THE NEW GEOGRAPHY

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The New Courses of Study prescribed in 1999 require teachers to develop students' competency in problem-solving, through the appropriate methods of teaching and evaluation. In developing students' problem-solving skills, what are favorable backgrounds of the teachers?
In order to investigate the upper secondary school Geography teachers' perception and practice of teaching and evaluation of problem-solving skills, the author and associate professor Hirakawa, Y. conducted a survey with a questionnaire in 2000, March.
This paper attempts to identify, on the basis of the analysis of the data of the survey, what kinds of backgrounds are more positive for teachers in students' problem-solving skills development. Data analysis was made in terms of teachers' backgrounds: (1) Alliance of academic society (member of the Association of Japanese Geographers/Japanese Association of Professional Geographers or not), (2) Faculty/course of undergraduate study (faculty/course pertaining to teacher education or not), (3) Major in graduation (majored in Geography or not), and (4) Highest level of educational attainment (graduate or postgraduate).
As a result, in general, differences among teachers in terms of their backgrounds are limited. As one channel of in-service teacher education, alliance of academic society is, however, found to be the most influential background with significant differences in 18 items out of 74. Teachers who belong to the academic societies have more positive concern towards teaching and evaluating problem-solving skills than teachers who do not. This can be interpreted that through the research activities of academic societies teachers develop problem-solving skills by themselves, and this may make them conscious and active in teaching and evaluating their students' problem-solving skills.
On the other hand, backgrounds pertaining to pre-service teacher education are less influential, especially regarding the type of faculty of undergraduate study. The result supports the principle of open system of pre-service teacher education.

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In Japan, many studies have been conducted on Social Studies Education in U. S., but little is known about the studies on Geography Education in U. S. The year 1783 marked the end of the American Revolution, the citizens of the United States would need to be educated in the values necessary for national cohesion. Davidson, R. published a geography book in 1784. Davidson's Geography Epitomized was “world tour” in rhyme. Brown identified Morse, J as the “father of American geography”. Morse's Geography made easy presented the geography of the United States. According to Morse, the geography of Europe and of Asia was well-known by Americans, while they were ignorant of accurate accounts of their own new republic. Jefferson's geography of Virginia added to the intellectual respectability of geography in U. S.

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