The Research On The Science Students’ Geography Learning Situation And Improvement Strategies Under New Concepts

The modern society, with its development, requires a constant improvement of national quality. Citizens should have a scientific understanding on the harmonious development among population, ecology, resources, environment and society, gradually establish the concept of sustainable development, and form a healthy and civilized way of living and production. In view of the characteristics of geography, such as regional, spatial, universal, comprehensive, dynamic, living, people and earth-related, it plays an irreplaceable role in improving national quality. In addition, a variety of disasters and accidents took place frequently in recent years, which calls for the application of geographic knowledge. The requirements of the new concept of senior high school geography curriculum as follows:to foster the necessary geographic literacy for future citizens; to meet the needs of different students in their geography learning; to cultivate students’ aspiration for lifelong geography learning; to highlight the attention and research on geographical issues etc. All these bring about a new round of challenges to senior high school geography teachers. The development of modern society requires students not only to demonstrate knowledge in examination but also to make it guide their life practice. Moreover, the task of geography teachers is not only completing the teaching of textbook but also focusing on the overall development of students in map literacy, environmental protection, creative thinking, the ability of knowledge application etc.Geography curriculum can provide modern citizens with basic geographical knowledge; enhance students’ geography learning skills and ability; cultivate students’ geographical perspective and thinking to continuously concern on population, ecology, resources, environment, regional development and other basic issues; promote students to form correct views on relationship between human and the earth and to establish the concept of sustainable development. All those are the functions that other discipline courses do not have. Learning geographic knowledge will enable us to acquire basic geographic knowledge, skills, emotional attitudes and values. Possessing geographical thought will make us analyze and solve problems with a comprehensive, scientific and dynamic vision. Acquiring geographical research methods will enable us to get the ability of analyzing geographical issues and to make it guide our work and life. However, the division of literal arts and science in senior high school lead to that some potential science students tend to learn science rather than literal arts, or even do not attach importance to the further study of geography. For science students, especially after the division, geography is no longer a college entrance examination subject but just a course subject. Because of the heavy burden of the college entrance examination or lack of interests in geography, some science students ignore their geography study, which results in a serious lack of geographic literacy. With the change of the performance evaluation of geography for science classes, some geography teachers neglect the teaching, which lead to poor teaching quality in those classes. Although most science students will eventually pass the geography examination, they neither acquire adequate geography knowledge nor have the ability to analyze or solve geographic problems. Besides, geography has been seen as a minor subject for a long time. Some parents, schools, teachers and students pay little attention to geography teaching and learning, which providing a bad teaching environment for science students, setting a negative example of study, and causing science students’serious lack of geography literacy, such as geographic knowledge, ability, viewpoints, emotion, attitudes etc.The subject research and writing of this dissertation were completed by adopting the methods of questionnaire, documents, interview, observation and data analysis. The information of science students studying geography and teachers teaching science classes was obtained through questionnaire, interview and observation, then analyzing and summarizing that information through data analysis. The method of consulting documents was adopted throughout the writing of this paper.This dissertation summarized and concluded the situation of geography courses and teaching in foreign countries and that in China for science students. It also combined the geography teaching of science students with related theories, for example, pedagogy, effective teaching theory, learning motivation theory, humanistic theory, and the new concept of geography curriculum standards in senior high school. This paper tried to use theories to guide the effective geography teaching of science students, and made intensive analysis on the geography teaching and learning of science students, which are as follows:the geography teaching and learning environment for science students is bad; science students have a cognitive bias in learning aims; some teachers guide students to the misunderstanding of geography useless; geography has long been regarded as a minor subject so that neither students nor teachers lay emphasis on its learning and teaching; the literal arts students and science students are treated differently by teachers etc. On the basis of analyzing the problems, using relevant geography teaching theories, and drawing on teaching experience from predecessors, the author put forward a number of viewpoints and strategies to optimize geography teaching. In this paper, suggestions include changing the geography learning environment and ensuring geography teaching period for science students, transforming teachers’ attitudes and behaviors towards science classes, actively exploring proper geography curriculum contents for science students, selecting appropriate teaching mode etc. The author hopes that the investigation materials and teaching strategies proposed in this dissertation can raise concerns on geography teaching, geography literacy cultivating, and flexible application of geography knowledge of science students. The author also expects that more front-line teachers and experts can write more excellent papers on science students’ geography teaching and come up with better teaching strategies for reference to improve the quality of geography teaching.