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Research on geographical education

a b c
Jan Ketil Rød , Per Jarle Sætre & Michael Jones
a
Department of Geography , Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) ,
NO-7491 , Trondheim , Norway
b
Sogn og Fjordane University College , P.O. Box 133, NO-6851 , Sogndal , Norway
c
Department of Geography , Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) ,
NO-7491 , Trondheim , Norway
Published online: 26 Jun 2013.

To cite this article: Jan Ketil Rød , Per Jarle Sætre & Michael Jones (2013) Research on geographical education, Norsk
Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography, 67:3, 117-119, DOI: 10.1080/00291951.2013.796569

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Vol. 67, No. 3, 117
119, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2013.796569
EDITORIAL
Research on geographical education
This issue of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift
Norwegian Journal
of Geography is dedicated to research on geographical
education. ‘Geographical education’ is probably the most
used term in English, although several of the contributing
articles use the term ‘didactics’. The term didactics has a
long history in European philosophy and can be traced back
to the book Didactica Major written by Czech scholar John
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Amos Comenius in 1632 (Comenius & Keatinge 1967). The
term stems from two Greek words: didaskein, meaning to
learn, teach, illuminate, or demonstrate; and techné, mean-
ing the art of teaching. The word didactics is used in most
European languages. In Norway, the term didaktikk, like the
similar terms in the other Nordic languages and in German,
means thinking in relation to the reasons, selections,
structure, and organizing of education (Sjøberg 2001, 16).
The term didactics is general but can be applied to any
subject. In a teacher training programme, students should
not only know the core subject well, but they should also
know the reason why pupils should learn about it (the ‘why’
question). In addition, they should be able to select and give
priority to what is most important for pupils to learn (the
‘what’ question), as well as to deal with methodological
issues on how the teacher best should design his or her
teaching in order to maximize pupils’ learning outcomes (the
‘how’ question). When such reasoning, selection, structur-
ing, and organization are applied to a particular subject, the
term didactics is made concrete in what is commonly termed
subject didactics, such as the didactics of geography.
The foundations of subject didactics are based on a given
subject’s language and content. As such, subject didactics
makes an important contribution to a given subject by
providing tools that enable the analysis and discussion of the
subject’s status in relation to epistemology, justification, and
presentation (Ongstad 2004). The English understanding of
subject didactics often has a negative connotion, suggesting
instructions from the teacher to the student. Therefore, the
broader term ‘subject education’ is most commonly used in
the English language. However, we find the term education
to be too broad as it includes many different approaches.
Didactics in the German or Nordic meaning of the term is
becoming increasingly used also in texts published in English
(Sjøberg 2001, 16). Our understanding of the didactics of
geography, based on its German and Nordic meaning, is
representative for research carried out in the Nordic
countries and the term is therefore found in several of the
articles published in this issue.
Wallin (1988, 3) assigns two meanings to the term
didactics: didactics is the practical theory of teaching, and
Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift
Norwegian Journal of Geography 2013
it is a field of research. Although the didactics of geography
has been an evolving field of research in the Nordic
countries for c.20 years, it is
in our opinion
not yet a
particularly mature field of research. The didactics of
geography as a research field may still be relatively little
known in the Nordic geographical communities. Therefore,
we find it appropriate to present applications of the didactics
of geography in Nordic countries in this special issue
of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift
Norwegian Journal of
Geography. An invitation was sent to the Nordic university
departments of geography and to the leading scholars of the
didactics of geography in the Nordic countries. We achieved
considerable interest for this special issue and received
initially 17 different abstracts, of which 9, including 1
research note, passed through the whole review process.
The relatively high number of unfinished or rejected papers
may reflect the immature status of Nordic research on the
didactics of geography. Nordic researchers in this field may
not yet have sufficient training in writing or reviewing
scientific texts. Fortunately, there are important exceptions
and these are published in this issue.
The Commission on Geographical Education of the
International Geographical Union defines in its Interna-
tional Charter on Geographical Education (IGU 2009) the
role of educational research as:
Research in Geographical Education focuses on the improvement
of the teaching and learning of geography in primary, secondary,
tertiary, vocational and adult education. It should also contribute
to the more general development of teaching and learning
theories. In order to achieve these ends, it is necessary to pursue
both basic and applied research.
In this issue of the journal we present articles approaching
didactical topics from different angles. The articles cover
topics such as the history of geographical education in
Norway, students’ understanding of geographical knowl-
edge, different learning approaches including fieldwork,
cross-curricular learning, and the use of information and
communications technology (ICT) such as geographical
information systems (GIS), the global positioning system
(GPS), and the Internet. The first four articles are examples
of basic research and the other five applied research. Six
articles have been written by Norwegian scholars, and we
have contributions from each of the other Nordic countries
except, unfortunately, Iceland. The collection of articles
deals with pupils and students of geography at all levels,
from primary school via lower and upper secondary school
to universities.
# 2013 Norwegian Geographical Society
 118 Editorial
The articles show different approaches to the study of the
didactics of geography. To date, very little has been written
about the history of the didactics of geography in Norway,
but in this issue we present two articles on the topic. Per
Jarle Sætre (2013) writes about the beginning of the didactics
of geography in Norway, covering the period from the end of
the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. This
was a period when geography became a mandatory subject
in schools at all levels. A need for better education in
geography arose and consequently some authors of geogra-
phy textbooks wrote about teaching in geography. The
article gives a presentation of geography at different levels
at schools and universities, and documents in particular
Aksel Arstal’s contribution to development of the didactics
of geography in this pioneer period. Elisabeth Eikli (2013)
writes about research in the didactics of geography in a more
recent historical period. She gives an overview and discusses
the development of geographical didactics research in Nor-
way from the 1970s until the present. She elaborates on
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Norwegian school geography and geographical education
and asks whether this is a new research field.
Two articles approach the knowledge and understanding of
geography in schools. Olav Fjær (2013) writes about students’
knowledge and awareness of geography when starting upper
secondary school in Norway. His empirical data consist of
responses to a questionnaire administered to his upper
secondary schools students during their first lesson in
geography. He examines their knowledge of concepts, places,
and causal relationships, and their expectations of the
geography course, and evaluates his findings. From Sweden
we have an article by Lena Molin & Ann Grubbström (2013)
providing an overview of traditions in geography teaching,
current teacher practices, and student achievements. They ask
whether teachers and students are ready for the new middle
school geography syllabus in Sweden. They study the relations
between selective traditions in geography teaching and the
content that geography teachers choose to emphasize in sixth
grade in lower secondary school. They also analyse the
relation between what teachers choose to emphasize and
student achievement.
Three of the articles focus on ICT as a tool in geographi-
cal education. The cautious realism demonstrated in these
articles is encouraging as it is easy to become over-
enthusiastic about the supposed benefits of choosing new
tools or techniques for educational purposes. Ståle Angen
Rye (2013) explores whether the Internet influences adoles-
cents’ ideas regarding societal participation and distant
places. The study is based on adolescents’ Internet searches
for information about tropical rainforests. GIS has become
an important tool in geography and many claim that it is
important for geography students to learn to use GIS. Lena
Møller Madsen & Thomas Theis Nielsen (2013) investigate
whether students learn geography when using GIS. They
have followed students doing practical GIS exercises at two
Danish universities and analysed the type of questions
students asked during the exercise sessions. Jardar Cyvin
(2013) investigates challenges related to the interdisciplinary
use of digital mapping technology in primary and lower
secondary schools. He provides results from an interdisci-
plinary project undertaken with sixth to ninth grade pupils.
NORSK GEOGRAFISK TIDSSKRIFT 67 (2013)
Like Cyvin (2013), Sirpa Tani, Kalle Juuti & Seija
Kairavuori (2013) explore how geography can be integrated
with other studies. However, whereas Cyvin (2013) investi-
gates how four subjects from social studies (including
geography) can be integrated with mathematics, physical
education, and science, Tani et al. (2013) investigate how
geography may be integrated with physics and visual arts.
They analyse students’ essays and discuss the potential and
challenges of integrating geography with these subjects.
Their findings are based on a study of teacher education
students doing project work on the theme space.
The tradition of urban fieldwork is rather weak in
Norwegian primary and secondary schools. Trygve
W. Skavhaug & Hans Petter Andersen (2013) have 15 years
of experience of urban fieldwork and their experiences from
Levanger thus will be valuable for educators planning
similar activities. In their research, they show some key
features of fieldwork in geographical education, and discuss
in what ways ICT can be a useful tool in fieldwork.
This special issue of the journal is also a celebration of
Olav Fjær’s 60th birthday on 20 June 2013. With his many
approaches to geographical education, and his friendly and
including personality, Olav is a leader in the geography of
didactics in Norway. He is well known within Norway and
other Nordic countries due to his active presence at national
and international geography conferences. Olav holds a 50%
position as Associate Professor at the Department of
Geography, Norwegian University of Science and Technol-
ogy (NTNU). In his other 50% position, he works as senior
geography teacher at Malvik upper secondary school
(Malvik videregående skole). When Olav some years ago
was offered a full (100%) position at NTNU, he politely
refused the offer. He wanted to have continuing tuition of
upper secondary school pupils, reflecting his strong commit-
ment to the practice of teaching.
Olav is an organizer of various networks for geography
teachers, he lectures in geography and didactics at the
Department of Geography at NTNU, and has supervised
several master’s theses as well as two PhD theses in the
didactics of geography (Sætre 2009; Andersland 2011). He
has long experience in the didactics of geography at the
Department and has contributed to a number of publica-
tions in the field (e.g. Fjær 2001; 2009; 2010; Rød et al.
2010).
The Department of Geography at NTNU was established
in 1974 and teaching commenced in 1975. Olav Fjær has
been attached in various ways to the department since 1975,
first as an undergraduate student in the first year of teaching
and then a few years later as one of the first group of
students to take their master’s degree in the Department. In
1981 he was appointed as a research assistant on a
historical-geographical research project concerned with
land-tenure and landscape change in island fishing commu-
nities on the outer coast of Central Norway and the
southern part of Northern Norway, financed by the then
Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Huma-
nities (see Fjær 1990 for the project’s concluding report).
Besides his continued research on coastal landscapes, he has
written on landscape and identity (e.g. Fjær forthcoming).
After many years of teaching part-time in the Department,
 NORSK GEOGRAFISK TIDSSKRIFT 67 (2013)
his position was regularized with the establishment of a 50%
position in the didactics of geography in 1994. Olav was
appointed first as a lecturer and from 1998 as an associate
professor. From the end of the 1990s his tasks also included
lecturing in the Programme for Teacher Education at
NTNU. In 2002 a separate master’s degree in the didactics
of geography was established. This five-year study pro-
gramme combines teacher training with regular courses in
physical geography, human geography, and GIS. Olav Fjær
holds responsibility as the programme’s coordinator and has
supervised many of the master’s theses. The Department of
Geography in Trondheim is the only university department
of geography in Norway to have its own master’s degree in
education (Aase 2012, 198
199).
Jan Ketil Rød and Per Jarle Sætre have served as guest
editors of this special issue of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift

Norwegian Journal of Geography, which is dedicated to Olav
Fjær in recognition of his contribution to teaching and
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research in the didactics of geography in Norway.
Jan Ketil Rød, Department of Geography, Norwegian Uni-
versity of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491
Trondheim, Norway. E-mail: jan.rod@svt.ntnu.no
Per Jarle Sætre, Sogn og Fjordane University College,
P.O. Box 133, NO-6851 Sogndal, Norway. E-mail:
per.setre@hisf.no
Michael Jones, Department of Geography, Norwegian Uni-
versity of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491
Trondheim, Norway. E-mail: michael.jones@svt.ntnu.no
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