reading, viewing, writing
• speaking about and listening to a variety of texts
• collecting data and constructing their own texts in Geography.
Spatial Literacy Skills
The Geographical Concepts and Skills strand emphasises the subject-
specific nature of language and literacy requirements as part of a
geographical approach. Within Geography, students draw on literate
practices of reading and viewing, writing, and speaking and listening to:

1. collect and record relevant geographical data and information

2. select and represent data and information in different forms,
including by constructing appropriate maps
3. analyse maps and other geographical data and information to
develop identifications, descriptions, explanations and conclusions
that use geographical terminology
Thank You