Development Of Geography As An Academic Discipline

Development Of geographics As An donnish DisciplineIn this essay I will be facial expression at the development of geographics as an academician discipline, and then I will be discussing the role that opening has had in the development of geographics. I will look for past events and influences, to see how they have affected geography as an idiographic motif and switchd the surmount into a spatial science and effectively into a core academic discipline.The discipline of geography is among the most(prenominal) ancient of sciences. Geography can be traced back to Eratosthenes, a Greek scholar who lived around 276-196 B.C and who is often called the father of geography. Alexander Von Humboldt was a German geographer from 1769-1859, commonly known as the father of modern geography. As hearty as Humboldt, Carl Ritter is as well considered as one of the founders of modern geography. Both Humboldt and Ritter share similar views. The naturalist Charles Darwin wrote a book cal led the Origin of the Species by direction of Natural Selection in 1859. It proved an inspiration to many geographers, who power saw in Darwins idea of natural selection the possibility of a customary scheme of man-land relationships so man needed to adopt modes of living which were amenable with the environment in which he lived (Graves, 1975)Geography branched come out of the closet as a young light and the thought process was now in place. Yet Darwin never claimed to be a geographer, with his main c erstntration universe botany. Humboldt and Carl Ritter then co-founded a geographical hostelry in Germany in 1874, speech together Humboldts principle of a systematic accession and Ritters regional approach which were light upon methods of geography at this season. Regional geography is the study of world regions. It looks at tonality characteristics and how one place is specific and unique compared to anformer(a).another(prenominal) German geography, Freidrich Ratzel wa s the offshoot person to consumption the term Lebensraum, which was used by Adolf Hitler. One of Ratzels students Ellen Semple studied under Ratzel and was heavily influenced by his ideas, publishing Influences of geographic Environment in 1911. Another one of Ratzels students, Ellsworth Huntington also applied Ratzels hypothesis of regional geography to the reasoning behind the rise and fall of civilisation. disrespect being one of the oldest disciplines, in todays society, geography struggles to define itself as an academic subject. Over the past few decades, geography has had to forge its way to stay as a fundamental scientific subject.In the early nineteenth century, many geography scholars believed that environment had a key role on the living marvels. The theory of Environmental Determinism the view that the physical environment sets limits on military man environment was being questioned due to claims of its lack in the keen relevance and faults in its descriptions o f certain locations. This led on to the theory of environmental possibilism. Possibilism states that the environment does have an effect on society, however it is not settled and humans can heavily influence the environment around them. By the 1950s environmental determinism was virtually history and environmental possibilism had now taken over as central theory.The first few steps forward-moving for geography were the opening of the first geographical institutions, such as the boldness of the first institution by Humboldt and Ritter in Germany in 1874, The National Geographic confederacy in 1888 and also the Royal geographic Society, founded in 1830 in Britain. The Royal Geographical Society is an institution to encourage the progression of geographical science. The Society also devoted much of its energy to breeding, and was responsible for some(prenominal) the incorporation of the study of geography in schools at the turn of the twentieth century, and for the first univers ity positions in the discipline. (Royal Geographical Society website.) The Society is the largest Geographical Society in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It supports and promotes geographical search, field training, education and direction. These associations were the grounding for geography to start to grow and develop as the funded key and essential research. They also promoted geography in schools and universities, leading to the first university lector appointed in 1888. In 1919, Geography was the found as a Bachelor of Arts degree, and Cambridge University appointed its first professor in 1933, which was a great step forward for geography being such an influential place of accomplishment. This appointment acted as a catalyst, and after this, many other universities started to follow suit.By the 1930s Britain had 44 University geography departments. However, at that place was a slump in the early 1940s when geography hit crisis point. Geography departments star ted to deteriorate as geography as an academic topic struggled to dead end as a basic University subject. geography as a subject is frequently misunderstood by the non-geographers (Graves, 1975) This meant that other discipline professors and educators questioned the importance of geography. During the eighteenth century, geography began to be taught in certain institutions of higher learning, though the capacity of what was being taught varied immensely in quality. (Graves, 1975) This was followed by Harvard University abolishing geography as a subject in 1948. Being such an important and operative place of learning, this eradication had an adverse impact on the way geography was viewed. It lost its place as a highly regarded subject, and was starting to be regarded as overly descriptive with no relevance to science, the Greeks named it as a description of the earth.It was at this point that questions were raised about the importance of geography and whether it answers the whys? and hows?. At this time, geography had no documented split between the human and physical side. Also, geography in academic institutions straddled the arts and the sciences. This made it hard-fought for geography to have a true factual definition. Society started to delight in whether it sat as a science or a globe subject. These questions and queries made it increasingly difficult for geography to have a keen platform on which to grow. Essentially, the subject needed to be defined, and this would entail more detailed research.With more advanced research, geography started to branch out with the variation of both physical and human geography into contemporary geographies. Henderson (1968) the adjectival geography agriculture geography, urban geography, social geography, settlement geography and so on. These numerous modern geographies started to gravel it easier to for geography to be defined. At move there were specialised areas that focused on one particular area of geogr aphy. twin to this trend towards specialization, there developed a tendency to use valued techniques of analysis. (Graves, 1975)The importance for technology to develop in society had increased massively by the end of World War II, which meant there was a suspension for geography to grow. This gap led to the quantitative revolution, which was one of the major go points of modern geography. This revolution began in the 1950s, and marked a swift transpose in the method behind geographical research make geography into a spatial science and shifting from an idiographic subject to an a posteriori law making one. It made laws that applied to large groups of people and individuals, and established broad generalisations.It was a turning point, and geography started to grasp attention once again. It brought to light new determinism models and mathematical equations to answer hypotheses that could be used in teaching, and helped to define geography, making it able to answer the more l ogical questions and suffice in more depth. Geography could again stand as a strong scientific discipline in schools and universities. The subject started gaining popularity again and Universities began to gain the value of geographic study and training this provided more classes and degree opportunities.The use of fieldwork started to be used in schools in the 1950s, as a key method of teaching. Fieldwork is an effective teaching method in geography is an synergetic fun way for people to learn and experience what they are learning at first hand. It is an important method of learning as fieldwork teaches things that cannot be taught or learned in class. However, disappointingly the focus on fieldwork started to wear out as it is not promoted in educational institutions because of factors such as time to cover comprehensive curricula, financial constraints, legal issues and commitment by educators. Factors such as these had the effect that the inclusion of fieldwork declined i n some schools however, with the help of livelihood fieldwork is still a very important and prominent part of teaching geography whenever possible.Geography is unique in that it is not artificial. It is not something that standard writers had composed for students to study. Geography is alive, and something that is relevant and we use in our daily lives. Fieldwork started to make a real impact in higher education in 1985. It gave people transferrable skills, including Project design, organisational skills, leadership skills, group skills and student participation.(Royal Geographical Society website) This is why fieldwork is vital, it helps pupils understand and picture the subject for them. Fieldwork also commit research and findings into practise. In undertaking field work, students are effectively carrying out innovative research over and above what could be achieved in a classroom.The president of the American Geographical Society, Jerome E. Dobson, president of the American G eographical Society argues that geographic tools allow for scientific advancement and therefore geography deserves a place among the fundamental sciences, but more importantly more of a role in education. most academics in the United States considered geography a marginal discipline (Jill Freund Thomas) In May 1993, Roger Down worked towards making research in geography education to be an integral part of work. In his own words, The need for research in geography education it would be nice to have some data. (Downs, 1994b57). In the UK, The Geography Education enquiry Collective is dedicated to the promotion of geography education through research and publication. (http//www.geography.org.uk/gtip/gereco/) 13 teachers come together every four years with the resolving of creating research in geography education. It is a UK based association and was first set up in 1893. The field of geography education is deplorably lacking in empirical data that might inform and plump for decisio ns about standard setting, curriculum design, materials development, teaching strategies, and assessment procedures. Large quantities of high-quality data are necessary if geography is to be successfully implemented in the education system We need a new attitude towards researchIn conclusion I believe that geography will wrap up to grow and develop with the discoveries of new modern geographies due to the enormous tally of scientific research that is now able to be undertaken. The development of new technologies has helped geography turn into an academic discipline as it supports research making research easier to carry out, and getting results which are far more precise.In the future technology will come up to advance and thus lapse to be included and promoted in school curriculums. the most important change which has occurred is the realization that any progress in arrangement phenomena studied by geographers involves the conscious use of scientific methods and the developmen t of a body of theory to explain such phenomena. (Graves, 1975) With advanced technologies, wider geographical research will also be capable and new discoveries will be made.The role of theory in the development of geography in education is very probatory as it is the basis of learning and has helped geography thrive over the last couple of centuries. For, if a theory is to be developed, then some understanding of the nature of theory and of the process of theory building was required. (Graves, 1975) Today geography continues to flourish and expand in education. Nowadays, increasing numbers of students chose to study this subject at university, so the trend is set for the popularity and importance of this discipline to continue to go from strength to strength in the future.