EFFECTIVE STEPS TO THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY

1.0 Introduction
The teaching of geography is a challenging, involving, and exciting adventure. A teacher
experiences successes, discouragement, delights and frustrations. But, both students and
teachers can overcome these frustrations, difficulties and disappointments, and thus enjoy
the pleasures of the discipline by taking a keen interest in understanding the subject
matter and apply the knowledge and skills learnt very effectively and adequately.

Therefore, the teacher is expected to be fully prepared and ‘well-baked’ to be able to

handle the content in class and prepare the students in the best way possible, that is, to
say enable the students gain the knowledge and necessary skills in the discipline which
will make tem useful in the community as they participate towards national building and
pursuing a better life filled with happiness and joy. In essence the teaching and learning
of geography does not only take place in the classroom, but in all spheres of life.

1.1 The Teaching Process

Effective teaching in the classroom involves a rigorous process and thus is not as easier
as entering into a dance in a dancing hall for dancing has no formula. In fact, learning to
be an effective teacher is complex – even more difficult than undoing a puzzle, making a
co-web or learning geography. In order to be successful in teaching a lesson in class,
there are general steps, which a teacher needs to understand as one prepares to undertake
the tasks of guiding and directing students in the classroom.

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 Teacher
From previous Instruction To subsequent instruction

Feedback
Determine objective of Evaluate achievement
instruction and instruction

Choose strategies to gain Implement plans in the

objective classroom

Develop unit / lesson

and daily teaching plans
Source: Adopted and modified from Donovan and Gerald [1972).

Step 1:
The teacher is required to articulate very specific objectives that direct the students to
what they should know (concepts), do (skills) and feel (attitudes). Therefore instructional
objectives must be:
(a) Clearly stated,
(b) Be precise,
(c) Achievable, and
(d) Measurable.

Step II
The teacher must determine appropriate strategies for instruction in order to achieve the
stated objectives in Step I above. The teacher ought to be careful and thoughtful in
choosing appropriate pedagogical strategies, i.e. those that befits the lesson or unit or
topic that is being offered in class at that given time.

Step III
The teacher must develop the unit or lesson by studying the relevant content, make notes,
define concepts and be ready for teaching.

Step IV
It is upon the teacher to implement the teaching plans in the classroom. The teacher and
the student must work together to make the learning process a success. Therefore, the
strategy chosen must be one that meets the prevailing circumstances in the classroom and
nature of the topic offered.
Step V

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The teacher has the task of finding out if the objectives articulated for a particular lesson
have been achieved. The teacher therefore has to evaluate his work by assessing the
students' understanding on the topic or lesson. Evaluation is important in providing both
the teacher and the student with a feedback on the performance and achievement of both
the parties involved in the learning process.

These steps are necessary and must be undertaken for geography like any other discipline
of study is concerned primarily with learning of ideas, processes of reasoning and
synthesizing of information that prepares one for a particular task or opportunities in life
and in nation building. Therefore, there is need for the teacher to prepare his students in
all ways of thinking and organizing knowledge in both the social and scientific manner of
reasoning. Geography like any other disciplines taught in schools ought to prepare
students who are organized in their work, way of reasoning (critical thinkers) and
visionary in articulating geographical issues, that is, being creative thinkers.

1.2 Important Processing Skills to Teach

As the teacher thinks about his lesson, it is important to pass on to the students among
other skills, the following:
(a) Comprehension skills, that is, those skills which enable the students to read and
understand complex issues in the discipline and how these knowledge relates to
other disciplines
(b) Document literacy skills such as those students might need to read geographical
charts and tables in order to make a meaningful life, and
(c) Quantitative skills just like those a customer might need to apply in filling out an
order form or in managing a savings or current account with a bank.
There are several other categories of skills including interpersonal, organizational,
communication skills, drawing skills among others that teachers must impart in students.
These skills are necessary in the student's life and therefore the teacher must carefully
think about how to pas these skills to the students in the course of teaching.

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 THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY
In essence, the teaching of geography just like in any other subject taught in schools
ought to be taken seriously and with ultimate concern. At times, the teaching of
geography is never taken seriously as some teachers think that geography does not need a
scientific approach in handling its content. According to Gopsill (1973), any technique
of teaching must be true to the nature of the subject. He further observes that the only
way of discovering what is true to the nature of the subject is by:
(a) Taking a critical philosophical examination of the subject, and
(b) Looking at the assumptions about the subject as implied in the existing
techniques of inquiry into the disciplined.

It is important to observe that those who propose to teach geography in schools or train
geographers in other institutions of higher learning should consider three basic questions,
that is:
(c) What is the nature of their subject in view here?
(d) What aim do they have in view when teaching the discipline? and
(e) How do they set about their job?

In all spheres of life, revolution is not limited only to politics, social systems or science,
but can occur in the field of education as well. Therefore, teachers in general need to
assess and rethink about the following:
(a) Change in philosophical restatements in their disciplines,
(b) Modifications in techniques/strategies of teaching and
(c) Technological needs of a nation.
It is also important that teachers approach their professional practices and responsibilities
with some degree of efficiency which according to Meachan et al (1969) must involve:
(a) Using systematic and logical method that permits a teacher to promote the
greatest possible amount of learning by his students in the shortest time possible,
(b) Using a technique that takes full account of the individuality of each student,
(c) By the teacher providing an atmosphere in which creativity must flourishly, and
(d) The teacher maintaining the highest possible degree of objectivity in observing
his student’s behaviour.

In the modern forms of teaching, and as given in the new 8-4-4 syllabus in the Kenyan
system of education, there is need for teachers to emphasize on knowledge and skills that
give the student operative techniques in their area of specialization. In addition, teachers
must focus on the national goals of education, use technology in their teaching and use of
local examples so as to give the students first-hand information about their environment.
In essence, the teacher has a responsibility to:
(a) Interpret the facts of the content to his learners.
(b) Correlate the life of man with his environment, and
(c) Explain the interaction of human and natural agencies in utilizing the
environment.

However, geography cannot be taught independently without relating it to other subjects.

This is because geography does not exist on it’s own, but it co-exists with other
disciplines.

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As geographers, we can best understand the relationships between geography and other

disciplines taught in schools by using:

(a) a comparative approach in the analysis, and

(b) both a sociological and scientific approaches

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 THE FUNCTIONS AND VALUES OF TEACHING GEOGRAPHY IN SCHOOLS
3.0 Introduction
The teaching of geography in schools is very important and has a lot of implication
towards understanding our environment better than merely training for man-power
development alone. We best understand the contribution of geography to education
through:
(a) The structure of the discipline.
(b) Its unique relationship to other fields of study, and
(c) Its method(s) of approach to existing problems.

3.1 Functions of Geography

Therefore, the aims of teaching geography in schools should be:
(a) To provide useful geographical knowledge and skills which will enable
geographers to keep abreast of times,
(b) For better understanding of our environment and how best we can conserve it,
(c) To contribute towards the general goals of education,
(d) To arouse the imagination of the learners and to awaken his curiosity about the
world around him, and
(e) To develop in the students habitual methods of working and ways of thinking
which are specifically geographical.

Majasan (1971) argues that apart from contributing to the general development of the
student, geography develops the following qualities in the student:
(i) Ability to understand and to explain the common marvels of nature e.g.
sunrise and sunset, the winds, rain, thunder and lightening, earthquakes,
floods and eclipses etc.,
(ii) Have a sound knowledge of their environment,
(iii) Ability to appreciate the problems of other people and to understand why
people are different from one another with various peculiarities in a wide
world,
(iv) Geography makes its students think, i.e. it enables the students to go beyond
the mere acquisition of information to understand the past and to forecast the
future,
(v) With the right emphasis on problem-solving approach in geography, students
develop the critical thinking which urges them to examine all statements in
accordance with reason and logic,
(vi) A good geography teaching can produce students who can think, people who
can react to different situations and make use of acquired knowledge and
skills in an original way, and
(vii) Good geography teaching provides young workers who can contribute to the
growing of the economy of their country.

3.2 Why Teach Geography in Schools?

The school curriculum and the geography syllabus are very clear on what should be
taught in our schools. The teacher is under all obligations to deliver knowledge and skills
as required by these guidelines. Once, the content and skills are carefully taught, then
geography fulfills among other functions:
(i) Used as a vehicle for the child’s development, fostering individual
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 development, self-fulfillment an social equality, that is, just to help the student
acquire the art of using knowledge or learning something new about his
heritage, values and priorities,
(ii) Helps the student to live, place himself in the world, to learn his true position
and what his duties are in making the world a better place to live in,
(iii) It furthers international understanding and gaining of necessary background
knowledge in the geography of other countries,
(iv) Provide knowledge for future citizens to imagine accurately the conditions of
the great world stage and to help them think safely about political, socio-
economic and cultural problems in the world, e.g. the bombing of the world
trade center in New York city on September 11 th 2001, the war between USA
and Iraq, May 2003 among other things;
(v) Geography is taught at present because it exists in the school curriculum;
(vi) To meet the national goals of education to which society subscribes greatly,
i.e. fostering national development; in socio-economic, political and cultural
aspects, and
(vii) Geography is a bridging subject that joins the natural sciences and social
humanities, i.e. geography assists in establishing the relationship between
scientific and humanistic disciplines.
3.3 Values of teaching Geography in Schools
In short, there are several reasons for teaching geography in schools among these,
teachers have:
(i) To stress the need for rethinking that should lead to a major change in our
attitudes towards the teaching of geography as well as the general attitude
towards the subject,
(ii) To stimulate the imagination of students and to involved them in the new
process of learning though concepts, philosophical thinking, modes and
quantification of geographical information; whereby the student basically
gains knowledge about his environment;
(iii) To help students understand how best to organize the subject from other fields
that relate to geography e.g. economic geography, medical geography etc.,
(iv) To groom students for further studies in geography and research work in the
discipline so as to be professionals for career advancement and intellectual
satisfactions. These expenses are facilitated by fieldwork.
(v) Help students to develop a knowledge and understanding of geography as a
scholarly discipline and to establish geography as a science subject among
other disciplines taught in schools; so as to develop a working knowledge of
the basic methodology in understanding of the meaning and utility of the
regional concepts, formal and functional regions.
(vi) To bring school teachers in touch with the growing tip of geographical
information and attempt to involve them in the process that brings change to
the subject continuously;
(vii) Provide a deeper appreciation for the physical biotic and cultural diversity of
our planet, to show the need of human society for survival purposes and how
to work out an acceptable connection with the earth’s resources,
(viii) The teaching of geography brings the students’ aptitude into play through
importing the skills of observation, memorization and reasoning.
(ix) With great creation, geography offers the opportunity of aesthetic experiences.
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 There is fundamental beauty in the great natural phenomena e.g. glaciers,
waterfalls, or volcanoes offer something more than items of intellectual
explanations. There is also emotional experience during adventures.
(x) It infuses a seeing eye’ to the students who become travelers, i.e. the eyes that
can give students the opportunity to enjoy leisure, read symbols on
typography, hills, ridges, mountains, rivers etc. The students who have
studied geography can get more satisfaction and enjoyment from their ability
to visualize accurately the conditions in many places in the earths surface with
which they come in contact with through reading novels, journals, magazines.

However, there are three obvious questions that geography teachers ought to ask
themselves as they handle the disciplines and these include:
(i) As teachers, are we relating our lessons to the current problems as understood
in the society?
(ii) Are we applying fresh thinking to fresh problems? and
(iii) Do our approaches to the subject encourage critical thinking and sober
reflections?
Indeed, these questions require deep thoughts, self-examination and co-operative
research, if one is to be successful in the teaching of subject.

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 METHODS USED IN THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY

4.0 Introduction
In the teaching of geography as a discipline, there is no one recommended
strategy/method and techniques of handling a topic in the classroom. The teacher has a
responsibility of choosing a strategy/technique that best fits a particular lesson/unit or
topic. This chapter explores the various methods of teaching employed in our schools
today.

There are basically tow approaches commonly used in the teaching of geography in our
schools today that is,
(a) Traditional approach, which is purely expository and
(b) Empirical or scientific approach as based on experimentation.

4.1 Traditional/Expository Approach

Traditional/expository approach is the more traditional form of teaching which involves
the lecture method which can be highly structured (formal method and/or informal
method that which involves demonstrations, informal lectures, and class participation by
students, use of textbooks for reference in class, asking questions and answering
questions in class, use of diagrams and sketch maps, wall maps and atlases in class, use
of guest speakers and community resources. In this situation, students are passive
learners and the teacher is in control of the lessons.

4.2 Empirical/Scientific Approach

Empirical/scientific approach is amore modern of teaching commonly referred to as
Heuristic approach, that is, one where the student is actively involved in the learning
process and the teacher is, passive, in other words, the teacher only facilitates learning.
The questions that are commonly asked in regard to the strategies used in teaching
geography include:
(a) What methods do teachers use in the classroom?
(b) Are teachers creative in using any one of these teaching methods?
(c) What resources do teachers use in the classroom? and
(d) What have teachers done in giving the discipline a scientific approach?

4.3 Activity
Given the table below fill in the columns the required details to justify whether you are
using traditional approach or scientific approach in your teaching.

Traditional Scientific Comments

Resources 1. Printed materials,
books, journals, maps,
sketches.
2. Audio-visual resources:
radio, TVs, transparencies
etc
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 3. Use of computers and
computer assisted
programs
Method 1. Lecture.
2.Demostration or
experimentation.
3. Historical
4. Answering and
questioning method
5. Supervised studies
6. Discovery method

Other 1. Guest speakers

2. Realia
3.Community resources

It is apparent that numerous methods are available to teachers, and they are free to select
from the range of methods available. However, in modern teaching, there is more
emphasis put in the use of more scientific approaches to teaching so as to give geography
a scientific look among other sciences such as Biology, Physics and Chemistry. In
essence, teachers should not be letting their students retell the subjects matter of the day’s
lesson, but rather must discuss content with them and examine to what extent the students
have grasped the content covered, that is, the use of heuristic approach in the teaching of
geography is highly recommended.

In essence, teachers should discuss chiefly the contents of the lesson, try to solve some
problems that may arise out of the discussions and highlight essential geographical issues
arising from the lecture in order to get feedback from the students. Essentially, it is
important to use work-books and teamwork assignment, i.e. give individual active
projects on which to work on, but never give detailed guidelines that might provide
answers or give clues. In order to train students well, text students using written
examination, give group projects, teamwork assignments, individual projects and
facilitate fieldtrips. Whenever necessary teachers should ask students to work in the
geography room or library for this is where the geographer's tools as those of other
scientists are found. It is also important to use scientific methods of questioning and
answering, i.e. questions involving investigations, analysis, synthesis and induction of
general ideas among other approaches should be used in class.
Experts in the field of geography are designing new approaches to the subject proposing
far-reading change both in the content and in the teaching of the subject. But to be
successful as a geography teacher, there is need to:
(a) Use a separate classroom for geography i.e. a geography room or resource room
that is equipped well with the tools of a geographer.
(b) Have a collection of resources used in the teaching of geography including
maps, atlases, photographs and pictures, models, specimen etc. in the
geography room or laboratory.
(c) Be more creative and resilient in choosing and utilizing whichever learning
resources are available for the benefit of the learners,
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 (d) Engage students in the learning process and let them participate where
necessary in choosing materials for learning a particular topic or in identifying
resources for the geography room e.g. collection of pictures, clippings,
documentaries, specimen etc and
(e) Be more acquitted to the local studies and field tours .

If the discipline is properly taught, students are normally interested in philosophical

issues such as truth, fairness and personal identify. In essence, students can and should
learn to think for themselves and at the same time be able to:

(a) Explore alternatives to their own viewpoints, and

(b) Consider evidence to make distinction and draw conclusions. Therefore, teachers
should avoid spoon-feeding students and instead train them to be creative thinkers
in the discipline.

4.4 Students activities as they related to strategies of teaching:

The following are the likely student activities the teacher can engage his students in
during a lesson.
Table 4.2
Method used Type of activities Type of strategy
1. Lecture method - Verbal communication
- Formal or informal - Note-taking.
lectures - Answering/asking
- Traditional or questions.
empirical approach
2.Demonstration or - Performing experiment
experimentation action.
- Is used by the teacher to - Manipulating working tools.
guide learners on how to - To show skills acquired.
achieve given - Verbal explanations.
educational goals - Watching a demonstration
through demonstration - Listening
- Teacher user diagrams, - Note-taking.
apparatus, specimen, - Answering/asking questions
models etc. etc.
- Teacher outlines
procedures
systematically and then
allows learners to
participate through
performing the
experiment.

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3. Historical methods - -narration , explanation
- Invite guest speakers to (cognitive knowledge)
give historical accounts or - evaluative technique.
facts in their specialties - Answering and asking
e.g. politicians, authorities questions.
in the topic or unit - Reading skills.
covered - Note-taking.
- Story telling – to reflect
on the past and forecast

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 the failure.
4. Discussions, answering - Problem leading/question
and asking questions probing.
- Problem-solving approach - Asking and answering
where the teacher poses a questions.
problem and students - Questions, classifying,
have to share their comparing facts/issues,
thoughts. - Giving reasons, applying
- Teacher gives clues, knowledge and
directions and guides - Drawing of conclusions.
discussion.
- Solves some questions on
the blackboard.
5. Assignment and - Preparing assignments for
supervised study individuals
- Teacher guides - Group work
assignments, - Studying resources – paper,
- Guidelines and pencil, solving problems in
supervises the fieldwork writing
assignment - Performing experiments.
6. Discovery approach - Providing resources.
- Student-oriented - Projects.
- Teacher only plays - Group discussions.
minimal role as the - Workshops.
student undertakes the - Performing experiments.
studies. - Seminars
- Student consults with - Role playing
the teacher. - Dramatizing.
7. Note-taking - Writing notes from
- Teacher introduces textbooks, blackboard
lesson. dictation,
- Refers to chapter, pages - Observation of specimen,
of units in the textbooks models.
from where students - Reading textbooks or atlases
make notes. - Group discussion etc.
- Writes notes on the - Studying in the library.
blackboard.
- Uses models, realia or
specimens and students
have to make notes as
they discuss amongst
themselves.
Supervises students read
sections of textbooks, maps,
atlases as they make notes.
- Use reference books in

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 the library.

In conclusion teachers should use:

(a) A holistic approach in teaching and not a piecemeal approach for a holistic
approach will give students a complete picture of content covered,
(b) Critical thinking approach based on the students total (intelligence) intellectual
functioning not a set of defined skills, and
(c) Discussion approach, that is, students should be continually challenged to develop
an inquiry attitude and a critical frame of the mind.

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