free download - European Association of Geographers

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Exploring human Geography – bilingual approach

Toruń 2011 3

Editors Przemysław Charzyński, Nicolaus Copernicus University Karl Donert, Liverpool Hope University Zbigniew Podgórski, Nicolaus Copernicus University Executive redactor Marcin Stark Graphical composition Adam Pawłowski Cover design Sebastian Tyszkowski

Copyright by Association of Polish Adult Educators in Toruń 2011 ISBN 978-83-7352-194-0 First edition Published by Association of Polish Adult Educators in Toruń ul. PCK 9/2, 87-100 Toruń, Poland tel./fax +48 56 622 52 71, +48 56 622 43 09 e-mail: [email protected] www.sop.torun.pl Printed by Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK ul. Gagarina 5, 87-100 Toruń, Poland e-mail: [email protected] www. wydawnictwoumk.pl

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Contents ABOUT THE EDITORS ................................................................................................ 7 ABOUT THE WORKSHOP LEADER ........................................................................ 9 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 11 James Hindson Fieldwork in urban areas .............................................................................................13 Kevin Alexander Salvage Bilingual teaching and fieldwork in I.E.S Cantabria secondary school ...............22 Martijn Kaal Human Geography in Amsterdam ............................................................................29 Iwona Tumidajewicz New urbanism in the U.S. Planning healthier cities and retrofitting suburbia ..........................................................................................................................42 Adam Popielewski Toruń waterfront – feasibility study of the regeneration process.......................... 51 Sebastian Tyszkowski GIS and other visual data sources for schools ..........................................................54 Małgorzata Byca Differences in perception of Warsaw city centre among the students of the Meridian International School ........................................................................58 Anna Krzemińska-Kaczyńska Exploring American Schools TEA Program ............................................................63 Magdalena Ratajczak-Szczerba, Martyna Olkowska Knowledge and practical skills taught by Geography IB Diploma Programme and Secondary School Geography Polish Programme ....................88

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Magdalena Ratajczak-Szczerba Geography in secondary schools IB syllabus vs National (old and new) syllabus – a comparative study .................................................................................100 Iwona Piotrowska Fieldwork projects in bilingual Geography teaching – orientation in geographical space ................................................................................................. 115 Iwona Piotrowska Effect of a river valley in a town on its spatial development. The case of Poznan ......................................................................................................................126 Małgorzata Cichoń Valuation of contemporary urban space by youth. The Poznan case study ......135 Aleksandra Zaparucha London 2012 Games: East End urban regeneration scheme – workshop materials .......................................................................................................................143

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ABOUT THE EDITORS

Przemysław Charzyński is an assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Geography of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. He is also a Secretary of Geographical Olympiad Committee in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. He is coordinator of the Erasmus IP project Expanding Horizons in European Geography Teaching: https://moodle.umk.pl/EXHEGET/. Karl Donert is President of EUROGEO, a UK National Teaching Fellow and higher education consultant. He is an associate of the Centre of Excellent digital-earth.eu and was coordinator of the HERODOT thematic network for Geography in higher education in Europe. Zbigniew Podgórski is Director of Institute of Geography of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. He is also Vice President of the Main Board of Polish Geographical Society and Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee of the Geographical Olympiad in Poland.

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ABOUT THE WORKSHOP LEADER James Hindson trained as a Geography teacher and then taught the subject for nearly ten years to students aged 11-18 before joining an environmental education non governmental organisation, Field Studies Council (FSC). The FSC runs a network of eighteen environmental education centres across the UK and each year around 100,000 students experience FSC courses. James was responsible for curriculum development, training FSC teachers and the development of resources before moving on to create an international training unit within the FSC where he managed courses with partners in more than twenty countries. James left the FSC in 2008 to establish his own education for sustainable development training organisation, “Sense & Sustainability”.

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INTRODUCTION It must be admitted that many Geography Teachers are far happier doing physical geography field work rather than looking at human geography related issues. It is often especially the case that fieldwork in urban areas comes right at the bottom of the list. The purpose of this book is to readdress this balance and encourage geography teachers to enable and encourage their students to examine issues in urban environments. After all, studying uban areas should be especially important and relevant to the students we teach as most of them will likely end up living and working in a city somewhere in the world. Surely, their geography experience at school should equip them to understand how their urban environment works and ways it can be improved. Recent research has also suggested that better designed urban areas are one of the keys to humanity living more sustianble lives in the future. Cities, we are told, can be truly sustainable places to live in if designed properly. Geographers, with the range of relevant and applicable skills that we have at our disposal are in the forefront of some of this thinking and through first hand and critically focused experience, out students should be presented with these challenging investigative opportunities. We hope that this book will help! The articles in this collection all came from a Conference for Geography Teachers held in Torun in 2010 organised and hosted by Association of Polish Adult Educators, and they fall into three different categories. Several articles focus on the importance of fieldwork in the geography curriculum. James Hindson starts by examining some of the general approaches to urban fieldwork, encouraging teachers to focus on an issues-based approach. Kevin Salvage looks at the integration of fieldwork into bilingual teaching in Spain and Iwona Piotrowska considers fieldwork projects in bilingual Geography teaching generally. Then there are a group of articles that look at specific fieldwork activities in urban areas: Małgorzata Cichoń and Małgorzata Byca both look at the perception of urban areas by students (Poznań and Warsaw) whilst Martijn Kaal reviews fieldwork activities in Amsterdam comparing social areas. Iwona Tumidajewicz examines how students can investigate healthy cities and suburbia from a US perspective and Adam Popielewski gives ideas for replanning the Toruń waterfront.

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A third group of articles consider urban fieldwork teachniques and the issues related to the geography curriculum. Sebastian Tyszkowski looks at GIS and other visual data sources for schools; Anna Krzemińska-Kaczyńska explores the American Schools TEA Programme and articles by Magdalena Ratajczak-Szczerba and Martyna Olkowska consider knowledge and practical skills taught through Geography IB Diploma Programme and Secondary School Geography Curriculum. The book also includes a set of materials on London 2012 prepared by Aleksandra Zaparucha. It can be used as a stimulus for discussing an urban rejuvenation project connected with the Olympic Games in London, but also as a springboard to look closer at the venues under construction for European Football Cup to be held in Poland and Ukraine in the same year. All the articles are stimulating and well worth reading. They are neither long nor academic and in case traditional physical geographers feel left out – there is one article just for them! Iwona Piotrowska has written about the effect of a river valley in a town on its spatial development in Poznań! James Hindson

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Fieldwork in urban areas James Hindson Sense & Sustainability Shrewsbury, United Kingdom [email protected], [email protected]

This article covers two topics: how to organise the process of doing geographical fieldwork in urban areas, and some of the techniques of urban fieldwork. Urban fieldwork by the way should probably be more properly called, fieldwork in settlements. Some of the fieldwork ideas below can only be done in larger towns, but many of the ideas can also be adapted for work in villages! It is strange how often geography teachers fall into two traps related to fieldwork in urban areas. The first is that they don’t do it! Fieldwork in the minds of many geography teachers is really a physical geography activity. Young people should be getting their feet and hands dirty, measuring the parameters of rivers, climbing mountains to see glaciated scenery at first hand, working out the direction of long shore drift and planning coastal defences, or calculating the biomass of a woodland. Unless something like this is happening then it’s not fieldwork. Of course there is nothing wrong with physical geography fieldwork but it is a pity if this is all that happens. Opportunities are being wasted for first-hand experience. Much physical geography fieldwork is more difficult to organise and plan than human geography activities. You usually need some equipment, and often have to travel some distance to reach a particular physical geography environment. It often takes a day or more. Compare this to human geography work where all you need is a clip board and some paper and to walk out of the front door of the school and there you are! A lot can be done in just one lesson! The second trap is that if a teacher does brave urban fieldwork is relatively it is often of the “look/see” variety. Students follow their teacher around an urban area in a guided tour fashion, stopping at particular places to be told what is happening here, and what the problems are there. Again, there is nothing wrong with look-see fieldwork in it’s place, but opportunities more exciting out of classroom experiences are being wasted.

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So the hidden, or not so hidden, purpose of this article is to encourage geography teachers to do more student centred and issues focused fieldwork in urban areas. The process of fieldwork There are different ways of approaching any fieldwork and human geography fieldwork is no different. Any good school fieldwork programme will have a balance of these different experiences for young people and in using the different approaches ensure that they are fit for purpose. The first method, and one which teachers are probably most familiar with is the scientific or deductive method where students start off with a hypothesis that wish to test, collect data related to the topic, analyse and present this data and then confirm, or not, the hypothesis. An example of this style of fieldwork is described in the Box 1. This is a fairly traditional approach to fieldwork but can also be used to encourage students to look at issues and come up with solutions to key urban challenges if approached imaginatively. A good example is in Box 2. One of the dangers of this kind of fieldwork however, is that the hypotheses to test are uninteresting or so self evident that they don’t challenge students thinking at all. The examples in Box 3 have all appeared in students work submitted for different fieldwork based assessments in the UK. Box 1 A typical scientific approach piece of fieldwork

Hypothesis Data Collection Data Analysis Confirmation (or not) of the hypothesis Box 2 The Scientific approach and urban issues A typical scientific approach might focus on traffic. A hypothesis might be “There is more traffic congestion between 8-10am than at other times of day”. Now whilst

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this might seem self evident and maybe not that interesting, collecting traffic data could lead to an issues based study on making an area of a city for pedestrians only (where would the cars go if a street was shut?), or developing a better transport system for the town (should the town have a congestion charge system to reduce traffic?), or planning new bus routes (where should a new bus route be planned?). Issues can give traditional fieldwork a focus – and for the pupils living in urban areas, a relevant one. Box 3 Some poor hypotheses These are not really expressed as proper hypotheses but students find this difficult to do. For example, the first hypothesis should read “There is no difference between the traffic on main roads and side roads” for it to be a proper hypothesis. ▶ Main roads have more traffic than side roads. ▶ Bigger towns have more shops than smaller towns. ▶ People travel further to big supermarkets than small corner shops. ▶ There are more pedestrians on the main shopping street than on the edge of the CBD. and so on! A second method, less popular, at least amongst many geography teachers, is the issues enquiry approach. This often differs from traditional scientific fieldwork in two respects. Firstly, it is more inductive and secondly, it focuses on a relevant and interesting issue. This approach is the main focus of this article and so is described in more details below. A third method is the traditional look see approach, and it is reasonable to say that both the scientific and enquiry methods should really have some element of look-see in them. It is really important for students to have a sense of place when they are doing fieldwork. They are not just researching the structure of the central business district of any old town, they are researching the structure of the CBD in Torun, or Lublin or Gdansk – a particular place with specific characteristics. Good look see fieldwork can be used to set place context well. Urban fieldwork in Torun for example, without a mention of it’s history no matter what topic is being investigated is missing something! Of course, which approach you might take depends very much on the programme of study that you are following and the opportunities that this programme affords. In some circumstances, doing any fieldwork is quite a challenge, whereas other programmes such as the IB, require students to do a fieldwork investigation.

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The issues enquiry approach in more detail It is helpful to structure this approach to fieldwork around different stages. STAGE 1 Identifying the Issue Depending on the purpose of the fieldwork, there is huge value in allowing students to identify their own issues to investigate. This can either be completely open ended or focused on a specific topic in the programme of study. For example if students have to examine the topic of waste and recycling they can identify keys issues through: ▶ an analysis of local newspaper or other media coverage on the topic – this is quite easy to do, ▶ questionnaires with local stakeholders – this takes more time, ▶ observation by the students on a quick “brainstorm” fieldwork activity. This last approach is often a useful one as it gives students an initial first hand experience of a topic. They could combine it with a short questionnaire as well – or simply a very open-ended approach asking people what they think of the topic. Assuming that the fieldwork will be undertaken close to the school one way of structuring the observation is to send the students out in groups following a transect and walk no more than say 500 metres from the school building in a particular direction. To help them focus their observations ask them to brainstorm questions related to the topic using the NEWS approach. This requires students to identify questions to do with the natural environment, economic issues, social challenges, and “who decides” or political aspects. This approach encourage students to ask questions related to all aspects of an issue and also enables focus on sustainable issues. Box four has examples of the different questions that could be asked about the topic of waste and recycling for example. Box 4 Some NEWS questions related to waste. N when this is thrown away what is the impact on soil – how easily does this material degrade – can it be composted? E how much does it cost to dispose of this waste – who pays for disposal – how much – how is it organised (is it privately collected or by the municipality) W who makes the waste disposal policy – what is the role of local versus national policy – who would have to decided whether to incinerate waste S how much waste does each household produce – are people educated about recycling – what systems are used to encourage recycling – why don’t people use them?

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After the issues associated with a topic have been identified the students should be asked to frame a question to investigate. STAGE 2 Deciding what data to collect Imagine the question “Does the centre of our town need more litter bins” – what data would students need to collect to answer this question – and how would they set about collecting it? To answer the first question, it would be useful for them to draw a mind map to ensure that they had covered all the key questions and issues needed to answer the questions and then for each set of data that needs to be collected they need to decide how to get the information needed and how to organise this process. Some ideas related to the litter bin question are given in Box 5. One hint for a successful mind map is to make sure that the students ask enough questions and collect enough data to seriously answer the question they have set themselves. With the little bin question for example, it is not enough just to map the litter bins and ask a few people whether they think there are enough. Deeper thinking is needed. It might for example that shop owners think that there are not enough, but that the shoppers think that are plenty. There might be differences of views according to age as well. It might not be a case of more littler bins – but bigger ones – or ones where waste can be recycled. Students might need to ask whether people in the city centre feel there is a problem of litter and whether more bins would solve this. The best enquiry based investigations ask these kind of deeper questions to get at the root cause of an issue before answering the question. Box 5 A mind map of questions related to “Does the Centre of Torun need more litter bins?” Environmental issues – what do people think of litter – how much litter is there – what kind of litter is it – where is most litter dropped?

Economic issues – how often is litter collected – who collects it – how much does it cost – how much would be saved if there was less litter?

Does the Centre of Torun need more litter bins?

Social issues – who drops the litter – do people really mind a bit of litter – what are their ideas – what do tourists think – should people be fined more often?

Political issues – who makes decisions about litter collection – what are they doing right now – how can decision be influenced? 17

To deal with the second stage and plan their data collection, students should be aware that there are two types of data sources – secondary and primary – they don’t have to collect all their data at first hand. There is plenty of information available on the web and in the local media, both of which are often useful for providing the bigger picture of what is happening on a national and even European scale. A third issue when planning the collection of first hand data students need to be aware of a number of key principles. The first is that the data they collect has to be truly representative of the situation. In other words, it has to be robust and valid. This involves thinking carefully about the issue of sampling and the definition of the study area. In the case of the litter bin question, it is obvious that the students would have to count and map the litter bins that are already in place – although the local authority might have a map – and also define the study area. The students would also have to undertake a questionnaire to find out what people think of the number of litter bins in the town centre. In doing this the students will have to think carefully about who they questionnaire, how many people they need to ask to get a good sample, how they will select the sample – whether it is a random sample or stratified in some way – what time of day they need to sample to make sure that it is representative – and so on! It is worth stressing these criteria to the students, emphasising that their results need to be worthwhile so that any conclusions they draw can be valid and reliable. STAGE 3 Collecting the data This is the bit where the students go out and collect their data. This stage of the enquiry process is fun but can be time consuming! Students should plan this part of their work carefully and also make sure that they collect their data safely. In a short chapter like this it is not possible to go over all the different kinds of ways of collecting data but the key groups of methods to be aware of include. Surveys or mapping of physical objects – such as litter bins, shops, traffic and so on. These are easy to do! Don’t forget to take as many photographs as possible though to keep a record that you can check back with. One useful survey technique is related to perception studies or quality of environment studies and are concerned with surveys using a sliding scale or bipolar technique as shown in Box 6. And do remind your students to be flexible and over recording data rather than under recording. It is far easier to dispose of unwanted information at the analysis stage than to find out that

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not enough information has been collected and that your students have to go and get some more. For example, in looking at different kinds of shops, your students will have come up with a classification of shops before doing the survey – they might be interested in the distribution of locally owned and chain store shops in a town centre. Their plan is to walk around all the streets and just label shops as local or chain on a map. However, if they do this then they will be missing a lot of useful information. Far better to also note what the shops sell and other characteristics about the shop so that a more detailed analysis can be done back in the classroom. Box 6 A bipolar survey of environmental quality An example of part of an environmental quality street survey: +2

+1

0

–1

–2

Streets totally free of any litter

Streets really very badly littered

No graffiti anywhere

Graffiti on almost every building

A lot of appropriate street furniture and all in good condition

Hardly any street furniture at all – and none in good condition

Surveys of people – using questionnaires or structured interviews. Very few students appear to like the idea of doing questionnaires, and although an on street or door to door questionnaire is sometimes useful, it is often the case that more useful and valid data can be gained through a longer more carefully structured interview with a representative of a sample group. Sometimes both are needed. For example, to gain an idea of whether shopkeepers thought that more little bins were needed, students could undertake a very short questionnaire of a sample of 50 shop keepers, just asking them the question “Does the city centre need more little bins, Yes, No, Maybe”. An in depth discussion with a friendly representative shopkeeper or someone from the Chamber of Commerce would get more background information and informed opinion. There are hints on constructing good questionnaires in Box 7. Box 7 Hints for constructing a good on street questionnaire ▶ Don’t forget the KISS principle – keep it short and simple. With an on street questionnaire, no one likes standing still and talking for more than two minutes. ▶ Start with easy questions.

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▶ Don’t forget to ask politely and say thanks at the end – not one HAS to answer your questionnaire. ▶ Remember to make a note of the persons age and sex. ▶ Don’t ask very personal questions – people usually don’t like revealing their income for example or their exact age. ▶ Keep open ended questions to a minimum – people usually don’t give good answers and you might have problems writing them down quickly enough. ▶ Use closed questions that ask people to chose from a list or rank things or give a score are better. You can tick these quickly as you go along. ▶ If you have to show people illustrations or photographs – have these with you on a separate card. ▶ Don’t put words in people’s mouths. ▶ Smile and be polite – and dress smartly. ▶ When choosing people to questionnaire follow your sampling rules but also use commonsense. Don’t ask people in a hurry, carrying heavy bags or harassed mothers with young children – unless you are doing a survey of harassed mothers with young children. ▶ Number your questionnaires and make sure that you note the time of day and location of the questionnaire – this can be done afterwards. STAGE 4 Analysing and presenting the data Analysis usually involves presenting the data in some format either using a variety of different styles of maps, graphs and tables. The key thing for students to remember is “fitness for purpose”. Students need to learn the basic graphical techniques, bars graphs, dot and line graphs, pie charts and so on – and then be able to imaginatively use these different variations to present the data they have collected in an attractive and meaningful way. This will often mean superimposing graphs on maps, using divided bar charts and a variety of different symbols. The aim of any graphical presentation is not to sue the most techniques possible but to use the right techniques in the right places to communicate the right messages. Statistical techniques are also important if the data collected merits statistical analysis. Again, basic calculations such as percentages and means are easy to do, but students should also be encouraged to sue techniques that can compare two sets of data – where there is a statistical difference between the quality of the environment and techniques that show relationships between two sets of data. Used carefully, these techniques can support students in making the right conclusions!

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STAGE 5 Drawing conclusions and answering the question The next stage of the enquiry process is to answer the questions the students have set themselves, and the most important thing for students to do in making a conclusion is to make the conclusion from the data they have collected. This might seem an obvious thing to say but so often conclusions are based not fully on the data but on what students feel that the correct conclusions might be. Students should be encourage to be clear and use the format of – “yes, but/and” or “no, but/and”. For example, “The result of our analysis clearly shows that more litter bins are needed in the centre of Torun but this conclusion needs to be qualified by the following points”. Students should also be encouraged to make suggestions for further study that might be needed and also not be afraid to say that their research has not be able to come up with a clear answer to the question. STAGE 6 Reviewing the process It is important for student to not only answer the question but also to learn from the process itself – how they can improve and further investigations they might undertake. Three reviews question are helpful ▶ What did I do well? These are the things I would do in the same way again next time. Maybe the sampling technique used for example. ▶ What did I quite well but could be improved? These are things that worked but could have been better. May the questionnaire should have been structured better or a few more or fewer questions asked. ▶ What did not go well at all? These are the things you would not repeat or could be substantially improved. Maybe trying to interview shop owners was just a waste of time. Conclusion So there it is – a process for undertaking urban based fieldwork in geography. This is a process which has been tried and tested and it is worth following, can be used at almost any scale and with any age of student. The author has done fieldwork using this process with students aged 9 and 10 to look at whether the local council should put a picnic tables near the local village pond through to enquiries by older students aged 17 and 18 looking at the branding of their local town and how successful this has been in attracting more tourists. The key thing about the enquiry approach is that it encourages pupils to investigate real and relevant issues and to make sense of how their local world is organised. And that must be a good thing!

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Bilingual teaching and fieldwork in I.E.S Cantabria secondary school Kevin Alexander Salvage I.E.S. Cantabria calle Repuente 55, 39012 Santander, Spain [email protected] Abstract The following article is a written account of the key points discussed during a presentation accompanied by a powerpoint given at the National Centre for Further Training of Geography Teachers in Toruń in October 2010 by the author of the article. The article seeks firstly to introduce and explain the location and attributes of the I.E.S. Cantabria secondary school in Cantabria, Spain. Secondly, to present the MEC/British Council Bilingual project that extends to forty other secondary schools around Spain as well as a larger number of primary feeder schools. Thirdly, to briefly assess the results of this project, which has been running for fourteen years. Finally, to comment on the position of Geography fieldwork in Spanish secondary education and describe some fieldwork experiences from I.E.S. Cantabria secondary school. Key words: Santander, MEC/British Council bilingual project, Cambridge International Exams, fieldwork

Santander, Cantabria, Spain Santander Santander is a small city of 170,000 people on the north coast of Spain. It is the capital Cantabria of Cantabria a small province in the north of Spain. It has about 500,000 inhabitants and consists of 200 km of Atlantic coast and a mountainous interior with limestone peaks rising up to 2650 m. In recent years Santander has become a familiar name as a result of Banco Santander which originated as a family Figure 1. The city of Santander on the bank in the city but now is a banking giant map of Spain having bought various holdings in British banks and just recently the Polish Bank Zachodni S.A.

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Cantabria has received considerable funds from the E.U. to develop its infrastructures and depends increasingly on service sector employment as traditional agricultural, fishing and heavy industry sectors decline. Cantabria´s flag is, interestingly, identical to Poland´s flag and is in fact sometime´s referred to as “La Polaca” Figure 2. Cantabria's flag

I.E.S Cantabria secondary school This public sector state school is located to the north of the city in a working class area where parent and student expectations are not very high. The school provides secondary education for the four years of compulsory secondary education from 12-16 years of age and offers a 2 year Bachiller Laureate program in either science or humanities which covers the further education period to University level. The school also has a vocational wing dedicated mainly to training for health sector related areas of work. The I.E.S Cantabria is one of about 40 secondary schools in Spain involved in the Ministry of Education (M.E.C.) and British Council bilingual project. M.E.C. and British Council Figure 3. I.E.S. Cantabria – MEC/British Council bilingual project started the bilingual project in 1996 with an initial group starting in primary education at the age of five. Throughout Spain one or more schools were designated in each province of Spain. In 2004 the first group of pupils that started in 1996 passed from the nearby primary school across to I.E.S Cantabria. In Spain the level of English attained by students in compulsory education has traditionally been poor and focussed too heavily on reading and written work along with a grammatical approach to understanding the language while neglecting the fundamental need to learn to communicate effectively. National and international studies have consistently highlighted this problem and the MEC/British Council project has been an ambitious attempt to address this situation.

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The program has various traits that are the same in all the schools involved across Spain. The schools were all located in areas where educational opportunities were considered to be lacking and the MEC was allowed discretion in hiring teachers with an appropriate profile involving a high level of English and specialist teacher qualifications. The Ministry in collaboration also undertook the development of an “integrated curriculum” which combined elements of methodology and practice from the British education system while meeting the minimum legal requirements of the Spanish curriculum in the areas of Social Sciences and Natural sciences. Spanish education is only recently making a full transition to skill based learning and offering students various learning styles. Adopting these methodological fundamentals was considered essential to guaranteeing adequate progress in bilingual education. At a logistical level the project has implications for the students who undertake their secondary education inside this project. ▶ 2 extra hours of English per week (5) This implies that students must extend the six class school day to seven hours two days a week. ▶ Social science (Geography and History) 3 hours per week. ▶ Natural science (Biology, Geology, Physics and Chemistry) 3 hours per week. ▶ In the third year Natural science splits into two hours of Biology and Geology and two hours of Physics and Chemistry before becoming optional in he final fourth year. I.E.S. Cantabria decided to extend the offer of bilingual education to the subject of Music which is compulsory in the first two years and optional in the fourth year. The bilingual project is only one part of the secondary education in the school and in cases where students on the project are failing to cope with the demands of the project parents and students are advised to consider the option of reverting to standard Spanish secondary education. The bilingual project has a co-ordinator and has a weekly timetabled co-ordination meeting. In 2008 the first students completed their entire compulsory education in the bilingual project and the Co-ordination team in the Ministry in Madrid brokered a deal with Cambridge International Examinations (C.I.E.) to allow students to take International General Secondary Certificate of Education (I.G.C.S.E.s) in the subjects of English (either as a first or second language), Geography, Combined

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Science and Spanish as a first language. The decision to discard the option of history is due to curriculum content differences between the Spanish curriculum and the IGCSE syllabus. Cambridge International Examinations markets these certificates as follows: The Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an international qualification for students aged 14 to 16. Cambridge IGCSE is a high-profile qualification with an excellent reputation: ▶ It is recognised by universities and institutes of higher education around the world. ▶ It is equivalent in standard to the UK GCSE examinations CIE examinations are taken in over 150 different countries. ▶ Cambridge qualifications are recognised by universities, colleges and employers across the globe. CIE is accredited by the regulator of examinations in England. In June 2010 the first students left their secondary education, with some taking Cambridge English qualifications at the levels of First Certificate, Cambridge Advanced Exam and Cambridge Proficiency. During the Bachiller Laureate two year stage, students only studied English as a separate group because the University entrance exam is externally assessed and must be taken in Spanish making the non-linguistic areas of Social sciences or Science unviable to be taught in English. This is a question that is being revised in the light of the European University Space that is opening up under the Bologna protocol. Assessment of the MEC/British Council bilingual project The project is undoubtedly a success. Students have achieved good passes in the IGCSEs and reached levels of linguistic proficiency in English unheard of for students of their background and expectations. Inevitably there have been many obstacles and difficulties to achieving success and any bilingual project is subject to the peculiarities of each country´s education laws and system. Much of the success of this project has resided in a patient and gradual consolidation of experience which, fortunately,has not been driven by political expedience. The project has received educational awards at an international level and awakened interest in other European countries and beyond as a model to emulate.

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More information can be found at the following link: http://www.mec-bc-bilingualproject.com/default.aspx The I.E.S Cantabria has also been involved in a project with three other schools involved in the same bilingual programme. The objective has been to share experiences and produce a bank of resources which can be found at the following link: www.bilingualelearning.es To enter the Aula Virtual (Virtual Learning area) please use the following: User: visitor Password: bilingual Fieldwork in the I.E.S Cantabria Geography is timetabled with history and fieldwork is simply not a component of secondary Geography education beyond occasional education visits. Natural science normally offers the scientific approach to the natural world. The MEC/British Council integrated curriculum does recommend the option of fieldwork to provide learning opportunities.

Figure 4. Santander´s location near to the abrupt Atlantic coast offers good opportunities to observe typical coastal processes and formations. Photos: Students involved in an excursion to observe, recognise and record coastal geographic features. Aereal photo of Santander

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Some limited fieldwork has been done originally centering on the opportunities that Cantabria offers for physical geography. In 2008 with the introduction of the Geography IGCSE the need to consider fieldwork became urgent as paper 4 of this exam expects students to understand the dynamics of geographical fieldwork. A simple piece of fieldwork was introduced to help students experience these dynamics. Since the school is located next to a busy road a study of traffic flows was set up. Before the fieldwork: ▶ Propose hypotheses and suggest answers with reasons: More traffic going towards the city centre because people go to work. ▶ Prepare sheet for observation. ▶ Organise team: one person control time, one person count men or women, one person observes type of vehicle, one person notes the information. ▶ The observations are done for 10 mins at 3 different times of the school day using a simple table: Car

Van/lorry

Bus

Bicycle

Male driver

Female driver

Post observation. Back in class students complete the follow up: ▶ Check figures. ▶ Present statistics (pie charts, bar graphs). ▶ Analyse results. ▶ Conclusions and reference to hypotheses. Advantages: The fieldwork can be done next to the school in class time without disturbing other lessons. Spain does not have tough health and safety laws despite this being a busy road. Plenty of traffic so results guaranteed. Disadvantages: Worries over safety next to a busy road! Limited example of fieldwork.

Figure 5. A group note their observations

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Conclusions The I.E.S Cantabria while traditionally a state secondary school in a deprived area of the city of Santander is benefitting at many levels from the introduction of the MEC/British Council Bilingual Project. This project has clearly demonstrated that it is possible to offer a successful bilingual project throughout the compulsory years of education in a country with a serious deficiency in the area of English language learning with students from backgrounds that offer few opportunities beyond the education provided by the state sector. Field work in Geography remains under-valued but with the implantation of the CIE IGCSEs the first tentative steps to raisng its profile have begun in all the secondary schools on the MEC/British Council Bilingual Project. References 1. MEC/British Council website 2. Cambridge International Examinations

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Human Geography in Amsterdam Martijn Kaal Joke Smit Vestiging Reijnier Vinkeleskade 62, 1071SX Amsterdam, Netherlands [email protected] Abstract This paper presents a brief introduction into the role of human geography in the Dutch school curriculum in general and in the Joke Smit Vestiging (Amsterdam) in particular. Special emphasis is laid on the incorporation of bilingual teaching and fieldwork into the geography programme. A short off-the-cuff lecture has been presented by the author at the methodology workshop organised by Association of Polish Adult Educators in Torun in October 2010. The current paper deals with the contents of this talk and expounds on them wherever deemed necessary. Key words: adult education in the Netherlands, language, sea-level, participation, ethnic melting-pot, history of Amsterdam, emancipation.

Joke Smit Vestiging: a very special case The Dutch word Vestiging means a location. The school is located in a lovely, slightly derelict building in a rich neighbourhood on the South side of Amsterdam. One could walk to the Concert Hall (Concertgebouw), the National Gallery or the South Station in approximately ten minutes. From the impressive front porch there is the view of a wide canal where geese and duck flock, where skaters assemble in winter, and where some of the most beautiful trees in the city have been planted. Across the canal stately homes and the Amsterdam Hilton hotel add lustre to our surroundings. Joke Smit was an important feminist, involved in political action, publishing, poetry and the propagation of equal opportunities for all. She died in 1981 and soon her name was attached to a school that had been founded in 1976 as a centre for adult education. Pupils in those days were mostly adult women that had missed a proper secondary education due to underrating. Thousands of them were able to achieve a Middle school level (mavo), an O-level (havo) or an A-level (vwo) in the seventies and eighties.

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Halfway through the eighties the reservoir of under-educated women dried up and the student population changed dramatically. Step by step the true adults disappeared and were replaced by adolescents that had failed in the regular system of secondary education. Currently 90% of our pupils are to be found in the age-group 17-19, two thirds of them are descendants of immigrants, making for a distinct multicultural flavour. Female emancipation has been replaced by immigrant emancipation as a prime target for the school and its supervisors. In the Netherlands approximately half of the children are led into vocational training, while the other half is incorporated into General education. Selection is at the age of 12 and once the choice has been made for you it is very difficult to reverse it. Most of the immigrant children are ushered into the vocational system, while most of the white children get into the General system which offers far better opportunities in jobs and further training. This is a volatile situation and in urgent need of repair. The Joke Smit Vestiging plays an important role in this respect since it offers many immigrant children a way to jump this great divide. The Amsterdam municipality recognises our strategic position. General Secondary Education in the Netherlands (50% of this is run by religious boards!) is financed directly by the State. The vocational system has, however, been “put at a distance”. Here the cash-flows run from the State to the municipalities, and from the municipalities to huge conglomerates run by managers in a businesslike fashion, involving huge salaries, bonuses and shifty real-estate operations. These conglomerates are named ROC’s (Regional Educational Centres), the biggest one in the country being the ROC of Amsterdam, home to at least 40,000 students. It is the misfortune of the Joke Smit Vestiging that we offer General Education on the one hand, but, at the same time, have been lawfully incorporated into the ROC of Amsterdam for the last 15 years. In 1995 all adult education, including literacy courses and civil integration for immigrants, was put under the umbrella of ROC’s. Budget cuts, insecurity, redundancy of staff members, and maintenance failure have been our lot ever since. Attempts to redress the balance through political action have been only partially successful so far, but there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel. In 2010 the Joke Smit Vestiging serves 1100 pupils, all of them in General Education. The great majority of them stay with us for one or two years. Two thirds successfully sit for the State exams and go on into higher education. Some former pupils are now politicians, popstars, professional soccer players, lawyers or even teachers!

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Geography at the National level In the Netherlands only three subjects are compulsory for students in General education that sit for the State exams: Mathematics (various levels), Dutch and English. A choice is further offered them in four major package deals: a Cultural option, an Economic option, a Health option and a Science option. In none of these packages there is a compulsion to tackle Geography. However it is open to all and sundry to choose it and approximately 40% of the students involved do so. The State dictates the curriculum, sets the standards and has its own agencies that prepare the State exams for all the subjects of General education (while there are none for the Vocational schools!). The State exam makes up for 50% of the marks attained, the other half is derived from school exams that are highly statecontrolled in their content. A new geography curriculum has been introduced during the past two years. The “old” one suffered from a strong bias on skills, from a non-spatial approach, and from zooming in on the Netherlands excessively. Geography teachers and pupils managed to organise a lobby for improvements and a State commission came up with a totally renovated programme that consists of: ▶ 10% fieldwork, content is filled in by the school itself ▶ Worldwide problems of income distribution and globalization ▶ Planet earth: Physical Geography in a system approach, including climate change ▶ Regional Studies, concentrating on Southeast Asia (A-level), Indonesia (O-level), great cities in North America (A-level), the Tortilla Curtain (O-level), the Mediterranean, and the European Union (Czechia, UK). ▶ Local studies of the floodplains of the Rhine and the Dutch coastal areas, focusing on Water management. Two thirds of the new programme is human geography. Many of its branches are well represented: demography, economic geography, historical geography, social geography, political geography, ecology, all are there to be found at different levels of scale. Another bonus of the programme has been the introduction of new textbooks, a renovated school atlas and in the availability of websites run by the publishing companies. Maps and statistics have been updated.

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Geography classes at the Joke Smit Vestiging Pupils at all levels do a one-year course. Some of the ones that fail their exams are given another chance if they have shown effort and talent. Most classes assemble twice a week, total weekly time in class is between 240 and 300 minutes. The school-year is divided into 3 terms. At the end of each there is a school exam that deals with the programme of that particular term. After the third term there is another month of classes before the State exams start halfway through May. This intermediate month is mostly spent on specific training for the State exam. During exams there are no classes. On average we have 23 pupils in each class. Lessons are almost always in the Geography room on the first floor of the building. This classroom is relatively large and sunny. It contains plenty of maps, each pupil has an atlas at his/her disposal, and there are 2 computers, one of these connected to a beamer. Powerpoint presentations, Google Earth and other simulations, maps and parts of films may be shown on a white flatscreen. Cupboards, a table full of reading matter, a blackboard and a collection of rocks and soils complete the picture of a well-equipped geography department. In class, pupils are provided with atlases at all times, including exams. At the start of each term the teacher hands out a “module book” that contains additional information and lists the weekly activities for the whole term. Pupils have to arrange for their own notebooks and textbooks. These are relatively expensive, an A-level student could easily spend €250 on geography books per year! In order to cut costs the school has organised a Book rental fund, used by a huge majority of the pupils. Rental of books through the fund is 25% of the high-street value. Approximately half the time in class is used for lecturing, discussions and dealing with questions. The other half is filled in with activities and the administration of them. Pupils are expected to show their work to the teacher every week. The ones that do so are rewarded with points. These points are used to determine opportunities for retrial of school exams and may lead to bonus points (maximum 5 out of 100) for these same exams. A-level pupils score at least 75% of their points, O-level students only 50%. Students with a low level of effort may be excluded from exam retrials and, in a worst-case scenario, they may even be forced to abandon their studies altogether.

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Geography Fieldwork at the Joke Smit Vestiging Several attempts have been made to organise fieldwork trips to foreign countries. Environmental studies have been carried out in Spain and in Lithuania, including measurements in rivers and soils and determination of rock, soil, plant and animal species. However, these excursions were always on a voluntary basis and could not be part and parcel of the curriculum. The school lacks funds to subsidise such trips and many pupils lack the time and money to participate. The majority of our students hail from relatively low-income immigrant backgrounds. The numerous Muslim girls are usually not permitted to participate in trips involving overnight stays. However, it is good fun organising such travels, meeting teachers and pupils in other countries, speaking foreign languages, and to do a bit of team-building on the side. Some interesting publications in English (still available) show the depth of investigations and the wide range of geographic topics that may be intertwined in fieldwork. Every year a landscape-excursion is undertaken in the Southern parts of the Netherlands. Here we have mountains of one thousand feet, hard bedrock containing fossils, and a few waterfalls: rare sights for a Dutchman. It takes us exactly one day to get there and back on the train and to do some 5 hours of walking and talking. Highly enjoyable and again on a voluntary basis. In Amsterdam itself a small teacher-supervised trip is less time-consuming and may even be undertaken during classes. It is easy to take soil samples outside the school and a little further away, in the Vondelpark. Human Geography may be brought into the floodlights by comparing the level of housing in different neighbourhoods within easy reach. The Vondelpark itself was laid out over a hundred years ago to separate the wealthy South Side of Amsterdam from working-class areas in the Western section. Almost all our pupils own bicycles, and a two-hour cycling trip could take us well into the rural areas along the Amstel River, where farms, mansions, old taverns, greenhouses and recreational opportunities are worth seeing. Many of the participating immigrant pupils are amazed by the beauties of the rural landscape of the Netherlands and by the rich neighbourhoods they normally shun. Finally there is the fieldwork within the curriculum. 10% of school-exam marks is reserved for fieldwork done within the City. Pupils team up in pairs and use the time for geography classes during one week in the first term to go out and study human geography. They themselves select neighbourhoods and shopping streets

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and compare them: what kind of people are on the streets? What price-level of shopping? Pupils do enquiries into the various open-air markets, making up the questionnaires themselves and presenting data on maps showing where market-customers come from. Such undertakings are not teacher-supervised, all the teacher does is to give support from the classroom and to correct the papers. Presentations may be used afterwards to demonstrate the spatial structure of the City and to learn a few things about its rich history. A good presentation may earn bonus marks. Case Study: Historical Geography of Amsterdam During the Torun workshop in 2010 the author lectured on the way the City of Amsterdam was established and expanded in the course of time. This was done at the request of some of the teachers present, as an example of human geography studies, and to demonstrate possibilities of fieldwork in Amsterdam. Amazingly, the Amsterdam area a thousand years ago was a totally uninhabited wasteland of impenetrable marshes and bogs. Villages and small towns were located far away on higher and firmer ground: in the sandy dunes to the West, on the sediments of rivers to the South and on glacial ridges to the East. The largest town in the Netherlands in those days was Utrecht, which contained some churches and monasteries and was the seat of the bishop, who was lording over local gentry and was himself subservient to the Pope and the Kings of Germany. In medieval times there was growth of population and shortage of good agricultural land. The bishop then decided to claim the marshlands and establish farming communities on them. Little rivers and new roads were used to penetrate into the bogs and some farms and villages were founded. The new settlers paid tribute (taxes) to their peers and started digging ditches and canals to drain the land. They tilled the soil, grew vegetables and buckweed, and reared cattle and pigs simultaneously. The draining and ploughing were at the root of great problems: the peaty soils compacted and dried out. Part of the turf literally vanished into thin air causing the surface of the landscape to sink by 3 to 4 metres. A soggy land above sealevel had been turned into a relatively dry land below sea-level through human intervention! Dykes and dams had to be built subsequently to stop the sea from flooding the land and to prevent the penetration of salt water into the beds of the small rivers that ran through the area. One of these rivers was called the

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Amstel and hence the dam, raised near the mouth of this river, was named the Aemstelledamme (Amsterdam). Some 750 years ago a settlement sprung up around this Dam with traders, boatsmen, gardeners, fishermen, porters (that carried merchandise from the river barges to the sea-ships on the other side of the Dam) and artisans making a living together, first in a village, soon in a small town with wooden houses and a stone church, now named the Old Church (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Amsterdam around 1500 AD. Take note of the Dam in the Amstel river, the huge Old Church, canals and the windmills used to pump water out of the town

Fortunes were further enhanced by shipbuilding, whaling in the Arctic, and competing with the Hanseatic League in the Baltic, making for early links between Amsterdam and the granaries and woodlands of Poland. Such activities made for growth. At the end of the Middle Ages the town ran from North to South over a length of 1200 metres, surrounded by walls and moats (canals). Three-storied houses had been built closely together, supported by cow-hides laid underneath them to prevent them from sinking away into the bogs.

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At the end of the Middle Ages and in the early Renaissance period (1450-1550 AD) the little town was struck by hardship. Several epidemics of the plague (“black death”) decimated the population and fires laid waste to most of the wooden houses. Further turmoil was brought about by the advent of Protestantism in the Northern half of the Netherlands, leading to wars with the Hapsburg empire and later with the Catholic Spanish King who had inherited the whole of the Netherlands after the demise of Emperor Charles V. During the so-called Dutch Rebellion against the Spaniards (1568-1648) the Amsterdam economy started to boom again and the City grew into one of the biggest ones in Europe, surpassing all other settlements in the Netherlands in wealth, power and population. This miracle was brought about by local politicians, guild-masters and city-mayors. At first they decided to remain on the safe side and support the Spanish King. While Spanish troops laid siege to many Dutch towns like Haarlem, Leiden, Alkmaar and later Antwerp, starving the local population and wrecking buildings and trade, Amsterdam was not touched by the violence and was able to concentrate on its economy. Huge numbers of sturdy ships were built that expanded trade with the Baltics and with new territories called colonies. The latter were established with private funds (mostly from Amsterdam) in North America, the Caribean, South America, Asia and Africa. Dutch traders, soldiers, mariners, even pirates, swarmed the oceans between Nieuw Amsterdam (New York), Kaapstad (Cape Town), Goudkust (Ghana), Batavia (Jakarta), Retief (Recife in Brazil), and Danzig (Gdansk), bringing in spices, corn, gold, wool, wood and slaves and distributing them all over the world. Another important political principle was tolerance. In Catholic times the protestants were tolerated in the City. After the sudden acceptation of Protestantism in 1578 by the City Council, which is known as the Alteration of Amsterdam, the major churches were confiscated by the Protestants while Catholics were allowed to continue church services and to participate in trade. The siege and fall of Antwerp, which was taken by the Spanish in 1585, caused a huge influx of Jewish merchants that felt safe within the City walls of Amsterdam. They brought with them urgently needed funds and the best knowledge of banking available in the world at that time. Soon shareholding, a stock exchange, flexible money transfers, and easy credit were introduced, making Amsterdam a prime target for capital. This capital was then used to equip modern fleets, to build windmills and drain new land for agriculture, to buy immigrant labour, and to expand the City itself with industries, warehouses, luxury homes along the newly-dug canals, mansions in the countryside, and working-class areas close to the City walls.

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Sound policies, relying on peace, trust and tolerance (at least within the City limits!), have had a huge impact on the human geography of Amsterdam, especially during its Golden Age between 1570 and 1670. The inner City of Amsterdam was built almost entirely during that period. It was well-planned and was the envy of the world for a full century. Figure 2 shows the situation in 1670 with a system of circumjacent canals around the main Dam Square. Almost all the houses were now four stories high and built out of stones and bricks, supported by wooden beams or stilts that rested on the firm soil that is found 5 metres underneath the soaky peat at the surface. Housing taxes were levied per metre of front-space on the streets, this explains the narrow width of many buildings constructed during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Figure 2. Amsterdam between 1670 and 1850. Note the Canal zone, city walls and the ports on the North side of the City. Radius from Dam Square to the walls is approximately 2 kilometres. The area shown on the map is now a UNESCO World Heritage

In 1672 the Amsterdam fairy tale came to an end. The Netherlands were invaded by their neighbours the French, Germans and English almost simultaneously. Many ships were lost in disastrous sea-wars with the British and to top it all parts of the country were flooded by rivers and by the sea as dykes were breached to stop the enemies’ progress. Military defeat led to the loss of colonies and of trade, which

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brought an end to the economic boom. Between 1672 and 1850 no extensions were made to the City at all, while the population grew from 170,000 to 220,000. Poverty, overcrowding, and very poor sanitation became the order of the day for almost two centuries. As Brittania ruled the waves and orchestrated the industrial revolution, the Dutch were marginal on-lookers, counting their lucky stars with their possessions in the East Indies to carry them through these hard times. From 1865 onwards the industrial revolution took off in Amsterdam, at first pushed on by German economic expansion, soon to be followed by self-induced investments. Rapid progress was made in politics with the advent of Trade Unions, higher wages, more religious freedom, a basic welfare system, male suffrage and higher taxes! The municipality used the latter to establish a water supply and sewage system that led to enormous improvements in public health. Thousands of new jobs were created in factories, the ports, and services. Between 1850 and 1940 population trebled from 220,000 to 700,000. Natural growth and a high influx of excess labour from the Dutch countryside were eagerly responded to by the City Council, which was run by the Dutch Labour Party since the early 1900’s into the present! New neighbourhoods were planned, at first simple and overcrowded, but after the First World War the high standards set by the Amsterdam school of architecture prevailed. Many trees were planted and parks laid out, public transport improved and industrial areas were separated from housing. Physical planning was always in the foreground and most of the new constructions were supervised, if not owned, by the municipality. A compact square shape of the City was the result of the planning process by the end of the thirties. Many rural municipalities, some of them containing villages, were swallowed up by gregarious Amsterdam that witnessed an expansion of 400% in these years of industrialisation. In the Second World War the Netherlands were occupied by Nazi Germany. Physical damage to the City was limited to the ports that were bombed several times by Allied forces. Far worse was the damage done to the population, at least 50,000 Jews from Amsterdam were deported and murdered. A sad blow was dealt to Amsterdam culture, which retains even now a lot of its Jewish past in the form of synagogues, museums and Yiddish words in the Amsterdam slang. Jews have (and still do!) played an important role in the City administration, in its Physical Planning, in arts, trade, medicine, teaching, the diamond industry and banking. Since the war the number of people inside the City limits has been more or less stable. In 1955 there was a record 850,000, at present we have 750,000 Amster-

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dammers. This fact obscures the huge influx and outflow of people that have taken place in the last 50 years. Approximately 500,000 people have left the City for suburbia, many of them retaining their jobs in Amsterdam. Especially the upper and middle classes have taken part in this exodus, which was enhanced by vast government subsidies in the sixties and seventies. On the other hand newcomers from all parts of the world have shown up in Amsterdam and have turned it into a highly multicultural ethnic melting-pot. Moroccans and Turks came to work in Amsterdam in the sixties and seventies, they number over a 100,000 now. Surinamese (70,000) came after decolonisation of their country in the seventies, followed by refugees, by high-level workers from the western world, young students and by professionals from The Netherlands itself. Most of the native Dutch people born in Amsterdam now live outside the city, while the majority of its population was not born in Amsterdam itself. 50% of the pupils at primary and secondary level are foreign-born or of foreign descent.

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Figure 3. Amsterdam in 2009. Map shows an area of approximately 600 square kilometres. Some suburbs (Weesp, Diemen, Amstelveen, Ouderkerk) are separate administrative entities and are not included in Amsterdam statistics. The  shows the Joke Smit Vestiging

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After 1950 the built-up area has quadrupled again. Living-space per head of population has increased fivefold, reflecting modern times with modern standards of living. Figure 3 shows the new finger-like structure of Amsterdam in 2009, the green wedges (greenfields) in the Southern section, the Bluefield with a new neighbourhood (IJburg) built into the former Zuiderzee to the East, the ports and huge airport of Schiphol to the West and, to the North, a well protected zone of recreation and nature reserves we have appropriately named Waterland. Position of English in the Joke Smit Vestiging English is by far the most important second language in The Netherlands. In some institutions of higher learning and in many of the international branches of business English is actually the first language. Dutch people are constantly in touch with English through the media, subtitled TV-programmes and films, books, meetings with English speakers (including huge numbers of tourists especially from the UK), a strong political bias towards the anglo-saxon block, and of course in education where English is a compulsory subject for all. The high level of interaction with the English-speaking world has led to an excellent level of English, especially among the younger generations. Joke Smit Vestiging pupils are able to participate in debates in English, are able to understand lectures on all kinds of topics in English, and are, with a few exceptions, never shy to use the English language. On schooltrips it is very easy for them to mix with students from all over Europe, they have this advantage which they share with British, Irish, Scandinavians, and, more recently, Poles and Germans. Some teachers of Social science, Geography, History, Economics (especially the humanities) and Arts have been involved in international exchange programmes, have taught in English and have been trained in CLIL (Content & Language Integrated Learning) – tactics in England and Wales. These teachers are qualified to teach in English and they may do so on a voluntary basis, always taking into account the preferences of the pupils and the importance of the State exams that are invariably in Dutch. In the 1990's a Minister of Education (Mr. Ritzen) who wanted to change the curriculum of secondary schools, high schools and universities drastically, introducing the idea of lectures in English at all levels and all subjects except for languages. This idea was not taken up by the major political parties at the time for cultural and nationalist reasons. With the present government run by right-wing parties (conservatives, Christian-democrats and the famous Wilders-party) such prospects are seemingly out of sight.

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Before the Second World War, just as in Poland, we in The Netherlands had far more German and French speakers than English. The elite spoke French, the majority had a distinct preference for Germany in their travels, music, and in literature. The war utterly changed this outlook as we joined NATO and became dependent on the American nuclear umbrella and American aid during reconstruction. The introduction of the EU has not reversed this trend. English may not be the greatest language in Europe, but it is in the wider world to which evermore globalised people refer. Conclusions Hopefully readers have enjoyed the compact information presented in this paper. It attempts to demonstrate the position of the Joke Smit Vestiging in Amsterdam life. Our school is embedded in the history of the City as many Jewish girls went to the school before the Second world war when it was a girls’ school. In the seventies the tradition was carried on by waves of women’s emancipation. Nowadays we play an important role in the integration of newcomers into Dutch society and contribute to the solution of some very hot political issues that tend to destabilise our country. The daily work in the school is full of Geography, English and some fieldwork, items that are of particular interest to those geography teachers that participate in the Torun workshops and conferences. The paper has been written to make special accommodation for such readers. It may be used as a framework for further talks and discussions in Torun or elsewhere. It was a privilege to be part and parcel of the process of education, particularly in the teaching of geography, and to be able to participate in an international project that brings us together in a spirit of mutual exchange, intensive cooperation, friendship and hospitality. I express my gratitude to the organising committee in Torun for their sterling efforts in these respects.

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New urbanism in the U.S. Planning healthier cities and retrofitting suburbia Iwona Tumidajewicz School Complex No 1 ul. Paderewskiego 17, 58–301 Wałbrzych, Poland [email protected] Summary This article describes the newest trends in American urbanism, the drivers, techniques, and potential pitfalls involved in retrofitting our least sustainable landscapes into more urban and more sustainable places. It contains some surprising facts about American aging suburbs, which are less ideal than we thought. Young professionals now live and work in the suburbs and they prefer a more urban life-style. There is too much of redundant retail infrastructure in the periphery of American cities such as dead big box stores, dead strip malls and dying office parks. Retrofitting is the best solution to this problem. Key words: retrofitting, suburban sprawl, reinhabitation, redevelopment, regreening, walkability, 'underperforming asphalt properties', suburbia, new urbanism.

Introduction Time Magazine reports that “the American suburb as we know it is dying”. What’s wrong with suburbia? People live there for the fresh air, open spaces and good schools for the kids. Suburban sprawl has been the dominant development pattern for the last fifty years. By 2000, more people lived in suburbs than in cities, small towns, and the countryside combined. Most of these suburbs were built after 1950 to accommodate the automobile, and they usually have the following familiar characteristics: ▶ Low population density ▶ Separate business and residential districts ▶ Large lots ▶ No sidewalks ▶ Complex hierarchical street systems ▶ Cul-de-sacs ▶ Large parking lots ▶ Shopping malls ▶ Strip malls ▶ Big box stores ▶ Traffic congestion

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These features – especially the curving dead-end streets, lack of sidewalks, massive parking lots, and the distance between residences and businesses make it nearly impossible to walk or ride a bike in many suburbs. The result? 41% of urban trips in the U.S. are under 2 miles, but 90% are made by car. Only 6% of trips are made on foot and 1% by bicycle (1995). Compare that with a few other countries: ▶ France 24% foot, 4% bike ▶ Switzerland 24% foot, 10% bike ▶ Sweden 29% foot, 10% bike ▶ The Netherlands 18% foot, 28% bike. The vast majority of Americans also drive to work. The average commute is 16 miles. Only 4% of Americans commute via public transportation, 2.93% walk, and 38% cycle. Suburban living undeniably has good points – big backyards, good schools, friendly neighborhoods, and roomy living quarters. But sprawling cities mean more driving and lead to: 1. Physical inactivity Researchers Barbara A. McCan and Reid Ewing studied the health effects of sprawl by comparing the “sprawl index” to the health characteristics of 200,000 people in 448 different counties. They found that people living in more sprawling counties were more likely to ▶ be physically inactive ▶ have higher body mass indexes ▶ be obese ▶ suffer from high blood pressure. People in the suburbs lead a more sedentary life since they don’t walk a lot. The kids don’t walk to school and there’s a lot of sitting in cars (by kids and parents) which leads to obesity, heart disease and diabetes. 2. Road rage With everyone relying so heavily on cars, American roadways are packed and driving is often stressful. A third of drivers can be characterized as aggressive. 62% say they occasionally get frustrated behind the wheel, 40% admit to getting angry, and 20% confess to getting road rage at times. 3. Traffic accidents Driving is one of the most dangerous activities Americans do each day. 6.5 million car accidents occur every year in the U.S., and almost 40,000 people died last year in car crashes. That’s 110 deaths every day, or one death every 13 minutes.

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4. Air pollution Cars are the leading cause of air pollution in the U.S. Long-term exposure to dirty air is known to shorten lives and contribute to cardiovascular and lung disease. According to Dr. Ellen Dunham-Jones“The suburbs are actually a bigger target than the inner cities for reducing greenhouse gasses and optimizing energy use. Single family homes have much larger footprints than urban dwellings, they leak a lot more energy and suburbanites spend a great deal more of their household income on petrol. Plus, there’s been a demographic shift where the suburbs and their inhabitants get older so that two-thirds of suburban households do not have children living there any more. Some people are still assuming that suburbia is made up of family households when, actually, up to 85% of new households will not have children in them by 2025. This is dramatically out of sync with reality and will be a big problem in the next 15 years. There is no need for so many schools, kindergardens etc. Many people have the expectation that the suburbs will forever stay just the same. They are really sad when their shopping mall had died. "I had my prom in that mall," they'd say. They attribute the mall with a lot of bonding, a lot of time growing up—they really loved their malls. When it closed, the first reaction was: Let's find a developer to fix our mall. Most people didn't want a downtown-type structure, they just wanted their mall back. I think we can distinguish a so called 'mall culture'. But, reality is different with dead big box stores, dead strip malls and dying office parks. A recent book, “Retrofitting Suburbia,” by Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson, notes that in 1986, the United States had about 15 square feet* of retail space per person in shopping centers. That was already a world-leading figure, but by 2003 it had increased by a third, to 20 square feet. The next countries on the list are Canada (13 square feet per person) and Australia (6.5 square feet); the highest figure in Europe is in Sweden, with 3 square feet per person. Thousands of empty big boxes can be found right now all across the country, a vast network of abandoned construction. And another surprising fact 148,000 shopping malls and big box stores closed last year. When big retailers desert neighbourhoods they don’t just leave giant, windowless, vacant buildings. They also leave lost tax revenue, fewer jobs and the potential for increased vandalism, more crime, and lower property values. The residential districts of suburbs were also vastly overbuilt during the housing bubble. Arthur C. Nelson forecasts a surplus of 22 million large-lot homes by 2025, which is about 40% of those in existence today.

* 1 square foot is equivalent to 0.09290304 square metres.

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Different photos of American suburbs

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Solution-new urbanism and retrofitting An alternative to suburban sprawl is new urbanism. It is is an urban planning movement that rose up in the early 1980s in reaction to suburban development. The ten principles of New Urbanism are: 1. Walkability – Amenities are within a ten minute walk from home or work and streets are pedestrian-friendly. 2. Connectivity – Cities are on a grid to make walking easier. 3. Mixed Use and Diversity – Residential and business districts are mixed and appeal to people of all ages and walks of life. 4. Mixed Housing – Neighborhoods have different types and prices of housing. 5. Quality Architecture and Urban Design – Developments are beautiful, comfortable, and have a sense of place. 6. Traditional Neighborhood Structure – The center of town is public open space. 7. Increased Density – Everything is closer together to make walking more convenient. 8. Green Transportation – A network of trains connects neighborhoods, towns, and cities. 9. Sustainability – Developments encourage energy efficient living: less driving, more walking. 10. Quality of Life – Neighborhoods, towns, and buildings uplift and enrich people’s lives. Young professionals now live and work in the suburbs and they prefer a more urban lifestyle.What makes a suburban population want this urban experience? Why do they need a more urban lifestyle? Nobody knows, and there's lots of speculation. Ellen Dunham-Jones explains it with the 'Theory of the Third Place'. The first place is your home, the second-work, the third-a restaurant, pub, theatre, cafe, sports centre where you can spend your leisure time. A perfect situation is when all those places are situated in neighbourhood. New citizens of suburbia want open air centres with sit-down restaurants instead of the food courts in malls that teenagers like so much. They want to be able to walk to shops, museums, the library and the local park. In other words, they want to be involved in a community that’s a destination instead of just a bedroom community. To meet their expectations Ellen Dunham-Jones suggests retrofitting which basically comes down to three strategies: 1. Reinhabitation. Eliminate sprawl by building over parking lots and strip malls. 2. Redevelopment. Basically, urbanizing suburban sites. 3. Regreening. Restore the local ecology where wetlands and farmland have been paved over.

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According to this concept a great deal of open space and walkability can be added. Dr. Dunham-Jones is an architect and a professor of architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has done more that 80 case studies across North America of under-performing asphalt properties that have been redeveloped into walkable, sustainable, vibrant centers that are attracting the new generation of young professionals and are highly profitable. We can see some interesting photos of a few of the successes that resulted from the retrofitting process.

Figure 1. Villa Italia Hall in Belmar in the 1970s

Prior to its transformation into Belmar, Villa Italia was an enclosed mall set in a sea of parking lots on a 104-acre site and was quite successful when opened in the 1970s. But by the late 1990s the mall had fallen on hard times and an extreme makeover was called for. Extensive consultation with the community showed that people wanted a “down- Figure 2. Villa Italia Hall in Belmar after retrofitting. Late town experience.” 1990s

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Belmar, a development that essentially created a downtown for Lakewood, it was created by dividing a 104-acre superblock into typical city blocks with mixed commercial/residential activities and a variety of architectural styles to enliven the pedestrian experience. The urbanized blocks are walkable and also served by buses. Other examples The artist Julia Christensen began documenting what happens to dead big-box stores in 2003, chronicling a variety of examples.The case studies in her book, “Big Box Reuse,” published last year, all involve former Wal-Mart and Kmart locations, often vacated not because of failure but because those chains were expanding into larger locations nearby. In other words, even retail success can create abandoned stores which are called 'ghost boxes'. The Central Kentucky Comprehensive Medical Center resides in a renovated Wal-Mart. It is privately owned by a group of 4 doctors, who funded the $4 million dollar renovation in order to create this giant medical complex. The building offers 44,000 square feet of space. It now houses a cardiovascular center, chiropractic suite, wellness center and physical-therapy center complete with a small pool and an indoor walking track.The building currently houses 88 exam rooms, space for a 24-hour urgent-care center, a laboratory, two suites for minor surgical procedures and an imaging center soon to be outfitted with MRI, X-ray and CAT scan equipment.

Figure 3. The Central Kentucky Comprehensive Medical Center

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The Spam Museum (Austin) is in a renovated K-Mart building. The renovation on this building has barely left a trace of the original use. In fact, the actual shell of the structure is all that is left of the old K-Mart. Windows, doors, walls, ceilings, and the entire exterior have all been completely overhauled.

Figure 4. The Spam Museum in Austin

The Head Start Family Resource Center in Hastings, Nebraska is in a renovated K-Mart. The building houses 13 classrooms, as well as 4 larger rooms for infants and toddlers, a parent room, a resource center for people who have recently immigrated to the US, computer labs, cafeterias, conference rooms and offices. The building has large outdoor playgrounds, opening up to the cornfields of Nebraska. There are many services available at the Head Start, including an immunization clinic, summer programs, after school programs, early childhood education, as well as numerous programs for migrant families. The school has around 120 Head Start

Figure 5. The Head Start Family Resource Center in Hastings

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students (ages 3-5), 200 Title I Migrant students (ages 3-21), and 64 Early Socialization students (ages 0-3). The center employs over 100 people. The people at the Head Start are truly pleased to be able to make such a successful adaptation of an old building work for them. Conclusions Remaking the abandoned miles of sprawl resulting from the unsustainable development patterns of the last fifty years will be a major challenge in the next few decades. Although European urban problems are slighty different now maybe in the next fifty years some of our cities will undergo exactly the same processes and we will have to adapt American ideas of retrofitting and new urbanism. On the other hand the American example might be a warning for European developers, retail companies who are building so many supermarkets, big department stores. In Poland the 'big boxes' are mushrooming all the time.I don't believe that they are everlasting and in the future they might be a serious problem in our landscape. References 1. Christensen J., 2008. Big box reuse, MIT Press. 2. Dunham-Jones E., Williamson J., Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs, Wiley Press, 2009. 3. Fulton W., 1996. The new urbanism: hope or hype for American communities? 4. Katz P., 1994. The New Urbanism: Toward an Archictecture of Community. Websites: 1. http://www.urbanistyka.info/content/tedxatlanta-ellen-dunham-jones 2. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/architecture/4302220 3. http://newurbanhabitat.com/2009/07/16/new-urbanism-planning-healthiercities-and-retrofitting-suburbia/

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Toruń waterfront – feasibility study of the regeneration process Adam Popielewski Department of Architecture, City Council of Toruń ul. Grudziądzka 126 B, 87-100 Toruń, Poland [email protected] The paper presents contemporary trends of the Torun municipal spatial development as part of an international programme In Water on the exploitation of inland waterways for regional development. The study covers the waterfront of the Vistula River within the boundaries of the town of Torun. It indicates opportunities for the development of the river banks in terms of recreation, leisure and tourism which aim at restoring the Vistula River to the town. The study puts forward a proposal of development for selected waterfront zones and interconnections between them as well as with other parts of the town. It has been based on the analysis of predispositions and limitations of the existing exploitation (particularly in terms of recreation and tourism), the state of land ownership and legal regulations. The analyzed areas are located within the Natura 2000’s Special Protection Area for bird protection. This limits developments which might negatively influence the local species. Moreover, the majority of the waterfront is the Vistula’s floodplain. However, the natural character of the waterfront, i.e. greenery, including forests, landscapes and the very location on river banks, gives a wide range of opportunities for the development of leisure, recreation and tourism. The analysis points out the areas with the biggest potential for such functions. Most of them are already used for different forms of leisure – both for citizens and tourists. The following areas have been selected as the most predestined to exploitation for recreation and tourism: 1. Port Drzewny (Timber Port) – to be adapted for regatta courses and a water sports center. 2. Port Zimowy (Winter Port) – to be adapted as marina. 3. Bulwar Filadelfijski (Philadelphia Boulevard) – to be used for recreation and leisure, and adapted for more intensive water tourism. 4. Kępa Bazarowa (Bazarowa Isle) and ruins of Dybowski Castle – the Isle to be used as parkland; the Mała Wisła (Little Vistula) needs to be cleared; the ruins of Dybowski Castle to be adapted for recreation and leisure.

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Figure 1. Port Zimowy (Winter Port)

Figure 2. Bulwar Filadelfijski (Philadelphia Boulevard)

Figure 3. Kępa Bazarowa (Bazarowa Isle)

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5. The mouth of the Drwęca R iver a nd a n open-a ir museum in Kaszczorek district – the first to be used as a canoe mooring place and the latter as a centre for general recreation and leisure. 6. The waterfront in the area of Czerniewice district – to be used as a recreation and leisure center. 7. The waterfront in the area of Winnica Street a nd Fort I – the former to be used as parkland and the latter to be adapted for recreation and leisure purposes. Besides improving the functionality of the existing recreational areas and creating new ones in the selected riverside sites, accompanied by their availability from the other town areas, it is also important to promote various forms of leisure. This should include both ‘by the water’ and ‘on the water’ activities advertised nationwide, regionally and locally. Local authorities, non-governmental organizations and other bodies should start various cyclical initiatives based on the historical origin of the town developed on the Vistula and thanks to the Vistula. This might include the rafters tradi-

tion, city-fortress tradition, festivities, fairs, light-andsound shows. These events should be strictly connected with the restoration of tourism and water recreation, mainly by: 1. a wide range of river cruises and sailing activities (motor boats, old boats replicas and rafts), 2. other forms of leisure based on available accommodation and gastronomy, also on moored boats, 3. popularization of water sports and water tourism (mainly canoeing) with preparation of essential waterfront based, sport and recreation centers, riverside hotels, etc.

Figure 4. The mouth of the Drwęca River and an open-air museum in Kaszczorek district

Before the programme on restoring the Vistula river to the city was introduced, some Figure 5. The waterfront in the area of Czerniewice waterfront areas underwent a district series of studies. This process enabled specific programmes and spatial concepts on the development of recreation and tourism to be put forward.

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GIS and other visual data sources for schools Sebastian Tyszkowski Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of Polish Academy of Sciences ul. Kopernika 19, 87-100 Toruń, Poland [email protected] In the last few years a clear trend towards increasing attractiveness of teaching school subjects has been recorded. With an extremely dynamic growth of ICT and its accessibility, it is becoming a major tool used to raise interest in science. The greatest opportunities in this regard are for natural sciences, physics and chemistry. Geography, which at first stayed behind, also is also noting an increasing interest in ICT. During national educational meetings, such as the ones organized by the Association of Polish Adult Educators, and European initiatives, such as Herodot, use of modern teaching tools such as Geographic Information System (GIS) and other sources of visual data is encouraged. GIS techniques are used for introducing, collecting, processing and visualising geographical data in order to support decision-making and analyze spatial relationships between elements. The development of GIS began in the 1960s at Harvard University, USA, where Professor Howard T. Fisher founded the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis (1964). In the 1980s the Environmental System Research Institute (ESRI) was established in California. ESRI introduced the first version of ArcInfo, which soon became one of the leading GIS systems on the market. Until the mid-1990s GIS was mainly used by large corporations and advanced laboratories. Then, as availability and functionality of PCs increased, GIS has become a tool for an individual user. In the last years, numerous applications facilitating availability of GIS tools for education were launched. They include open source software (see http://opensourcegis.org/). However, the most popular GIS software used in environmental studies is ArcGIS produced by ESRI. It has a wide system of extensions and additional applications delivering highly specialized analyses. ESRI also decided to meet a non-commercial user’s needs by offering a free GIS viewer for loading and reading data created by other users. The basic GIS data format for the ArcGIS system are files with the extension "shape" (*.shp). Their main feature is a vector data format which refers to geographical

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coordinates and data tables. One of its tools is free ArcGIS Explorer (see Figures 1, 2). This application provides quick access to services and resources, like GIS mapping services which support 2D and 3D. It also offers support for geoprocessing services, such as spatial analysis. The new version of ArcGIS Explorer enables its users to adapt maps to their needs. Moreover, it makes it possible to use effective methods of transmitting information about the properties of objects on maps and move it immediately to target areas around the globe. Other improvements include support for KML files (*.kml, *.kmz used by Google Earth), new navigation options, access to map layer properties, and advanced performance management. An interesting part of this software is the ArcGIS Explorer Resource Center. It is a place where users can find maps and layers. Users can also browse the ArcGIS Explorer Blog, which is a source of most recent information and examples of how ArcGIS Explorer is used by GIS professionals in their daily work. The program enables the users to add shape files and tiff, zoom maps in and out, move the view, use a tool for data identification, use powerful search tools, print out composition maps, measure distances and surfaces, use hyperlinks, search for objects, view "Table attributes " as well as enable and disable various layers in the "Table attributes".

Figure 1. Arc Explorer in use: a screenshot with a map for spatial planning

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The latest versions of ArcGIS Explorer and the ArcGIS Explorer Resource Center, are available at www.esri.com/arcgisexplorer. It is also possible to obtain a lot of other free GIS data directly via the Internet. It is a result of large projects such as Corine Land Cover (see Figure 3) which contains data on land use for nearly the whole of Europe, including settlement plans. With the growing number of Smartphone users a new tool for geography education is emerging. Currently, many phones have functions of Global Positioning System (GPS). As a result, several software developers offer interesting solutions operating at the contact between GPS and GIS. A good example of such a tool is GPS Tuner (see Figure 4). This software makes it possible to record data while working outdoors followed by further observation on the desktop. The software stores data in files of *.kml and *.kmz, which can be easily developed in Google Earth. The presented software makes up only part of many possible GIS tools and other visual data sources useful in geography education. Techniques which were too complicated until recently, are widely available today. Additionally, all the tools are accompanied by tutorials and application examples. Properly used by a teacher, GIS tools will create and strengthen the image of exciting geography.

Figure 2. Arc Explorer in use: a screenshot with a map of hurricanes in USA in 2005

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Figure 3. Corine Land Cover 2000 in use: land use around Warsaw

Figure 4. GPS Tuner in use: screens of a mobile GPS receiver

References Websites: http://www.esripolska.com.pl/ http://www.gisplay.pl http://www.gis-net.pl http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/COR0-landcover http://schools.esriuk.com/index.asp http://www.mapcruzin.com/download-free-arcgis-shapefiles.htm http://www.gpstuner.com

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Differences in perception of Warsaw city centre among the students of Meridian International School Małgorzata Byca Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies,University of Warsaw ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 30, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland [email protected] Key words: perception, urban space, city centre

Introduction Topics related with perception are often investigated by psychologists, sociologists, architects and geographers. That is why in literature we can come across different definitions of the term. Perception studies in geography can be boiled down to several traditions. In the 1960s and 1970s of the 20th century Thomas Saarinen working on geographical study of environmental hazards started a new trend in environmental investigation, so called environmental psychology. That was the beginning of geography of perception (Bartnicka, 1989), according to which the main aim of investigation are people’s subjective perceptions of the surrounding environment. There was also a second stream of research which developed in historical geography and the study of geographical thought, that is the variety of human perceptions of the environment as well as the importance of geographical ideas in explaining past human behaviour (Gold 1980). In this investigation, perception of a city space plays the most significant role. Economic geographers developed behavioural geography in which the study of environmental perception played the central role, and topics like migration, commuting, place perception and mental maps became important foci of research. This third stream was inspired by Kevin Lynch (1960). In Polish literature we can also find an extensive collection of literature (e.g. Bartnicka 1986, Libura 1990, Szkurłat 2004). In this trend we can find a great interest in perception of urban structure as well as its single elements, treated as symbols or landmarks. We can also define perception as a form of interpretation of human-environment relationship, as a part of recognition and evaluation processes (Lisowski, 2007). The subject of the research fits perfectly into general behavioural geography trend, in which perception of urban space is one of the subjects of study. The main aim of this investigation is evaluation and observation of urban space by the secondary high school students.

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Aim of an investigation In literature we can meet all kinds of approaches towards a fieldwork as a method of teaching. Despite the fact that a fieldwork is considered as one of the most effective of those, a lot of teachers themselves admit that it is very hard for them to organize a lesson in the field within teaching hours. An 'Individual Inquiry' approach towards a fieldwork can be a simple solution here*. In such a case, students have the opportunity to work on a topic given by the teacher. The teachers act as supervisors and advisors, providing equipment, advice and ensuring safe working conditions. The described investigation can be a part of students’ homework. Lack of time and extended syllabus content cannot be then an excuse from a fieldwork itself. Thanks to this method we encourage students to use theoretical knowledge in everyday life. In sociology, perception is regarded as a tool in interpretation of space according to its form (elements which organize space), function (assessment of utility) and meaning (a source of impression and emotions). The reason for bringing the following subject into consideration is its existence in the IB Diploma Programme. Students take a great interest in urban land use models and try to apply them to Warsaw. As an example we can discuss the Burgess urban land use model (Figure 1). Although they realize that those models were created in order to describe English or American cities and we cannot fully apply them to Polish ones, some of their elements can be helpful to understand, at least partially, urban processes in Warsaw. As this city was completely destroyed after World War II it was rebuilt in two different directions. One includes reconstruction of the historic old town, and the other rebuilding the city according to socialist city planning assumptions.

Figure 1. The Burgess urban land use model Source: http://www.bennett.karoo.net/topics/landuse.html * Byca M., 2010. The Służewiecki Stream – a small river in a big city…, [in:] Fieldwork in Geography bilingual education [ed.] Donert K., Charzyński P., Podgórski Z., Geography in European higher education, 14, p. 86-94.

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Another more recent aspect of development of Warsaw is connected with the dynamic growth of modern Central Business District. These aspects may cause some difficulties with indentifying where actually the city centre in Warsaw is according to its citizens. The aim of the investigation was to check how the perception of Warsaw city centre differed among the International Baccalaureate (IB) students of Meridian International School. Methods of data collection Perception methods of investigation have changed over time. In the 1960s Lynch used mental maps in order to collect data concerning space functions (utility). Sztompka (2005) used photography as a way of investigating social phenomena and Mularczyk and Angiel (2010) first used photography as the method of perception investigation in geography. Students had to take a photograph of a point which they considered to be the city centre (1st, 2nd & 3rd choice) and the attributes which, according to them, describe a city centre. Results 2nd High School Students submitted 68 photographs in total. Analysing the photographs we can easily state that most of them, taken by girls as well as boys, show a very famous landmark in Warsaw, which is The Palace of Culture and Science (Figure 2). This building was built after the World War II and, recently, has become a part of the Central Business District, being still the highest building in the city.

Figure 2. The Palace of Culture and Science Photo: R. Pietrasieńska

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Figures 3, 4 and 5 show the girls’ first-, second- and third-choice of Warsaw city centre (considered as a point). The Palace of Culture and Science appeared in all girls’ answers, and in most cases was indicated as a first-choice point. A second most often photographed landmark was “Metro Centrum” underground station (also mentioned by all responses). The Marriott Hotel and the building of Main Railway Station are points situated opposite to each other in about 50 meter distance. It is worth to point out that all first and second choice photographs were taken in the recently built Central Business District of Warsaw.

The only point situated in the Old Town area, the Zygmunt III Waza Column (Figure 6), was mentioned several times as a third-choice city centre point.

Figure 3. First choice city centre point for girls Source: Students own research

Figure 4. Second choice city centre point for girls Source: Students own research

Figure 5. Third choice city centre point for girls Source: Students own research

O n t he ot h e r h a nd , boys’ first, second and third answers were more diverse (Figures 7, 8 and 9) and the Zygmunt III Waza Column was mentioned as their first or second choice. The Palace of Culture and Science was in most cases indicated as a first-choice landmark, but did not appear as a second- and third-choice Figure 6. The Zygmunt III Waza Column (The Old Town point. A very similar situ- in Warsaw) Photo: A. Buda ation was observed with the “Metro Centrum” underground station, as boys considered it as a city centre point only as a second choice. Although we can state that both for girls and boys the city centre is situated rather in The Palace of Culture and Science point, we can also observe gender-related differences between their perception of the city centre. Students themselves admitted that girls’ perception of it is rather related with shopping area.

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Figure 7. First choice city centre point for boys Source: Students own research

Figure 8. Second choice city centre point for boys Source: Students own research

Figure 9. Third choice city centre point for boys Sou rce: St udents ow n research

Conclusion People’s perception of places and regions is not uniform. Because people vary in their cultural and social experiences, their understanding and perception of urban environments at various scales is influenced by these factors. People’s perception of Warsaw city centre has changed over time. The Old Town area is no longer the only place which they consider to be the centre. Recent development of a modern CBD has caused that the city centre has extended. The presented investigation will not give us information about the actual city centre but students’ perception of it. According to this sample study, we are not able of course to make general statements, but teachers may find such an investigation useful because it exemplifies an effective and interesting way of teaching. References 1. Angiel J., Mularczyk M., 2010. Percepcja elementów socjalistycznych w przestrzeni miejskiej, [in:] M. Barwiński (ed.). Obszary metropolitalne we współczesnym środowisku geograficznym. 58 Zjazd PTG, T. 2, Łódź, p. 157-165 2. Bartnicka M., 1989. Perception of environment in geographical studies, Przegląd Zagranicznej Literatury Geograficznej, 2, p. 5-27. 3. Byca M., 2010. The Służewiecki Stream – a small river in a big city…, [in:] Fieldwork in Geography bilingual education [ed.] Donert K., Charzyński P., Podgórski Z., Geography in European higher education, 14, p. 86-94. 4. Gold J.R., 1980. An introduction to behavioral geography, Oxford.

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Exploring American Schools TEA Program Anna Krzemińska-Kaczyńska* European College in Kracow ul. Kazimierza Wielkiego 33, 30–074 Kraków, Poland [email protected] Abstract In my article I would like to present three following aspects: Teaching Excellence and Achievement Programme (TEA) experience in a nutshell, Sample Students` work on service learning and an investigation on gender equality (IB fieldwork). The mentioned topics are evidence that as a teacher I see the need of continuing the trainings and taking my geography and methodology knowledge to a higher level. Besides, I believe that presenting our experiences we can constitute a great motivation and inspiration for others. What is more Human Geography constitutes the base for every human being to understand the world and the processes which have affected it.

Introduction What is the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA)? The Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA), a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State provides secondary school teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), social studies, math, and science with unique opportunities to develop expertise in their subject areas, enhance their teaching skills, and increase their knowledge about the United States. TEA brings outstanding secondary school teachers from Eurasia, South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Near East, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere to the United States to participate in a six-week professional development program which includes coursework, curriculum development, and effective teaching methodologies. This six-week program takes place at a selected U.S. university and includes a three-week internship at a U.S. secondary school so the participants can develop * Holds a degree in English teaching as a second language and in Geography. At the moment teaches English and Geography in IB classes at the European College in Kraków; works in summertime as a teacher on cruise ships at Princess Cruise Line Ships. More information can be found on the websites: https://sites.google.com/site/annaintealincoln2010/home http://www.ke.edu.pl

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their practical teaching skills in a U.S. classroom. The TEA Program also gives U.S. middle school and high school teachers of these fields the opportunity to travel to the sending countries for two weeks to collaborate on joint projects and create linkages and learning partnerships between U.S. and international schools. This program is administered by IREX and more information can be found at http://irex.org/programs/tea/index.asp My American Experience in a nutshell Just the news of being chosen as a TEA program finalist was a new experience for me. I applied for the scholarship in April 2009 and in February 2010 I found myself in the USA. I had to pass a TOEFL exam well, be interviewed by methodologists from the USA and Poland, participate in the pre-departure orientation and also do several check-ups. My 6-week program included: coursework and intensive training in teaching methodologies, lesson planning, and teaching strategies for the participants' home environment; the use of computers, the Internet, word processing as teaching tools; a 2-week internship at a U.S. secondary school – East High School in Lincoln; visits to local schools, NGOs, and local government offices; trips to U.S. cultural sites; full academic support.

Figure 1. Chancellor Harvey Perlman among teachers – participants of the TEA Program

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The scholarship started in Washington D.C. where with around 100 teachers from 37 countries in the world I participated in the introductory session devoted to culture, tolerance and TEA program introductory session for TEA Fall 2010 Cohort. Once I found myself among international teachers I realized that being tolerant might constitute a big challenge for all participants. There were teachers originated from many exotic countries. They definitely seemed to be a great source of information about the world issues and cultural heritage. With 24 other teachers from Armenia, Estonia, Bangladesh, Russia, Tajikistan, El Salwador, Nicaragua, Colombia, India, Georgia we were selected to spend our scholarship at Nebraska University in Lincoln. Another 60 went to Universities in California, Georgia and Florida. In fact, everything started to become more exciting when we got there. The representatives of different countries suddenly met together in our place and lived almost two months next to each other. Having different cultural or political life experiences we were put together and started building lasting relationships that promote international understanding and collaboration between U.S. and international teachers and students. One can imagine what a surprise it was when Georgians` relatives discovered that their mothers-teachers were working together with Russians and they got on well with one another. Indeed, we had a chance to share our ideas and teaching experiences from the first day and continue to the end! After going to Lincoln all 24 participants have become really close and now we are really good friends and who are constantly in touch with each other. A great community has been formed where a lot of different nations were introduced to one another. In fact, we spent many hours at the university. Having a lot of practical sessions and getting involved in the learning process we became more skillful at using IT resources. All university teaching staff made us feel better and more prepared to share our newly gained experiences once we got home. We also worked in groups and pairs even after sessions, in the evenings creating presentations, lesson plans and movies! To check our teaching experience and show cultural aspects in practice the professors at the university organized many practical sessions for us. For example, each participant had to do a 15-minute micro-teaching session in their mother tongue. I taught some Polish using Geography content to my international friends in order to present the tools I use while teaching Geography and English to my students at European College. The teaching university staff graded us, gave us some suggestions and those short movies were loaded on You Tube platform and now can be found on the websites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG_CS2wfSFw (or one can write my full name on YouTube to find them).

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We gathered together very often to spend our free evenings (when there were any ) to share our experiences to talk about teaching, school facilities, ways of overcoming prejudices, daily and family life. We learnt about ourselves. One can only imagine my friend MD from Bangladesh who has around 120 students in his class, being seated in threes in a row. As a matter of fact, when they take exams he spends nights and days to correct and grade students` work. As a result, the only method he has been using so far was lecturing to them. Apart from many educational and cultural differences and surprises from others, I constituted a kind of attraction for some TEA fellows too, especially my blond hair . They took pictures of me and with me to show a blond white woman. There were some hot disputes such as why WE-women could participate in the scholarship and leave our families, husbands at home. Such an issue wouldn`t have crossed our minds (to those women who are used to travelling) if it hadn’t been for TEA fellows and talks. We also organized cultural and ethnic evenings to present our countries to American teachers and their families. We had a chance to stay overnight in an American family to get familiar with American family life too. Unforgettable time, I spent at East High School in Lincoln where for two weeks I taught Geography with my mentor teacher Chuck Morgan**. It was one of the best experiences I have had there. Students at East High School were eager to know me and Poland better. There were some students whose relatives were Polish or who visited Poland. They wore – especially for me – because I was the only Pole in Lincoln – T-shirts with Polish maps or words. I gave them lessons about my country, school and geography issues too. Teachers at school and teaching staff at the university were so nice and open to us: ready to share their experience and knowledge with us. They also contributed to improving our teaching in participating countries by preparing us to serve as teacher leaders, equipped to apply and share our experience and skills with our colleagues and students upon returning home. At the end of the program we visited various schools: state, rural and private ones. We met educational boards of Nebraska State to broaden our minds on the school organization systems. ** Chuck Morgan – For the past 16 years he has taught Geography in the Lincoln Public School District. In his first year, he was part of a three-person team that wrote the standards and expectations for the new geography curriculum; he also helped select the textbook used by the district. Since then he has continued to be involved in making an impact in his district and on his children’s education in the area of geography. Eight years ago, he left the classroom for nine weeks as the sole writer for the new 9th grade geography curriculum and standards that were implemented district wide. Today, he is continuing to work with a panel of high school geography teachers that are focusing on the direction of today's discipline of Geography.

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Besides, as a International TEA alumni I have had the opportunity to apply for small grants to benefit my home schools and communities. (These grants are awarded on a competitive basis to alumni who design outstanding projects to improve local secondary education. Alumni may implement a variety of education projects either as individuals or in collaboration with fellow program alumni or U.S. colleagues. Through the Alumni Small Grants program, IREX encourages alumni to leverage their experience and knowledge, put their ideas into action, and create change www.irex.org). I have been awarded a small grant from IREX*** and received 2500 US $ to publish the book about education in TEA Fellows countries in April 2011. Our blog: http://teabookproject.blogspot.com/ Being a TEA alumni also means taking an opportunity to host a U.S. teacher for 2 weeks. Indeed, I have applied for a U.S. teacher to visit my school and IREX will be hosting two US teachers Allyson Daly and Denise Ghiloni in February 2011 in Krakow. Finally, the scholarship taught me some modern teaching methods I can use in my school with my students. Once I got home in March 2010, I started working with a service learning project I wrote entitled Migration: Why do people (we) migrate? I have enclosed its description and sample students` work below. Besides, working with IB students I work on various projects connected with the syllabus, covering Human Geography topics. Recently, my IB students worked on the following topic Gender Equality – IB student investigation. 1. Topic: Migration: Why do people (we) migrate? Lesson plan There are lots of nations at the European College in Krakow, Poland. Each year they change and `migrate` as it happens in everyday life. Those who have never migrated or met foreigners in their country cannot realize how much migration and immigrants effect their community. By this service learning students will learn about civic responsibility by giving back to their community and will gain an understanding of global problems at the local level (in the city of Krakow). Description of the project: Migration In this project, students will read units from their course book Migration concerning why migration happens and about the economic and cultural effects of migration. Students will read the leaflet from Małopolska Provincial Office in Krakow which includes migration database from Malopolska Region. The teacher will *** www.irex.org

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engage the students in a discussion about the readings to understand the issues and will help the students learn about the immigrant population in their own community. For the service aspect of the project, students will volunteer at a local immigrant services organization and write a report about the experience. The report will be placed in a school library and loaded on the school website. General Goal Students gain an understanding of why immigration happens and relate this knowledge to their own personal experience and to the immigrant population in their own community. They realize that they are an important part of community even though they are not citizens of Poland. Service Goals By volunteering, students will be able to utilize their knowledge of the issue of migration in general and the specifics about themselves and their local immigrant community to help address the local challenges. Learning Outcomes ▶ Students can analyse how migration affects the school, social, economic and political systems in the host country and their country of origin. ▶ Student realize that they are a crucial part of the community ▶ Students understand push and pull factors in migration ▶ Students can articulate the connections between local and global problems. Procedure Before Class: Students should read the books/articles suggested by the teacher. They can also use extra ones if they feel like it. After reading they should be able to answer the following questions: Homework questions: 1) What is the difference between a “push” and “pull” factor? Give an example of each (you can use your personal experiences). 2) List some of the economic and cultural effects of immigration. 3) What skills are needed to succeed in Krakow? Where can immigrants go to gain these skills? 4) What positive and negative aspects did you notice when you first came to Krakow? Classroom discussion and activity: Discussion: I will spend the first 5-10 minutes in class discussing the homework assignment. Then bring the students to the library and have them research the

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immigrant population in their own community. Research questions will be: 1) Number of immigrants in their own community and, if possible, country of origin. 2) Why are immigrants coming to your community? Are there “push” or “pull” factors or both? 3) What are the different institutions involved in helping the immigrants in your community. 4) How does your community differ from Krakow? Is it more or less diverse? Service Activity: The whole length of the volunteer period for the service is up to students. In fact the service activity will depend on the needs of the organization, but students from their perspective might know what is most needed while coming to a new country. Some activities for sure that I will organize are (for students` choice): ▶ A book drive where each student donates a copy of his or her favourite book ▶ On-going tutoring on the weekend or weeknights with immigrants offices ▶ Tour-guide showing the most important places in Krakow (the first aid center, home office, embassy) ▶ ... other suggested by students helpful activity Assessment Students write a 2-page report or a diary about the volunteer experience. The report should include a summary of the volunteer activity and reflections sections. In the reflection section, students should address the following questions 1) What did you enjoy most about your volunteer experience? 2) What did you enjoy least about your volunteer experience? 3) Do you feel this organization meets the needs of the immigrant community? (e.g. provides needed school facilities, helps to find a job) 4) What else needs to be done to address these needs in the community and how can you help? 5) How to encourage other students to give a helping hand to those who might be in need? 6) How much do you understand immigrants` situation? Is it similar to yours somehow?

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STUDENT` WORK SAMPLE Service Project Dąbrówka Żarska IB1 student, European College in Kraków GOAL: By volunteering, I will be able to utilize my knowledge of the issue of migration in general and the specifics about myself and my local immigrant community to help address the local challenges. (...) 1. What skills are needed to succeed in Cracow? Where can immigrants go to gain these skills? In order for an immigrant to be able to succeed in Cracow, I think it is very important that they know at least a few basic words in English. Many tourists from all over the world come and visit Cracow and many are from England and America, so it pays off (literally in some cases) to have a way of communicate with them. Thankfully, anyone can find a language school in Cracow because they’re practically on every corner and there’s usually one next to another. Just like anywhere else, it’s good if a person is confident, social, negotiable, strategic, productive, imaginative and inventive and a leader. Anyone can get all of these skills if they are ambitious and self motivated. 2. What positive and negative aspects did you notice when you first came to Cracow? Some positive aspects were the clean streets, it’s unique architecture in the main square, the diversity of all of the people, the busyness of the streets and constant events that were planned which brought people closer to the city and to their culture as well as other foreign cultures. If you go into the main square you will find shops and restaurants from all over the world neatly placed one next to another with no vicious competition between businesses. The busy streets signaled that the city was alive and running and that something was always going on and being planned. Events such as concerts and free open museums attract people from all over, not just those who live nearby. There aren’t really any negative aspects about Cracow that specifically target the city itself but in general big cities like Cracow. For example, the fact that the river Wisła is so close to the biggest parts of the city that when a flood occurs, all of the transportation services become not available and people are forced to sometimes even evacuate their homes. This disturbs the peace, balance and harmony within

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the city which causes unnecessary confusion and even damage to the land and the risk of water contamination rises. One other negative aspect of Cracow is how expensive it can be. Prices of houses, apartments, bills, clothes and food can sometimes be several times higher than what you’d find in other big cities in Poland. My Service Learning When I started this project, I wasn’t exactly sure how I could help someone who had immigrated to this country. My experience ended up being something completely unexpected and the end result was more positive and effective then I could have ever thought it would be. My immigrant was Krystyna Mickolajczyk, a 74-year old widow who was born in Opole, Poland and immigrated to Toronto, Canada and then several years later to Cracow, Poland. She has a son, Marek, who now lives in London, England and works as a computer programmer. Her husband, Bronisław, died just 4 years ago due to liver and kidney failure. The traumatic event of her husband dying and her son moving away had left Mrs. Mickolajczyk battling depression and a list of other mental-emotional disorders which had left her “immobile”, so to speak, meaning that she was not able to function normally and do normal everyday things like chores and grocery shopping. I met Mrs. Mickolajczyk through my aunt and grandma since they were both good old friends with her. I was nervous upon meeting her since I envisioned her being a grumpy, moody, sad, poor, lonely woman and as if I were psychic, that’s exactly what she was like. Not a single, slight smile was visible on her old, tired, wrinkled face. Her home was dark and gloomy with only wisps of sun rays peering through the closed, dusty blinds that hung from the windows. In the first few moments, I had already started doubting myself and couldn’t picture making any progress with her nor making any difference in her life, and immediately labeled myself as a failure. After we just briefly introduced ourselves and asked each other a few questions, we spent the rest of the time just sitting in silence, sipping tea and watching the news on TV. Once it was time for me to go back home, I thought to myself that I would never go back there. Just the thought of having to sit through another minute in that awkward and uncomfortable silence ran chills down my spine but I knew that I couldn’t give up. I knew that somehow, someway I could bring joy back into this woman’s life. She couldn’t see it anymore but I had to show her that life was worth living and that she is a strong woman who had overcome some very hard hardships which is not something everyone can do. I saw her again a week later and I brought along some homemade apple pie and cheesecake. She didn’t seem the least bit interested in my offerings but tried a small

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piece of each anyway. She raised her eyebrows and showing a mixed look of being surprised and lightly delighted. That’s when I asked her if she enjoyed baking and/ or cooking because in my family all of the woman do and they’re all quite good at it. The look of pleasure that glowed on her face vanished and she just grumbled and gave me a firm “No…” with a lingering “…not anymore.” “Oh?” I said, “Why don’t you enjoy them anymore?” I asked. She let out a loud, sad and annoyed sigh and started telling me how that’s something that she and her husband used to do together and how he was a much better cook then she was and no matter how hard she tried, she could never cook up anything as delicious as he could. The kitchen just brings back some wonderful memories that remind her of something that once was but will never be again. At that point, tears began streaming down her cheeks like rivers along valleys and through all of the emotions, she tried to say how much she missed him and how no one can bring him back or help her get over his death. She figured that even her own son didn’t love her since he left her all alone in her own misery. I sat down by her side and tried to comfort her but she just turned away and asked me kindly to leave her alone and let her deal with the pain by herself. I explained to her how that was not going to happen and that that wasn’t an option for her anymore. She couldn’t just keep everything bottled up inside forever. I promised her that I would be there for her whenever she needed to talk and that everything was going to be okay. I handed her a tissue, sat and patted her back, and then later went home. My mind raced with thoughts and ideas of what I could do to make her happy again and help her move on with her life. Another week had passed since I last visited Mrs. Mickolajczyk. Her house looked just as depressing, messy, gloomy and uncared for with not a single plant in sight as the week before. This time I brought with me a small daffodil plant and a miniature palm tree which I nicely arranged on a windowsill and in a nice sunny corner. Mrs. Mickolajczyk didn’t feel well and was worn-out and drowsy so I insisted that she take a nap while I do some chores around the house. I first started by shedding some light onto the place and opened up all of the windows. It was pleasing to feel the warm wind blow all throughout the house. The light revealed how uncared for the home really was. There was a thick build up of dust, dirt and grime everywhere. I decided to get my hands dirty and get to work. I scrubbed every square inch of the place. I vacuumed the carpets, washed the dishes, sorted through piles of mystery junk, swept the floors, set the laundry and even made some late afternoon lunch for the both of us. When Mrs. Mickolajczyk saw what I had done she was absolutely gob smacked. Her eyes grew big and her mouth dropped with shock. She couldn’t believe it. Her home hadn’t looked so spotless since before her son left. She couldn’t stop thanking me and insisted that I stay a bit longer and share a cup of tea with her. I couldn’t say no. We sat outside on her balcony since it was a rather warm

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and sunny day. She had immediately turned cheerful and I could see a young free spirit inside of her just slowly started to peak through her aged exterior. We began chatting about our experiences in Toronto, Canada since we both recently moved to Cracow from there. She lived there for 15 years. I was there for only 6 months but we had similar opinions about the city and life there. She had a comfortable lifestyle and was happy. When her husband died, she had to move back to Poland to plan his funeral and pick out a burial site. Since he came from Cracow she figured it’d be best he be buried here. Having to move to Poland was very difficult for her and she is still trying to adjust. With the expensive bills and low retirement rates, she’s been barely getting by and can’t afford much. All of this combined resulted in her having to go to therapy for the past 3 years in order to control her depression, anxiety, self-hatred and violent mood swings. She has to take 13 different pills a day for the rest of her life in order to keep her hormones in balance and prevent her from going into those dark, dark places in her mind. With the big move and his mother’s emotional and mental breakdown, her son felt helpless and thought that he couldn’t do anything so he set out abroad. She has limited contact with him and hasn’t seen him in 2 years. He does however send his mother generous amounts of money to help her survive and pay the bills. That’s what hurt her the most. The one person that she had left in her life had gone far, far away. That’s when it hit me. I had an idea of how I could bring Mrs. Mickolajczyk and her son, Marek, back together. Or at least, partially back together. Mrs. Mickolajczyk, like other people of her age, wasn’t very dependent upon technology (she barely even watched TV!). Therefore, she didn’t own a computer and didn’t have access to the internet. So about 3 days later, I brought over to her house my laptop and wireless internet USB. I plugged in and turned everything on and launched my newly installed Skype program. Mrs. Mickolajczyk looked rather horrified once she saw all of the cables and flashing lights and practically fell out of her seat when she saw herself on the video webcam. She was clueless as to what was going on but my plan was just about as close as she and Marek could get at that point. I scheduled a video chat session with Marek using Skype which allowed him and his mother to talk freely for as long as they wanted while being able to see each other. I contacted Marek a few days earlier after noticing his number listed in Mrs. Mickolajczyk’s address book that she had left open on the counter. The moment Mrs. Mickolajczyk saw her son dressed up in a fancy, elegant suit sitting at his office desk, tears of joy filled her eyes. She couldn’t believe it. Her son was right in front of her as if he was actually in the room. They chatted for 3 hours! Mrs. Mickolajczyk couldn’t stop commenting on how her son’s appearance had changed and how she is fortunate to have such a successful son. Their goodbyes were bittersweet but I knew that this wasn’t going to be the last time that I put my successful plan into action.

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Over the following 2 weeks, I visited Mrs. Mickolajczyk every 2-3 days so that she could continue video chatting with Marek. Their conversations grew a bit shorter (only 45 minutes long) since he had to work. During the time that she chatted with him I would do chores around the house, cook and sometimes do a bit of studying. Then one day, Mrs. Mickolajczyk told me that she had some wonderful news. Thanks to their conversations over Skype, Mrs. Mickolajczyk and Marek were able to express their thoughts and feelings “face to face” which enabled them to deal with past problems and plan a bright future. They discussed about finally getting together and going on vacation to Italy. They haven’t been on a vacation since Marek finished college! I insisted that I help them plan their trip. They settled on the date and time as well as the hotels they’ll be staying at and what tourist attractions they’re going to see. They promised themselves that after their trip, they would contact each other more often and that Marek would come visit her in Poland now that her house was all cleaned up and in order. In the last few days that I spent with Mrs. Mickolajczyk, she prepared a huge dinner, big enough to feed a small army. She told me that it was just a small way of her showing her appreciation for everything that I had done for her. Not only did I help her live a normal life by doing everyday tasks for her but I also managed to bring her and her son, Marek, closer together and create a stronger bond between them. I never in a million years thought that I’d have the power to do that but I guess that’s what my time with Mrs. Mickolajczyk has shown me, that if you just believe in yourself and strive to succeed and make a strong effort to accomplish your goals, then even the impossible can become possible. I will miss her dearly because deep down inside she was a very kind and sweet woman and I just hope that she has a splendid time in Italy. QUESTIONS: 1. What did you enjoy most about your experience? I liked the fact that I was able to help someone who I had never come in contact with and will probably never see again. I enjoyed learning about that person in need and why they are where they are in life. It gave me the feeling that I was an unsung hero to someone. It gave me immense satisfaction to serve someone and help them achieve what they thought was impossible, but at the same time I was happy to get away from constant studying and indulge in something that helped me to relax. I thought it was fun. I really appreciated being able to see their face light up and receiving "thank-yous" daily for even the smallest things and knowing that I'm doing something worthwhile with my time. I was taught that in reality, every little bit of help does make a difference. A good deed goes a long way. Part of the experience has been figuring out that I have the power to help others and the rest

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of it is seeing that influence making a positive difference in someone's life. I liked the joy of being able to make somebody feel better and to support them whenever needed. I helped this person help themselves. I got to see for myself things what most of the world has been ignoring and I got the chance to reach my hand out to this one person. I hope that others will see that help does not only come from giving money, but that there is a lot more that you can do if you want to. This experience has given me memories that will last me a lifetime and has helped me realize that it is very rewarding to help others and I developed a sense of pride and accomplishment which was my greatest reward. 2. What did you enjoy least about your experience? I honestly can’t think of anything negative about my experience. Perhaps, having to do not only do my own chores but then also someone else’s, did get annoying at times especially after a long day at school but I think that that taught me responsibility and it allowed me to prove not only to others but also to myself that I can take care of myself and manage my time wisely and efficiently. At some points I did get a bit stressed, not only because I had to take care of my needs like studying and doing homework but I also then had to deal with my person’s problems which sometimes felt like it was way too much to handle and that I was in way over my head. I also think that the fact that I will never know what would’ve happened if I was able to take care of my person for a longer period of time is a bit of an issue. Would I manage to change their life again but this time in a different way? The fact of the unknown is eating away at me and this question has stayed in my head to this day. 3. What else needs to be done to address these needs in the community and how can you help? People in the community could come together to discuss what problems they’ve noticed and if they or someone they know needs any sort of help. The people could then decide on what problem to tackle first and then join together to raise awareness of this issue by for example, making and handing out flyers that say when and where the group will meet up and what they plan on doing and what their goal is. The more people that find out about these problems will set a greater chance that they’ll be motivated enough to do something about them and tackle them head on. 4. How to encourage other students to give a helping hand to those who might be in need? I would first ask them if there was ever a time that they or someone they knew needed help and what if anything happened. I'd then ask them if that made them think helping others was important and in what ways they can/will help. This

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would make them realize that if they or someone close to them ever needed help they’d want someone to be there for them and they’d see the importance of reaching out to those in need. I could share my and other people’s experiences with volunteering and show them that it’s fun, rewarding and the outcomes can be remarkable and life changing. 5. How much do you understand immigrant’s situation? Is it similar to yours somehow? I can perfectly understand what my person has gone through because I’ve moved on more than one occasion and I know how hard it can be to adjust to one particular place. I too was surprised at how things like the bills for example work. In other parts of the world, you pay each month for the amount that you’ve used up not the same amount each month whether you go over the limit or are well under it. This can be difficult for some people to manage their expenses and keep up, especially with constant raises. Also just the look and feel of the city is different then what I’m used to and so I feel a bit out of place, like I’m on some distant planet. For the years that I’ve been away from my closest family, it has resulted in me being a bit distant from my family members and our relationship is different than from what it should be. But just like Mrs. Mickolajczyk, chats on the phone and getting together has helped in bringing us closer together and we can catch up on all of those years lost being apart.

IB STUDENT` INVESTIGATION SAMPLE Topic: Gender equality: The Role of Women in 5 countries Description Students of the IB Geography Course were asked to do the investigation presenting the issue of gender equality. Their task was to write the hypothesis and deal with their project individually. It was IB students` third fieldwork where they were given much more responsibility and duties than in previous tasks. While working on the investigation they could use their course book Planet Geography and other found by them resources. They had to do some gender calculations according to the clues they were given during the geography lessons. They were working on the data collection, questionnaires, interviews and a final report for 4 weeks. Finally, their work was presented to classmates. The included below investigation was done by IB1 student Natalia Dębska and not interfered by the teacher. Natalia used to live in Australia for many years.

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The Role of Women in 5 countries “The single greatest struggle on this planet is the struggle for gender equality.” – Stephen Lewis, former UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Natalia Dębska IB 1 Australia is Catholic, but there are many other religions which are practised. The role of men and women within Research Methodology. The role and status of women varies immensely among different countries and cultures. It may even differ within one country due to regional variation, historical backgrounds, as well as beliefs, traditions and religions. I therefore hypothesize for this study that women are disadvantaged due to religion and traditional beliefs. I chose five different countries that I was able to examine in various ways to determine whether or not religion and traditional beliefs present in that country affect women’s rights. I will do this by discussing and comparing the changing population structures of these countries, their adult literacy rates and gender-related indexes based on data available in “Planet Geography” and the Internet, as well as by examining the religions and traditional beliefs within those countries through interviews and a questionnaire (see Appendix 1, p. 86) which I administered to five participants from the selected countries. The interview and questionnaire questions were exactly the same and I used the questionnaire when I could not access the participant. The five representative countries that I have chosen are Australia, China, Greece, Somalia and the Ukraine. I chose these countries on purpose because I expected differences between them due to different geographic location and cultural heritage. By examining various changing population structures we are able to see the development of a country in different aspects. Using the following formulas provided by the teacher, I was able to calculate and compare the changing gender ratio, the changing age ratio, the index of aging and the changing dependency ratio of the five chosen countries.

Figure 1. Formulas for changing population structure

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The adult literacy rates were compared, as well as the GDIs (gender-related indexes) of each of the countries. I compared results for each country to determine which country achieves the greatest gender-equality according to the GDI results. GDI is calculated by averaging the life expectancy in females and males, their literacy rates and also their income. The interview and questionnaire data were analysed qualitatively which means that I looked for themes and patterns. Results and discussion Demographic Data Using the above formulas and data gathered for each of the five countries investigated, I was able to calculate and compare the results. Table 1. Demographic data concerning five different countries Changing dependency ratio

Changing gender ratio

Changing age ratio

Index of aging

Australia

100.3906756

13.34595106

72.68097144

47.24457624

China

106.3131834

4.14044094

207.6522386

33.46533677

Greece

37.42629982

19.15760856

134.516183

24.30298066

Somalia

99.57140532

2.413756583

5.5226056

90.24458345

Ukraine

85.585886

16.14312395

11.58946772

42.78729478

Country

Table 1 about allows us to see different factors which demonstrate to us the development of each of the five countries in different aspects. Gender ratios express the number of males to females within a country. The higher the number achieved the more equal the gender ratio is. China, Australia and Somalia are most effective in achieving a fairly equal gender ratio. The age ratio demonstrates whether a country is aging or youthful. China and Somalia are youthful countries with the majority of the population below 65 years of age and a high number of people below 15 years of age also. The changing dependency ratio shows how many dependent people there are compared with the working class people aged between 15 to 65 years of age. Somalia has a high dependency ratio meaning that there are many people below 15 years of age who are dependant and many people over 65 years of age who are unable to work and depend on the working class. As we can tell from the data presented above, countries such as China and Somalia are developing, with a youthful society meaning that there are high birth rates and most likely high death rates, their populations are growing. Countries such as Greece and Australia have slower population growth and their populations are ageing, as people are living longer and the birth rates are not so rapid. Ukraine is developing, with a fairly average dependency ratio and the Ukrainian society

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seems to be aging slightly with a high age ratio in comparison with the other four countries demonstrated.

Figure 2. The female and male literacy rates shown for five different countries

As we can see from the column graph above (Figure 2), the adult literacy rates vary amongst not only different countries, but also among men and women within a given country. The literacy levels in Australia are very high, but are also equal for both men and women indicating a completely equal relationship between men and women. However, a country such as Somalia has substantially lower adult literacy rate, with only 25.8% of females and 49.7% of males. There are quite a larger number of men with literacy abilities in comparison to women, presenting an inequality between men and women. Somalia has the largest gender inequality when it comes to adult literacy rates in comparison with the other four countries. Countries such as Greece and the Ukraine both have a fairly small difference between the male and female literacy rates and have fairly high rates in general. China has a slightly larger gap between literacy Table 2. The GDI’s of the five countries. rates of men and women with 87% Unfortunately, Somalia has no data related for women and 95% for males. In all to GDI of the examples we can see that men GDI have slight advantages when it comes Country Rank Value to adult literacy, except in Australia Australia 1 0.957 where the rates are equal. Somalia and China have the highest inequality. China 4 0.776 The GDI (gender-related developGreece 2 0.922 ment index) is an approach which Somalia ... ... allows us to examine gender equalUkraine 3 0.785 ity within countries (see Table 2).

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The higher the GDI of a country the more effective it is in achieving gender equality. I gathered the GDIs of each of the chosen countries in order to see which of the five countries has the highest gender equality according to the GDI results. The results show that countries such as Australia and Greece, which are considered to have high human development have higher GDI’s and therefore are more successful at achieving gender equality. Countries such as China and Ukraine have medium human development and have lower GDI’s. Somalia is a country with low human development and there was no data found in terms of GDI. We can see that there is a relationship between advances in human development and GDI levels. This may indicate that countries with higher human development are more successful at achieving gender equality, compared with developing countries. According to these results Australia is the most successful at presenting gender equality. Interview and Questionnaire Data There are many stereotypes for men and women and how they should behave, what their responsibilities are and how they are perceived by society. The general stereotype of men is that they are stronger, they are the more dominant character, and they should provide money and do physical work. Whereas women are more delicate, they are more sensitive and emotional and they should take care of the home and look after their children. These ideas and stereotypes have developed over many years and nowadays we are trying to eliminate these stereotypes in order to achieve gender equality. Representatives from Australia, China, Greece, Somalia and Ukraine were interviewed in order to get an insight on the countries traditions, beliefs and the roles of women and men within the society and how they are perceived. Australia is a very diverse country and it is hard to generalise the traditions and beliefs to the whole of Australia as there are so many different nationalities and cultures within the country. I interviewed a 50 year old male from Australia who confirmed this. The dominant religion in a family are fairly equal in most average Australian households according to the participant interviewed from Australia. When asked about who mostly provides money for the family he answered, “It is equally shared by husband and wife or couples, and children often make contributions too.” However, it is difficult to generalise that men and women are treated in all Australian families as there is such a wide cultural diversity within the country. When asked about who looks after the children in the family the answer was, “Mostly women, but it depends on the cultural background of the family. For example in a Muslim household the woman usually looks after the family, whereas in a Christian family men and women are more equal.” We can see that the religious and cultural

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background has a large affect on the rights of women within a household, even in a developed country such as Australia. Women are not expected to dress in a certain way in Australia, but if they come from minority cultures and are for example Muslim or Jewish then the woman dress in the way that they would dress if they were in their country of origin. Typically, in Australia, men and women have fairly equal tasks within a household and share different responsibilities and chores. Men within a household “typically take care of the backyard, the garage, the car, the barbeque and are also responsible from cooking on the barbeque” as stated by the Australian representative. Women on the other hand typically are responsible for the “maintenance of the house inside, for example washing and most of the cooking.” So we can see that the responsibilities within an Australian household are to some extent divided between men and women. Both men and women have their own chores and responsibilities within their home and it is spread equally. However, once again we must remember that this will differ in accordance to the cultural background of the family. Contraception and abortion is not prohibited by law in Australia and women have the right to choose and control the number of children they have and have control of their bodies. Women also have the right to decide about whom they marry and their education. There is no profession in which women are typically expected to work in. Women may choose whatever profession they wish to work in. Women have quite a lot of freedom and have the opportunity to make their own decisions in Australia. The only factor which may affect women’s rights in Australia would be their own cultural background. China is still a developing country. There are many traditional and religious factors which contribute to the equality of men and women, but China is developing and we can see that not all the traditional beliefs are taken into account by everyone anymore and in modern day China women are beginning to gain more rights. The dominant religion in China is Buddhism as answered by the 19-year-old Chinese man who was interviewed as a part of this investigation. Traditionally, the son within a family has the responsibility of looking after aging parents and this is often why boys are favoured in China. However, when asked who looks after aging grandparents in the family the answer was, “The children or the grandchildren. Everyone helps.” This can be taken as an indicator that perhaps China is developing and letting go of its old traditions. Another surprise was that it is mostly the grandparents who look after the children in a family whilst both the parents go to work. This shows us that the mother and father both work and in many Chinese families, nowadays, women do not give up their work for when they have children. However, the father is still seen as the key provider within the household and it is his responsibility is to earn money. Whereas, women’s responsibilities are to, “cook and clean”. When asked if women are expected to dress in a certain way the

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answer was, “yes, they should dress respectably and traditionally according to the situation.” There are still expectations in China which are enforced by tradition and beliefs which do have an effect on women’s rights. Another indicator of this was the answer to the question about what professions women are traditionally expected to work in. The answer was, “education and they do not do any heavy jobs.” This indicates that women in China are still not encouraged to do physically demanding work and that that it is seen as a man’s job. On the other hand though women have the right to choose who they marry, what they wish to do with their education and there are no restrictions by law in regards to contraception use and abortion. In fact, in most cases, the use of contraception is encouraged due to China’s anti-natalist policy. As we can see is that China is developing in terms of general equality, however certain traditional beliefs still have a big impact on society and the expectations and roles of women. I interviewed a 17-year-old Greek male representative and found out some interesting things about the life in Greece. The dominant religion in Greece is Greek Orthodox and in Greece the tradition and religious beliefs have a great influence on people’s lives. For example, contraception and abortions are prohibited and looked down upon by the Greek Orthodox Church, even though both contraception and abortion is legal by law in Greece. When asked about whether women are expected to dress in a certain way, the representative from Greece answered, “No, not at all, but in specific circumstances there are certain expectations” These certain “expectations” are enforced mostly by traditional and religious beliefs and are often frowned upon by society if not followed. For example, widowed women in expected to wear black and women are expected to dress nicely, but conservatively for church. When looking after the children it is usually both parents and also the grandparents, but still the majority of the work is done by the women. However, after further questions, I found out that these traditional dress codes for women, also apply to men. Therefore, we cannot say that women are treated unfairly in any way or are disadvantaged. Women in Greece have the right to choose whatever profession they wish to work in, but what is interesting, is that there is an inequality in pay amongst men and women as stated during the interview. This factor demonstrates inequality as a result of law and decisions made by the state and not traditional or religious beliefs. Women do have choices in who they marry what they choose to do with their education and both parents make household decisions. We can say that Greece is developing and gaining equality of men and women, however we can see that certain traditional beliefs and state-related factors affect women’s rights in society. Somalia is considered to be amongst the countries with low human development and is still developing. The participant from Somalia who agreed to be interviewed

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is a 17-year-old female and when asked about the dominant religion in Somalia she stated, “Islam is the most dominant religion...” “...Somalia is 100% a Muslim country.” From the interview a lot of interesting information was gathered about how Somalia has developed in terms of women’s rights and how strongly Islam affects their daily outlooks as well as the role of women and men not only within a family, but also within society. Men and women both have their own obligations and roles set down by tradition and religion. There are certain responsibilities, however, which the whole family shares, for example looking after the grandparents. There are very distinct responsibilities for men and women though. The woman looks after the children in the family, however men also have their responsibilities, and “men also have duties to take care of the children by teaching them Quran”. This demonstrates how both men and women have responsibilities, but they differ. When asked about the daily responsibilities of women within a household the answer was, “Somalia is a somewhat old fashioned country. Women are expected to cook meals and clean the house every day.” This figure is old fashioned and in a way it confirms a stereotypical view on women and we can see no development in that sense. Men provide money for the family, “It is the father’s responsibility to work and provide financial stability for the household.” Once again a very stereotypical view and old fashioned. It is also the male’s job to make everyday decisions within a home as they are believed to be the “basis for any family” and “the dominant character”. In regards to whether women are expected to dress in a certain way the answer was yes. Women must follow a certain dress code set by Islam and are supposed to cover themselves with a scarf and a traditional cloth called the hijab in order to hide their bodies from people to whom they are not related to. Islam also prohibits any use of contraception and all abortions are prohibited also. When asked about abortion the answer was that, “The death of another human being, no matter how small, is not allowed by Islam. Women who have been raped even are not allowed to commence such an action.” There are educational expectations for girls, which demonstrate that they do have opportunities. They are even expected to be educated in Somalia and work in professions such as teaching. In the olden days Somali girls had arranged marriages, but now in most Figure 3. A girl wearing the hijab

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modern day families is it is the women’s choice of who they marry. There is a very distinct barrier between men and women within Somali society and it is mostly due to the strong religious beliefs of Islam. Women do have rights in terms of who they marry and they do have educational opportunities nowadays, but there are many more factors which show us that there is gender inequality mainly due to religion. Ukraine’s dominant religion is Orthodox, however religion does not have so much influence as tradition and social beliefs do. The interviewed person from Ukraine was a 22-year-old female. In regards to who looks after the children it was stated that it is usually the mothers or grandmothers. However, both the husband and wife usually provide money for the family. However, the household responsibilities for men and women reflect a very stereotypical image of a traditional family. The responsibilities of a man within a household were said by the interviewee to be to, “sometimes fix things around the house”. Whereas for the woman the responsibilities are to, “cook, clean, work and look after the children”. There are also professions which women are traditionally expected to work in. These jobs do not involve any physical strength and usually very little education is needed. Women are traditionally accepted to work as shop keepers, waitresses or tram drivers. What was interesting though is that women usually initiate everyday decisions within a household. Women do have quite a lot of dominance within a house, where they not only look after the whole house, but also initiate family decisions. When it comes to abortion and contraception, both are banned by religion. However, I was informed that, “Ukrainians are usually not very religious, so it doesn't matter as long it is medically okay”. It seems that religion does not have such a strong influence over women’s rights as it does in other countries. Women do have quite a lot of freedom and are able to make decisions as to what they want to study, who they want to marry and how they dress. The only aspects which seem to diminish the rights of women are still the traditional beliefs and the strong image that women should cook and clean and look after the children. The information that I gathered from my interviews really helped a lot to find out the true situations within each of the countries. The statistical data which I gathered did not express all the traditional and cultural factors which are present in each of the countries. For example, a country such as Australia seems to be very developed in terms of achieving gender equality according to all the statistical data, however, it does not take into account all the traditional and religious conflicts which people may experience within that country.

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Conclusions In conclusion we can say that overall the more developed countries such as Australia are much better at achieving gender equality compared with less developed and developing countries such as China and Somalia. However, even in a developed country such as Australia which offers great opportunities for women and has a substantially lower gender inequality, traditional and religious beliefs affect women greatly and disadvantage women and their rights. So therefore we can say that women are somewhat disadvantaged due to traditional and religious beliefs, but this depends greatly on the country. Strengths ▶ I was able to interview representatives from each of the five countries. ▶ The project did not generate any ethical dilemmas. ▶ There was a considerable amount of data gathered in a relatively short period of time. Limitations ▶ In order to gather more reliable data more representatives from each country could have been interviewed. ▶ More general information could have gathered about each country if there was more time. ▶ With more time, thorough information could have been gathered about each religion and issues to do with gender equality that make have occurred in the country’s history. ▶ The questionnaires could have been filled out in more detail if there was more time spent with each representative. ▶ Data sources other than interviews could also have been used for analysis (e.g. documents) to support my findings. References 1. CIA – The World Fact Book https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ 2. Gender-related Development Index http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_20072008_GDI.pdf 3. Codrington S., Planet Geography

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Appendix 1

RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE – SAMPLE Country: China Age: 19 Gender: Male 1) What is the dominant religion in your country? Buddhism. 2) Who looks after the children in the family? Mostly the grandparents. 3) Who looks after aging grandparents in the family? The children or the grandchildren. Everyone helps. 4) Who mostly provides money for the family? Father. 5) Are woman expected to dress in a certain way? Yes, they should dress respectably and traditionally according to the situation. 6) What are the daily responsibilities for men within a household? Earning money. 7) What are the daily responsibilities for woman within a household? Cooking and cleaning. 8) Is the use of any contraception accepted by your religion or the traditional beliefs in your country? Yes. 9) Is abortion accepted by your religion or the traditional beliefs in your country? In the past no, but nowadays it is accepted. 10) Do young women decide about their education? Yes.

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11) Can woman decide who they marry? Yes. 12) Are there any professions in which woman are traditionally accepted to work in? Yes, education and they do not do any heavy jobs. 13) Who makes everyday decisions within a household? (eg. Where to go on holiday? What school to send the children to? What house/car to buy?) Father. To sum up As I was trying to present above, exploring Human Geography is possible through many aspects of our daily life, school projects, roles we play in the society and community, opportunities we achieve and development we are offered. As a Polish teacher and TEA fellow I believe that teachers, especially geography teachers, understand the need for making and showing changes in the community and in the world to the students. Thanks to human geography they are more willing to understand the processes which have affected the world and their lives. The importance of developing the critical thinking, broadening the minds and giving students a chance to explore their local environment help our students to take responsibility for the things they will be doing in the future and maybe participate in daily life in a more active way.

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Knowledge and practical skills taught by Geography IB Diploma Programme and Secondary School Geography Polish Programme Magdalena Ratajczak-Szczerba Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Dzięgielowa 27 61-680 Poznań, Poland and General Zamoyska and Helena Modrzejewska Secondary School No 2 ul. Matejki 8/10, 60-776 Poznań, Poland [email protected]

Martyna Olkowska Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Dzięgielowa 27 61-680 Poznań, Poland [email protected] Introduction Students of Polish schools are taught mainly in accordance with the Polish core curriculum. It became obligatory on 26 February 2002, i.e. when the Regulation of the Minister of National Education and Sport (Dz.U. No 51/2002, item 458) became effective and it has been compulsory until today. The Regulation of the Minister of National Education on the core curriculum of pre-school education and education in individual school types of 15 January 2009 (Dz.U. No 4/2009, item 17) became effective on 23 December 2008. Annex 4 to this Regulation contains the core curriculum of general education for middle and secondary schools which, upon their successful completion, i.e. when the final examinations (Pol. matura) have been passed, award secondary education diplomas. In the years to come the new core curriculum will be introduced to schools. It will become obligatory in secondary schools in three years. Up till then students will be taught in accordance with the old core curriculum. For some time now there have been secondary schools in Poland, mainly comprehensive schools, which teach according to the International Baccalaureate (IB) syllabus. The number of such schools has been growing, which is also the trend

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observed around the world. In 2005 there were 1335 such schools, while in 2009 as many as 2025 in 132 countries (The IB Diploma Programme Statistical Bulletin, November 2009 Examination Session; according to unpublished IBO data there are 2182 schools). In Poland in 2009 as many as 767 students took the IB examination, which is a considerable number considering the whole IB population. The first IB school in Poland was established in 1993. Today, there are 31 of them and half of them are public schools offering one IB class. The Polish core curriculum (PC) in geography (pursuant to the Act of 2002; Regulation of the Minister of National Education and Sport, Dz.U. No 51/2002, item 458) and the IB syllabus have different teaching content and partly different aims of education. Furthermore, there are also differences related to the number of contact hours (PC – 105, IB – 150 at the standard level and 240 at the higher level (Ratajczak-Szczerba, in print). The Regulation of the Minister of National Education on the core curriculum of pre-school education and education in individual school types of 15 January 2009 (Dz.U. No 4/2009, item 17) became effective on 23 December 2008. It will be implemented in secondary school in three years. The authors of this article worked with students taught according to the Polish core curriculum and the IB syllabus and noticed that there are differences in the way students work and also differences related to the effects of education. An experiment was conducted to show the extent of knowledge and skills of students taught according to two different curricula. IBO publications (www.ibo.org; http:// occ.ibo.org/ibis/documents/dp/d_x_dpyyy_stb_0911_1_e.pdf; http://occ.ibo.org/ ibis/documents/dp/d_x_dpyyy_stb_0905_1_e.pdf) show high effectiveness of the teaching process, both in terms of knowledge acquisition and the abilities to practically apply the knowledge learned and relate facts. On the other hand, based on the pass rate of students taking their final examination in geography in 2010, the effects are average (average grade was 45.77% at the standard level and 49.11% at the higher level) (http://www.cke.edu.pl/images/stories/001_Matura/WYNIKI/raport_matura_2010.pdf, and http://www.oke.poznan.pl/files/cms/163/raport_ge_2010.pdf, http://www.oke.poznan.pl/files/cms/147/komunikowanie_mat_2010.pdf, http:// www.oke.poznan.pl/files/cms/161/ge_wyn_szkol_2010.pdf). Knowledge acquisition and the ability to use it are insufficient since the test tasks asking students to understand and use information were, in the opinion of the students, too difficult. This is why it was necessary to write a new core curriculum for Polish schools. The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) – Assumptions The aim of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is to help students acquire knowledge and learn skills, become sensitive to the making of a better

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world developed in peace through the understanding of different cultures and mutual respect. The IB organization cooperates with schools, governments and organizations, developing new syllabuses which are a challenge for both students and teachers. They aim to encourage students all over the world to be active, develop their passions which would motivate them to action long after school completion. The graduate should also be a person understanding and caring for others and their differences. The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a two-year educational programme for students aged 16-19. IBDP students complete assessments in six subjects from the six different subject groups. Geography is a subject which deals with phenomena and their dynamics in modern world, and the variability and intensity of events and phenomena in the past. Special focus in the IB programme has been put on interactions between objects, object groups, societies and the natural environment, both in time and space. Students are expected to look for trends and distribution of mutual interactions, and recognize processes existing between them. Through deduction and study students should know how people adapt to the conditions they live in and respond to changes and should be able to define the strategies of adaptation to the changing living conditions. Geography describes and helps to explain similarities and differences between space and place. In the IB programme geography has a significant place in social and natural sciences. Therefore, it is believed that the IB programme integrates both physical geography and social geography, geography of population. Polish core curriculum 2002 – assumptions The core curriculum in geography is similar to that in the IB programme (Ratajczak-Szczerba in print). Students sitting for the final examination (Polish matura) should know facts, understand and use concepts, regularities and theories (Regulation of the Minister of National Education and Sport, Dz.U. No 51/2002, item 458, Wład, 2002). Students should be able to present and explain events, phenomena and processes, relate relations, and formulate their own conclusions. Students should also be able to describe and evaluate changes and solve problems in different spatial and temporal scales. The ability of using and processing information is a valuable skill learned in geography classes. Testing mastery of geographic knowledge and skills The examination sheets of both programmes are different. Also different are the requirements related to geographic skills. The basic question asked by the authors of the experiment was – how will both student groups cope with different tasks during the examination?

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The experiment was conducted twice with the same IB group and two PC groups. The first test was taken by students with extended syllabus in mathematics and physics, who did not plan to take their final examination in geography, and by a small group attending extra geography classes (Polish fakultet), who were preparing for the final examination in geography. The first test was taken in June 2010 and the second test in September 2010. Each attempt consisted of two parts – students were asked to answer selected IB and PC examination questions. The questions were about the geography of population since this problem was covered in detail in both programmes. IB questions have been translated into Polish for the PC students. Additionally, some key concepts, which could be unclear for the Polish student, have been explained. In the second attempt a diagram was used in the IB part, which was new for both groups of students. All the concepts and terms, which could make diagram reading difficult, have been explained. Results Test of IB examination Questions at the IB diploma examination are graded with respect to difficulty and extent of expected answer. The first question is usually about a diagram, table or graph. Its analysis helps to assess the skill of reading and graphic interpretation of the data. The next question is about the problem which has been presented graphically. A correct answer to the problem requires the student to draw from the repository of his/her knowledge. The third question relates more broadly to the problem, often additional questions about similar problems are asked. Finally, the students must express their opinion about the statement, theory, etc. This question checks the extent to which the student is interested in geography and changes in the world. A well written essay is the expected type of answer. The IB Diploma Examination was connected to the core theme – ‘Patterns and change’ that concerns such statements as: ▶ Populations in transition ▶ Disparities in wealth and development ▶ Patterns in environment quality and sustainability ▶ Patterns in resource consumption The subject “Disparities in wealth and development” and “Populations in transition” were chosen for the experiment. The first experiment attempt related to “Disparities in wealth and development”. There were two questions about The Human Development Index (HDI). The term

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has been explained to both student groups, in English to IB students and in Polish to PC students. The first two questions read as follows: 1. Referring to examples, describe two factors that result in inequalities within countries. [2x2 marks] 2. Explain how trade and access to markets may reduce disparities. [5 marks] In their third task students were asked to write an essay about one of the two statements “Government attempts to control population growth are ineffective” [15 marks] or “The causes of global climatic change are essentially human” [15 marks]. The second experiment attempt related to “Populations in transition”, and in particular to The Global Gender Index (see Figure 1). Like in the first attempt, the term has been explained to the students.

Figure 1. The Global Gender Index

The first three questions were about the diagram: 1a. Referring to the diagram, state the rank order (from highest to lowest level of equality) for the four aspects of the world average. [2 marks] 1b. Describe the status of women in country X. [3 marks] 1c. Explain the relationship between fertility and the status of women. [5 marks] The fourth task was an essay: Examine why most countries want to reduce their dependence on oil. [15 marks]

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IB examination results Table 1. Results of IB Examination First attempt

Second attempt

Questions about the term and the diagram

Essay

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Table 1. Results of IB Examination – continuation First attempt

Second attempt

Questions about the term and the diagram Average

1. results of IB students, 2. average result of IB students, 3. results of PC students, 4. average result of PC students

During the first part of the experiment 59% of the students (nearly all IB students in this group) answered more than 50% of the answers correctly. The worst IB student scored the same result as the best PC student. The results in the second part of the experiment, in which another group of PC students took part, were similar. This group (students of the extra geography class) did better than other students; their average was also better. Other than that, there were small differences in answers to questions 1a and 1b between IB students and the other group of PC students. Polish Programme – tests The first test checked the ability to read data in tables (see Table 2). Other questions were about general knowledge on the management of marine resources. There were also questions related to a text about national minorities in Canada. This part of the test checked the students’ ability to read source texts with understanding and to draw conclusions. 1. On the basis of data in the table below describe changes in road transport in Poland and the outcome the changes contributed to [4 marks] Table 2. Changes in road transport in Poland Road with solid surface

Trucks in thousands

in thousands of km

in thousands

per 1000 persons

1970

130.4

41.9

479

14.7

274

1980

147.7

47.5

2 383

66.8

618

Years

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Cars

in km/100 km² of area

Road with solid surface

Cars Trucks in thousands

in thousands of km

in km/100 km² of area

in thousands

per 1000 persons

1990

183.0

58.6

5 261

137.8

1 045

2000

206.0

66.4

9 991

259.0

1 879

2002

221.0

70.1

11 029

288.0

2 163

Years

2. Give 5 examples of economic advantages of seas and oceans [2 marks] 3-6. Students were given the following questions and statements about a short “report” text: [7 marks] 3. Give two examples of positive results of migration in Toronto [2 marks] 4. Give the name of the biggest nationality in Canada [1 mark] 5. Examine the negative results of such a large immigrant wave from Asia [2 marks] 6. Explain what factors can encourage people to migrate to Canada [2 marks] In the second attempt the first question was about problems related to water management. This was not a new topic for either of the two groups. The second task required the students to order relations between human activity and tropical forests. This topic could pose some difficulty to IB students. 1. Give 3 methods of flood prevention in Poland [higher level, 2 marks] 2. Arrange a reason-result set that shows dependence between rain forest and human activity [higher level, 2 marks] a) Less and less water as rain b) Removing CO2 from air c) Desertification d) Fast water runoff e) Extinction of fishes in rivers f) Production of oxygen g) Erosion (washing) of soil zone h) Transpiration from trees and appearance of rain clouds i) Shelter for organisms j) Acceleration of climate change k) Silting up of rivers and lakes l) Percolation of rainfall water Figure 2. Graph to task 2

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Polish programme examination results Table 3. Results of Polish Programme Examination First attempt

Second attempt

Questions about the term and the diagram

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First attempt

Second attempt

Questions about the term and the diagram

Average

1. results of IB students, 2. average result of IB students, 3. results of PC students, 4. average result of PC students

Questions from the examination prepared according to the Polish programme proved equally difficult for all student groups. The differences in the results achieved by IB and PC students were not as large as in the IB part. Most questions were answered slightly better by IB students.

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Conclusions IB students gave much better answers than students taught according to the Polish programme. The poorest IB student scored 50% (Table 3), while the best PC student only positively answered 50% of all questions. The average result for IB students was 77%, while that for PC students was 23%. The superiority of IB students can be attributable to: 1. The type of answer – an essay or mini essay, which were practised in IB classes. 2. Polish students find this type of answer difficult; they are prepared to take a test. 3. IB students have a different approach to the subject because all students taking part in the geography class take the final exam in geography. This clearly shows that motivation (hobby or final exam) is very important in the education process. 4. Low results of the first group of PC students were due to the lack of interest in the subject – students knew they would not be taking their final exam in geography. The second group of PC students, who knew that they would be taking their final exam in geography, scored better in the second attempt of the experiment. 5. IB students were fairly well motivated for the experiment. 6. The design of the IB programme helps to prepare students for the diploma examination. During the teaching process students write essays on different statements. They must also do an Internal Assessment; in the case of geography it is fieldwork. This requires higher commitment on the part of students, who must formulate the topic of their work, research questions and hypotheses, select the most appropriate methods of fieldwork, look for additional information, analyse results and draw conclusions. Students must prove their knowledge and they also are taught to be creative and how to solve problems. 7. The IB programme offers many more contact hours than the old Polish programme – 150 at the standard level and 240 at the higher level compared to 105 in the Polish programme. This is one of the reasons for which most problems can be discussed more broadly and the teacher has more opportunity to get students interested in the subject. The new Polish core curriculum is, in a sense, closer to the IB programme. At the fourth stage of education students decide about their commitment to the subject. In groups following the nature strand geography will be taught at the higher level. Consequently, the teacher will have more hours to complete the programme. If teaching methods are chosen adequately to the teaching content, interest of students in a particular subject will be higher, which, in turn, should lead to better results and higher level of knowledge and skills acquired at the secondary level of education (cf. Ratajczak-Szczerba, in print).

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References 1. Osiągnięcia maturzystów w 2010 roku, Sprawozdanie z egzaminu maturalnego w 2010 roku, Centralne Komisja Egzaminacyjne, Warszawa: 1-230; http://www. cke.edu.pl/images/stories/001_Matura/WYNIKI/raport_matura_2010.pdf 2. Ratajczak-Szczerba M., (in print in this issue), Geography in secondary schools IB syllabus vs National (old and new) syllabus – a comparative study. 3. Regulation of the Minister of National Education and Sport, Dz.U. No 51/2002, item 458; http://www.men.gov.pl 4. The IB Diploma Programme statistical bulletin, November 2009 Examination session, International Baccalaureate Organisation, Cardiff, UK, 2010 http://occ. ibo.org/ibis/documents/dp/d_x_dpyyy_stb_0911_1_e.pdf 5. The IB Diploma Programme statistical bulletin, May 2009 Examination session, International Baccalaureate Organisation, Cardiff, UK, 2009 http://occ.ibo.org/ ibis/documents/dp/d_x_dpyyy_stb_0905_1_e.pdf 6. Wład P., 2002. Program nauczania geografii w Liceum Ogólnokształcącym, liceum profilowanym i technikum, Kształcenie w zakresie podstawowym [Geography syllabus in a comprehensive school, vocationally-oriented secondary school and secondary technical school, Standard syllabus], Wydawnictwo Oświatowe Ortus, s. 72, http://wszpwn.com.pl/pub/geografia/ortus/LGPR.pdf 7. Wyniki egzaminu maturalnego z geografii, raport, 2010 [Report on the results of final examinations in geography], Okręgowa Komisja Egzaminacyjna w Poznaniu: 1-55, http://www.oke.poznan.pl/files/cms/163/raport_ge_2010.pdf 8. Wstępne wyniki egzaminu maturalnego 2010 [Preliminary results of 2010 final examinations], Okręgowa Komisja Egzaminacyjna w Poznaniu, http://www. oke.poznan.pl/files/cms/147/komunikowanie_mat_2010.pdf; Wyniki szkół – matura 2010, http://www.oke.poznan.pl/files/cms/161/ge_wyn_szkol_2010. pdf;

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Geography in secondary schools IB syllabus vs National (old and new) syllabus – a comparative study Magdalena Ratajczak-Szczerba Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University ul. Dzięgielowa 27, 61-680 Poznań, Poland and General Zamoyska and Helena Modrzejewska Secondary School No 2 ul. Matejki 8/10, 60-776 Poznań, Poland [email protected] Introduction There are about 1400 secondary schools in Poland, both public and private, excluding secondary schools for adult learners, which teach geography according to the national syllabus. For some time, however, there have been secondary schools in Poland, mainly comprehensive schools, which teach geography according to the International Baccalaureate (IB) syllabus. The number of schools outside Poland, which offer IB programmes, is growing. In 2005 there were 1,335 such schools, while in 2009 as many as 2,025 in 132 countries (The IB Diploma Programme Statistical Bulletin, November 2009 Examination Session). In Poland in 2009 as many as 767 students took the IB examination, which is a considerable number considering its IB population. The first IB school in Poland was established in 1993. Today, there are 31 of them and half of them are public schools offering one IB class. Polish schools teach according to their national syllabus. The syllabus presently pursued by secondary schools was implemented on 26 February 2002 (Regulation of the Minister of National Education and Sport, Dz.U. No 51/2002, item 458). On 23 December 2008 the Regulation of the Minister of National Education on the core curriculum of pre-school education and education in particular school types (Dz.U. No 5/2009 published on 15 January 2009, item 17, Annex 4). The new core curriculum will be introduced in secondary schools in the next three years. This article compares and analyses two different geography curricula presently pursued by Polish schools. By raising awareness of the problem, the author wants to emphasize the importance of geography in schools and in everyday life. Geog-

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raphy as a career path is also considered. The problem is discussed on the basis of the author’s observations and analysis of the learning outcomes of Polish students taught in accordance with the IB syllabus. The aims of both (IB and Polish national) curricula are similar. They are, however, different in the extent of knowledge that a student should master for the final examination, the level of detail with respect to particular topics, assignments that the student should complete and the number of contact hours assigned for a given topic, i.e. the number of geography hours per week. International Baccalaureate (IB) – assumptions The assumptions of the IB Diploma Programme are very similar to the assumptions and aims of the Polish national programme. The IB Diploma Programme aims at educating inquiring and knowledgeable students, sensitive to the development of a better world living in peace through the understanding of cultural diversity and mutual respect (Geography Guide 2009). The IB organization cooperates with schools, governments and organizations and develops programmes that are a challenge for both students and teachers. The programmes are intended to encourage students all over the world to be active, develop their passion, which would motivate them to action long after completing school. An open-minded person, caring for others and understanding their differences, is the desired effect of the teaching process. The diploma programme lasts two years and is targeted at students aged 16-19. Individual courses in the IB programme have been grouped. Students study two modern languages, humanities and social sciences courses, experimental sciences, mathematics (an obligatory course) and the arts. The courses should prepare students to continue education at an institution of higher learning. Students choose one course in each group. Half of them must be higher level courses, which should be covered more broadly and more thoroughly. Geography is a dynamic subject that is firmly grounded in the real world and focuses on the interactions between individuals, societies and the physical environment in both time and space. It seeks to identify trends and patterns in these interactions and examines the processes behind them. It also investigates the way that people adapt and respond to change and evaluates the management strategies associated with such change. Geography describes and helps to explain the similarities and differences between spaces and places. These may be defined on a variety of scales and from a range of perspectives.

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In the IB programme geography is treated very seriously. It is a part of group three courses – “Individuals and societies”, together with history and economics. Thus the IB programme integrates physical geography and social geography as well as the geography of population. National geography syllabus – assumptions The standards of geography requirements taught according to the old and new national syllabus are, to some extent, similar to the requirements of the IB programme. But they relate to one course only, i.e. geography. A student sitting for the final examination in a secondary school, i.e. matura, should, according to the old geography syllabus in secondary schools, know facts, understand and apply concepts, regularities and theories (Regulations of the Minister of National Education and Sport, Dz.U. No 51/2002, item 458, Wład 2002). The student should also be able to present and explain events, phenomena and processes. Other required skills include the ability to characterize, assess and solve problems in different spatial and temporal scales, the ability to use and process information. The new standards of the national syllabus at the standard level, in addition to the skills and abilities identified in the old syllabus, treat the ability to use sources of information to analyse and present natural phenomena, the ability to formulate and verify hypotheses and understanding the man-nature-society relations as the basic aims of geography teaching (Podstawa programowa, 2009). Table 1 presents the aims of geography teaching in comprehensive schools and is based on the core curriculum (old national [ONC], the new national syllabus at the standard level [NNSC] and the International Baccalaureate [IB] syllabus). Analysis of the aims of ONC, NNSC and IB curricula Table 1. Aims of IB diploma and Polish matura – comparison* Educational aims and achievements

IB

ONC

NNSC

General aims 2

Expand the student’s knowledge necessary to understand the nature of events and the character and dynamics of processes in a geographic environment







3

Expand the student’s knowledge on the interrelationship between humans and the environment







* Based on: Regulation of the Minister of National Education and Sport, Dz.U. No 51/2002, item 458, Dz.U. No 5/2009 published on 15 January 2009, item 17, Annex 4, Wład, 2002, Geography guide, 2009.

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Educational aims and achievements

IB

ONC

NNSC

4

Teach the student to learn, understand and interpret causal and functional relations







5

Teach the student to observe and analyse relations between individual elements of the natural environment and human activity







6

Develop in the student concern for human welfare and the quality of the environment, and an understanding of the complexity of the world, interrelationship between its individual elements and readiness to take part in its transformation in accordance with the sustainable development principle











General achievements 7

Teach the student to master geographic skills necessary to apply geographic knowledge in practice



8

Develop in the student the capacity to identify, to analyse critically and to evaluate theories, concepts and arguments about the nature and activities of the individual and society





9

Enable the student to collect, describe and analyse data used in the studies of society, to test hypotheses and to interpret complex data and source material





10

Promote the appreciation of the way in which learning is relevant both to the culture in which the student lives, and the culture of other societies





11

Develop an awareness in the student of the need to participate in the development of one’s own region and country and to take action for the preservation of natural and cultural heritage



12

Develop an awareness in the student that human attitudes and beliefs are widely diverse and that the study of society requires an appreciation of such diversity



13

Teach the student to apply geographic terminology with understanding







14

Develop in the student the ability to use different sources of geographic information: maps, plans, statistical yearbooks, photographs, profiles, sections, drawings, magazines, guides, popular science literature, the Internet, GIS and others







15

Develop in the student the ability to select, order, analyse and interpret information about the condition and changes in the geographic environment and social, political and economic situation









 

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Table 1. Aims of IB diploma and Polish matura – comparison – continuation Educational aims and achievements

IB

ONC

NNSC

16

Develop in the student the ability to present results of geographic analyses by different graphic (including cartographic) and statistical methods







17

Develop in the student the ability to forecast the condition of the environment in individual areas (including Earth-man interaction), by extrapolating existing trends







18

Develop in the student the ability to appreciate the importance of geography in analyzing modern challenges and development of world prospects for diversity and change



19

Enable the student to recognize that the content and methodologies of the subjects in group 3 are contestable and that their study requires the tolerance of uncertainty





Educational aims 1

Develop in the student the habit of systematic and critical learning about the geographic environment





All curricula have similar assumptions. Their aim is to educate a person aware of the complexity of the natural environment and causal relations in it. Curricula should also prepare students to process raw data and use different sources of geographic information. The IB syllabus being “global” focuses particularly on interrelations between people, the development of societies, cultural diversity and diversity of beliefs. The syllabus particularly stresses development of the ability to analyse processes and phenomena on the basis of different graphic visualization. The ability to graphically present data is one of the basic elements of the core curriculum. Students should be able to use this ability to present results of their own field study. The old Polish national syllabus [ONC] stresses the understanding of the relations between individual components of the natural environment in which man plays a significant role. According to ONC, encyclopaedic knowledge is important but equally important is the ability to graphically present phenomena and use graphically presented data. Development of geographic abilities necessary to apply geographic knowledge in practice is a very important element of the Polish syllabus.

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The new Polish national syllabus at the standard level [NNSC] assumes that the student should be aware of social and economic problems and problems of the natural environment in the modern world (Podstawa programowa, 2009). A large emphasis has been put on the development of the ability to look for the relations between the natural environment and human activity. The authors of the new national syllabus want to show “geography as a subject, which provides the student with dynamic knowledge, ever changing and useful in everyday life” (Podstawa programowa, 2009, M. Czerny). In the old Polish syllabus [ONC] individual aspects should be presented in a different scale, starting from the local through regional, including selected regions, and ending with the world as a whole. The local scale is particularly emphasized because secondary school graduates will have the biggest impact on it. According to the new syllabus [NNSC] pursued at the middle school level, which is continued at the secondary school level, it is recommended to depart from the dominance of general geography, i.e. physical and socio-economic and focus on regional geography. It is recommended to first study the geography of Poland, following the “from near to more far away” principle. In secondary schools where the middle school syllabus is continued, the student should be able to use knowledge on individual states or regions mastered in middle school to study global phenomena. Examples chosen by the teacher to explain geographic phenomena and processes should be continually updated and adapted to the changing natural environment, and social and economic situation. Assumptions similar to those in the new national syllabus can be found in the IB programme where it is important that the student is able to present individual phenomena using selected examples. This forces both students and teacher to follow geographic phenomena. In the IB syllabus the student has to study some phenomena on a local level during fieldwork. Skills and their assessment In the IB special focus is put on the ability to analyse data and formulate answers. Examination sheets contain open ended questions and the student is expected to provide answers in the form of an essay or mini-essay. In ONC some questions are closed questions. Students may have problems with providing complete answers to them. Examination requirements in NNSC have not yet been identified. Division of the teaching content The teaching content and the material that should be covered are the basic differences in the geography curricula under analysis.

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The IB and ONC programmes should be completed within two years. And this is the only common element; the number of contact hours and the programme’s structure are different. The new national syllabus should be completed within 3 years of study in secondary schools. The old national syllabus should be completed within at least 80 contact hours, most often it is 105 hours spread over two years: 1 hour per week in the first year of study and 2 hours per week in the second year (or, alternatively, 2/1). The teaching content at the basic level has been divided into eight parts (Dz.U. No 51/2002, item 458). They can be divided into two large sections – one on general physical geography and the other on socio-economic geography (Table 2). The new national syllabus introduces revolutionary changes. Up till now I have analysed the new national syllabus at the standard level. But students who are particularly interested in geography can also opt for the higher level with different minimum syllabus requirements and number of contact hours. Students, who choose the standard level should have at least 30 hours in the first year and 120 hours of the Nature group courses where geography is one of four subjects in the second year. Students, who choose the higher level should have 30+240 hours (Nowa podstawa programowa; www.men.gov.pl). The IB syllabus is taught for 150 hours at the standard level and 240 hours at the higher level. It consists of three parts, divided into 18 elements and fieldwork, which students should complete on their own (Table 2). The first part is mandatory for both levels. The third part is required at the higher level only. Students choose two topics at the standard level and three topics at the higher level from the second part (Geography guide, 2009). Table 2. Constituent parts of the IB and Polish curricula Parts of the geography syllabus Parts

ONC

NNSC SL

IB HL

2

Elements Number of contact hours Fieldwork

80

30+120

30+240

SL

HL

3

4

6

14

150

240

1

1

SL – Standard Level; HL – Higher Level

The teaching content of the IB, ONC and NNSC curricula are presented in Table 3.

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107

Standard level

Higher level

New Polish syllabus

70 NATURE (should be completed within two years)

EXTENDED GEOGRAPHY (should be completed within two years)

PART 2 – Optional themes (SL – two; HL – three)

60

90

70

HL

** Based on: Dz.U. No 51/2002, item 458; Dz.U. No 5/2009 published on 15 January 2009, item 17, Annex 4; Geography guide, Syllabus outline, 2009

SOCIOECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

SL

Hours

PART 1 – Core theme – PATTERNS 70 AND CHANGE (SL/HL)

International Baccalaureate

Us e of d i f f e r e n t 35 Modern demograph- 30 Modern demograph- 30 The core theme provides an overview of the geographic foundaic and social probsources of geographic and social probtions for the global issues of our lems of the world. lems of the world. ic information. times. The purpose is to provide Economic diversifiEconomic diversifiFunctioning of the a broad factual and conceptual cation of the world. cation of the world. Earth’s natural sysintroduction to each topic and to I n t e r r el a t io n b e I n t e r r el a t io n b e tem the United Nations’ Millennium tween man and the tween man and the natural environment Development Goals (MDGs), in natural environment particular those concerning povvs. sustainable develvs. sustainable develerty reduction, gender equality, opment. opment. improvements in health and education and environmental sustainability. The core theme develops knowledge of the likely causes and impacts of global change, a major contemporary issue of immense international significance.

GENERAL PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Model 1/2

Old Polish syllabus

Table 3. Teaching content in the core curriculum – comparison of IB and Polish curricula**

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Functional and spatial relations and interrelations in the ma n-nat u re - economy system (with special emphasis on Poland). Causes and consequences of the uneven distribution of population on Earth. Demographic problem s of societ ies (with special emphasis on Poland). T he world in the phase of social, economic and political changes. Armed conflicts and other social and economic threats (with special emphasis on the role of Poland). Possibilities of developing tourism and

Model 1/2

Old Polish syllabus Higher level

International Baccalaureate

Scientif ic met hod 120 Sources of geograph- 240 Freshwater – issues and conflicts. Oceans and their coastal margins. ic information. and explanation of Extreme environments. Earth in the universe. the world. Hazards and disasters – risk asEarth zones - atmosThe history of sciensessment and response. phere. tific thought. Leisure, sport and tourism. Earth zones - hydroGreat revolutionaries The geography of food and health. sphere. of science. Urban environments. Earth zones - lithoMoral dilemmas in sphere. science. Earth zones – pedoScience and pseudosphere and biosphere. science. C l a s si f ic a t io n of Science in the comworld states. puter. Economic activity in Polish explorers and the world. their discoveries. The Geography of Inventions, which Poland – the natural changed the world. environment. Energy – from the The Geography of Sun to the lightbulb. Poland - population. Light and image. The Geography of Sport. Poland – economic Technologies of the activity. future. Modern diagnostics and medicine. Protection of nature

Standard level

New Polish syllabus

Table 3. Teaching content in the core curriculum – comparison of IB and Polish curricula – continuation SL

HL

Hours

109

Total contact hours:

recreation in view of nat ural, socioeconomic and cultural conditions and consequences.

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and the environment. Science and art. Learning. Colours and smells of the world. Cycles, rhythm and time. Laugher and crying. Health. B e aut y a nd go o d looks. Water – the miracle of nature. The largest and the smallest.

150

270

Fieldwork (SL/HL)

Measuring global interactions. Changing space – the shrinking world. Economic interactions and flows. Environmental change. Sociocultural exchanges. Political outcomes. Global interactions at the local level.

PART 3 – HL extension – global interactions (HL only)

20 150

240

20

60

The old Polish syllabus features a division into physical geography and socio-economic (political) geography. In a way this is duplication of the syllabus that should be completed at the previous level of education, i.e. in middle school, within the framework of the old national syllabus. Therefore a conclusion can be drawn that the main aim of teaching geography in a secondary school (e.g. a comprehensive school) is expansion of the knowledge mastered in middle school. The number of contact hours is sufficient to discuss some problems only superficially. The syllabus aims to stress the expansion of knowledge on the interrelationship between man and the environment, the student’s ability to understand and interpret causal and functional relations between individual elements of the natural environment and human activity. The structure of the syllabus does not make this an easy task. What’s good in the programme is the focus on the place of Poland in all teaching content, and particularly in topics on socio-economic geography. What’s bad about the programme is the number of hours. It is difficult to achieve the aims having only one contact hour of geography per week. In the assumptions of the new Polish syllabus [NNSC] more emphasis has been put on the development of skills and looking for a relation between the natural environment and human activity on Earth by combining contents in the area of physical and socio-economic geography. On the basis of selected regions, the student should learn the basics of general geography, the differentiation of the natural environment, socio-cultural diversity of regions and understand how humans functions economically in the world. At middle school level the student should learn about social and economic problems and the problems of the natural environment of the modern world. In the first year of secondary school the two leading themes should be “Globalization” and “Geography of global development” (Podstawa programowa, 2009). Upon the completion of the “Nature” group of subjects at the standard level the student should be able to pose hypotheses and verify them by means of observation and experiments. Classes should help to consolidate the scientific attitude towards the world of nature and interest in its wealth as well as to notice the holistic character of the natural sciences (Podstawa programowa, 2009). In geography classes taught at a higher level the student should be able to notice regularities existing in the natural environment, life and economy and the interrelationships in the man-nature-environment system. Students should also learn how to get, process and present information on the basis of different sources of geographic information. Students should learn about the problems existing in the environment and about the concept of sustainable development. In the case of the IB syllabus, the situation is much better. Students and teachers have got more contact hours per week (SL – 4, HL – 6). The contents are differently

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structured. It was assumed that the student should have some basic geographic knowledge mastered at the previous level. In the core part the student learns how societies function in the changing natural environment. In the second part the student learns in much greater detail, compared to the Polish syllabus, about selected elements of the natural environment. Some topics in the second part have been put together in a very interesting way, e.g. Risk assessment and response. This topic is comprised of the most extreme events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sudden winds (hurricanes, tropical cyclones), their occurrence and people attitude to such events. The problems of the third part require the student to actively follow and analyse transformations in the modern world. The problems of broadly understood globalization are discussed in detail and focus should also be put, as indicated by the title of this part of the syllabus, i.e. “Global interactions”, on the interrelationships between different branches and levels of economy and societies. Individual work The old Polish syllabus does not require the student to individually prepare a major research project. In the new Polish syllabus in the teacher guidance section there is a recommendation to use the method of student projects. It should help students to individually study problems selected by them and broaden their horizons. The IB requires so-called Internal Assessment. In the case of geography it is fieldwork, which the student should complete individually, with only little assistance from the teacher. The topic and content of the fieldwork should relate to the problems identified in the IB syllabus. The student can also decide to write a so-called Extended Essay in geography. This is a piece of work much broader than Internal Assessment. Both Internal Assessment and the Extended Essay in geography force students to use the knowledge they mastered in practice. Students should be able to formulate a research problem, research hypothesis, identify research project aims, and select the appropriate methods of fieldwork (data collection methods) and methods of data analysis. They should also be able to present the results graphically with the correct statistical analysis. The ability to analyse and synthesize and draw relevant conclusions is a very important element of fieldwork. Fieldwork forces students to think individually and creatively and to overcome internal barriers that students often have before they begin fieldwork. Conclusions The IB Diploma programme emphasizes the relationship between geography and other disciplines of science within the framework of the Theory of knowledge,

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which is a mandatory course. Some of the questions that might be considered during the course include “Are the findings of the natural sciences as reliable as those of the human sciences? What is the meaning of “a scientific law” in each area? To what extent do maps reflect reality? Do regions have boundaries? To what extent might it be true that geography combines the methods of human and natural sciences? Often in geography a model of reality is created. What does this mean? What are the advantages and disadvantages of creating a geographic model? In what areas of geography are models most common? Arguably, while some aspects of geography can be measured, others cannot. Is this the case? What is it about a quality that means it cannot be quantified? If humans are individual and unique, does this mean that there can be no reliable laws in human geography? These are just a few questions asked in the IB Diploma programme, to which the teacher should draw the students’ attention. What’s also worth emphasizing is the cooperation between teachers and courses in the entire IB programme and the duty to complete the Theory of knowledge course, which aims to show the relation between science and the topics studied. The analysis of IBO publications (www.ibo.org) reveals the high effectiveness of the learning process and the ability to use knowledge and facts. A lot of focus has been put on the understanding of spatial relationships and interrelationships between man, nature and economy. Problems that IB students have to tackle are a challenge. Although they are not difficult for a student interested in geography, they can be difficult for a young person whose interests are other than geography. However, students can choose the subjects which they want to study in secondary school and take at their final examinations. Therefore, it can be assumed that only students interested in geography will choose this subject. The old Polish syllabus aims to teach students the ability to explain how the Earth’s natural system functions, particularly explain the phenomena, processes, interrelations, variability of the environment in time and space, ecological equilibrium; build students’ awareness of the position and role played by man in the environment, understand how humans interact with the natural environment, understand the socio-economic system and understand the transformations and processes in societies, particularly armed conflicts, socio-economic threats, problems of cooperation between societies, processes of integration and disintegration in Europe with particular focus on the role of Poland.

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In the new Polish syllabus, as is emphasized by the authors of commentaries to the core curriculum of the new programme (Podstawa programowa, 2009, M. Czerny), “the aim of teaching geography is to show young people the many faces of the modern world, interrelated processes and phenomena, the role which an individual plays today in a networked world – both real and virtual”. Such assumptions will require geography teachers to take a new approach to the subject, which are very clearly emphasized by the authors of core curriculum (Podstawa programowa, 2009). The holistic approach to the “Nature” course will help students integrate their knowledge about the natural environment, “help them in conscious reception of the surrounding reality” (Podstawa programowa, 2009). The aims of geography teaching at a higher level are closer to the understanding of the subject in IB than in the old Polish syllabus. The authors of the new core curriculum recommend moving away from methods by means of which students are given information and adopt methods which require a searching approach by the students. Such an approach to the subject and new teaching content should help geography to become a subject that is liked and understood by students of middle and secondary schools. The basic teaching contents in all programmes under analysis are similar. Significant differences exist in the structure of the teaching content. The new Polish syllabus and the IB syllabus focus on a problem solving approach. The language in which the programme requirements have been described is also different. It spells out the required abilities and skills that each student should master by means of operational verbs (operational verbs are explained in comments to the teaching content of the new Polish syllabus, which is very helpful to both teachers and students). The programmes also differ in terms of the contact hours and student’s contribution to course completion. The greatest number of hours has been planned in the new Polish syllabus at the higher level. On the other hand, student’s involvement can be greater in the IB programme, simply because the student must complete fieldwork, which is a unique feature of all the three programmes analysed here. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Dr Iwona Piotrowska, Head, Teaching Centre, Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Faculty of Geographic and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, for very valuable and friendly comments, which helped the author during the preparation of this article.

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References 1. Geography guide, First examination 2011, Diploma Programme, International Baccalaureate Organisation, Cardiff, UK, 2009 ht t p://occ .ibo.org /ibis/doc u ment s/dp/g r3/ge og r aphy/d _ 3 _ ge og r_ gui_0902_1_e.pdf http://xmltwo.ibo.org/publications/migrated/production-app.ibo.org/publication/155/part/1/chapter/1.html 2. Podstawa programowa wychowania przedszkolnego oraz kształcenia ogólnego [Core curriculum of pre-school and general education]. Volume 5. – Edukacja przyrodnicza w szkole podstawowej, gimnazjum i liceum [Teaching about nature in primary, middle and secondary schools]. 2009, http://www.reformaprogramowa.men.gov.pl/dla-nauczycieli/edukacja-przyrodnicza 3. Podstawa programowa wychowania przedszkolnego oraz kształcenia ogólnego [Core curriculum of pre-school and general education]. Volume 5. – Edukacja przyrodnicza w szkole podstawowej, gimnazjum i liceum [Teaching about nature in primary, middle and secondary schools]. 2009, http://www.reformaprogramowa.men.gov.pl/dla-nauczycieli/edukacja-przyrodnicza, Komentarz do podstawy programowej przedmiotu geografia [Comments to the core curriculum of geography] – M. Czerny, E. Szkurłat 4. Regulation of the Minister of National Education and Sport, Dz.U. No 51/2002, item. 458; http://www.men.gov.pl 5. The IB Diploma Programme statistical bulletin, November 2009 Examination session, International Baccalaureate Organisation, Cardiff, UK, 2010 http://occ.ibo.org/ibis/documents/dp/d_x_dpyyy_stb_0911_1_e.pdf 6. The IB Diploma Programme statistical bulletin, May 2009 Examination session, International Baccalaureate Organisation, Cardiff, UK, 2009 http://occ.ibo.org/ibis/documents/dp/d_x_dpyyy_stb_0905_1_e.pdf 7. Wład P., 2002, Program nauczania geografii w Liceum Ogólnokształcącym, liceum profilowanym i technikum, Kształcenie w zakresie podstawowym [Geography syllabus in a comprehensive school, vocationally-oriented secondary school and secondary technical school, Standard syllabus], Wydawnictwo Oświatowe Ortus, p. 72, http://wszpwn.com.pl/pub/geografia/ortus/LGPR.pdf

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Fieldwork projects in bilingual Geography teaching – orientation in geographical space Iwona Piotrowska Departament of Geography teaching and Ecological Education Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University ul. Dzięgielowa 27, 61–680 Poznań, Poland [email protected] Abstract The development of geographical knowledge and skills, or an ability to apply theoretical information in practice, are among the basic tasks facing geography as a scientific discipline and as a school subject. A special occasion for developing a variety of skills is classes conducted in the field. Field classes are a form of teaching a subject outside the classroom, in a space chosen on purpose, and allowing the formation of specific practical skills and abilities. Examples include orientation in geographical space, determining the points of the compass with the help of various instruments or field objects, and mapping out a route using a GPS receiver. Fieldwork in bilingual teaching is an example of an attractive form of instruction; it allows making direct observations and, prepared and conducted in an appropriate way, accelerates the perception of issues discussed, and reinforces and intensifies retention. Key words: bilingual teaching, observation, fieldwork, GPS, measurements in the field, identification, a gnomon and determining cardinal points of the compass

Introduction It is the task of any education system to train a young person and equip him or her with the knowledge and skills adequate to the educational level. The acquired geographical knowledge covers basic notions, regularities and laws, while the skills are practical in character and allow this knowledge to be applied in life and action. The body of data and skills supplied by school subjects prepares young people to operate in society and to live on their own. An important place in cognition and growth is ascribed to the natural sciences, including geography, both as a scientific discipline and a subject taught at a variety of educational levels. Modern geography embraces a system of sciences studying and elucidating the causes and effects of the natural and socio-economic diversity of the geographical

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space. Together with the remaining natural sciences, it carries out studies intended to describe and explain connections and interrelationships holding among individual elements of animate and inanimate nature, as well as between those elements and human activity. Natural subjects in a comprehensive school have a significant cognitive, practical and didactic value. They help to develop the skills of perception, assessment and explanation of processes and phenomena occurring in the geographical environment at various spatial, temporal and cultural scales. Teaching geography is supposed to help the pupil answer the question about the sense, reason for existence and role of specific objects and phenomena in the environment, and about possibilities of their rational use. An exceptional, highly significant asset in research is a holistic approach to both, the geographical environment and human activity (Piotrowska, 2006). An effect of geographical education conducted by creative, competent and reflective teachers, or generally constructivists (Dylak, 2005), is also the skill to collect and integrate knowledge necessary to describe phenomena and notice natural and cultural qualities, not only of the nearest region, in order to account for changes taking place in a selected space. The diversity of educational methods and exercises encourage pupils to seek and use knowledge. There is no simple way of teaching-learning. The process calls for great involvement on the part of the young person, especially a will to study, strict discipline, ability to plan work, enough time, and inventiveness. He will soon tire of using one and the same method of preparing for classes and absorbing information. Hence, it is desirable to change ways of working on natural issues (Piotrowska, 2003, 2007). That is why it seems right to introduce various projects as the pupil's leading mode of work allowing him to get acquainted with, observe, measure, and anticipate changes in nature and human actions on the basis of information acquired, and to apply geographical knowledge in life. His work will be more active, which will enhance his self-reliance and help him internalise his knowledge and skills. Educational projects belong to methods based on (cognitive-practical) activity, hence ones ensuring a greater body of knowledge, and of better quality, than those not inspiring the pupil to act.

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Figure 1. Learning retention pyramid Dale’a (Czaińska, Wojtkowicz, 1999; modified)

Projects can be employed both during school classes and outside regular lessons, for example fieldwork. Fieldwork is a general descriptive term for the collection of raw data. The term is mainly used in the natural and social sciences studies. It is more technically known to scientific methodologists as field research. Fieldwork, which is conducted in situ, can be contrasted with laboratory or experimental research which is conducted in a quasi-controlled environment. Observation What supplies the necessary information in geographical sciences is observation, or planned and intentional noticing of objects, phenomena and processes occurring in a selected space (Piskorz, 1995).

Figure 2. Observation stages (Piskorz 1995; modified)

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The research procedure consists in searching for and discovering facts, while the research process itself includes description, recording, analysis, and interpretation (Okoń, 1996).

Figure 3. The research procedure (Okoń, 1996; modified)

According to Arends (1995), what counts is the reflection of the pupil-researcher on the natural object, phenomenon or process he observes. Depending on the site where it is carried out, direct or indirect observation provides a basis for getting to know the environment. Direct observation is conducted in the field, and indirect, using maps, satellite images, aerial photos, photographs, specimens, models, or drawings. Taking into consideration the criterion of time, the following kinds of observation can be distinguished: regular, carried out on a fixed-time basis, and occasional in the case of irregular and sudden events or their effects. The chief aim of nature observation is the development of an observation routine and perception skills, learning about phenomena, and the formation of geographical images and notions on the basis of cognitive processes (Piotrowska, 2005). Observation is a search for and discovery of something set as part of a target or task. In its course the intellect develops through self-reliant thinking and reasoning as well as explanation of the operation of various geoecosystems. The integration of knowledge sought after in a holistic approach prompts ways of protecting the areas studied, which also involves forecasting. The task performed together with observation is identification, or assigning to things appropriate terms or notions using a suitable key. It consists in finding the diagnostic features of a natural object and classifying it according to the criteria given in the key. The observational research procedure ends with measurement, which tackles the quantitative aspect of the objects observed (Okoń, 1996).

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Figure 4. Requirements to the observation process

Its main goals are to develop observation: skills and the ability to perceive, learn about phenomena, to help pupils to form geographical ideas and notions on the basis of cognitive processes, stimulates independent thinking and reasoning, hence it is an important factor developing intellect because when observing we try to understand the observed. Projects of fieldwork in bilingual geography teaching Orientation in geographical space is among the most important skills developed in geography classes and possible to apply throughout one's life. While the traditional ways of determining directions with the help of the Sun and a shadow (the gnomon), the Sun and a watch, the Pole Star, the compass, and biological objects (trees, anthills) are still basic techniques, revolutionary advances have been made in this field. Of prime importance here is the GPS (Global Positioning System, a US system of satellite navigation), consisting of 24 NAVSTAR satellites and ground stations. In Europe, a rival GALILEO system involving 30 satellites is being built, while in Russia there is work in progress on GLONAST. Today maps are GPS-adjusted, especially car and tourist ones. The tasks outlined below can be performed in any space irrespective of the region or school, or at a specially prepared site, a 'geographical' or 'nature garden'.

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Project I Identifying the local meridian with the use of a gnomon and determining cardinal points of the compass The gnomon, one of the oldest and simplest astronomical tools, is a vertical column, pillar or stick stuck into the ground, the shadow of which indicates the location of the Sun. The typical gnomon, commonly employed in sundials, should be one metre tall. Its operation consists in casting a shadow whose length changes depending on the position of the Sun in the sky: at noon the Sun reaches the highest point (culmination) along its apparent path and the shadow is the shortest and pointing north (in the Northern Hemisphere). The observation of the shadow is facilitated by concentric circles drawn around the gnomon. The observation and determination should start some 20 minutes before the solar noon. The gnomon should be dug into the ground vertically. The shortest shadow cast by the Sun at noon indicates the course of the local meridian, or the N-S direction. The direction indicated by the shortest shadow marks the north precisely. One should observe the directions of the shadow cast by the stick and draw lines along them while continuing to observe the direction of shift of the shadow and changes in its length. To determine the N-S direction, it suffices to note two moments of the shadow crossing a circle of the same radius. We draw lines connecting the gnomon with the points at the ends of its shadow and bisect the angle thus obtained. The bisector defines the N-S direction.

Figure 5. Way of identifying the local meridian

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Figure 6. In the real field, made by the students

Photo: I. Piotrowska

Project II Determining the cardinal points of the compass – other ways The Pole Star On a clear night we find the north by the Pole Star. It is easy to spot the star, and simultaneously the direction to the North Pole, with the help of the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major. To this end, we draw an imaginary straight line joining the last two stars of the Big Dipper quadrilateral and extend five its lengths towards the Milky Way, thus finding the Pole Star. The Sun and shadow The shadow of a stick driven vertically into the ground indicates the following directions: • at 6:00 – west • at 9:00 – north-west • at 12:00 – north • at 15:00 – north-east • at 18:00 – east Instead of a stick (a gnomon), we can use one's own body, as in the picture beside. But the situation presented in the picture will only be correct at 12:00.

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The Sun and a watch Direct the watch's minute hand towards the Sun. The line dividing the angle between the minute hand and the number 12 into half shows the north. When using a watch to determine the directions of the compass: ▶ between sunrise and noon, one should divide the angle between the number 12 on the right and the minute hand to the left, and ▶ between noon and sunset, one should divide the angle between the number 12 on the left and the minute hand to the right. The north-south direction can only be determined with any precision when the watch shows the local time. Determining the cardinal points of the compass using field objects N

S Anthill An anthill is steeper on the northern side.

N

S Trunk of a cut tree Growth rings are more densely spaced on the northern side.

N

S Moss The moss covering stones and trees grows on the northern side.

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N

S Lonely tree Individually growing trees have fewer branches on the northern side. They are better developed on the south owing to a greater amount of sunshine.

Sunflower A plant whose flower always shows a southerly direction. The sunflower never turns its disc northwards. Source: www.zhpkanada.ca/org_harcerek/harcerki/harc_spis_materialow/harc_technika/ arc_tech_stron_swiata.htm

Project III Determination of a marching route using a GPS receiver The GPS-NAVSTAR (short for Global Positioning System – NAVigation Signal Timing and Ranging) is a satellite navigation system covering the entire globe. Its operation involves the measurement of the time it takes a radio signal from the satellites to reach a receiver. Knowing the velocity of an electromagnetic wave and the exact time of sending a signal, one can calculate the distance between the receiver and the satellites. A GPS signal contains information about the positioning of satellites in the sky and about their theoretical path and deviations from it. The GPS receiver first updates this information in its memory and then uses it to establish its distance from the individual visible satellites. The microprocessor in the receiver can calculate its geographical position (longitude, latitude and ellipsoidal elevation) and display it in a selected Figure 7. GPS receivers of the firms reference system – WGS-84 as a standard Trimble, Garmin and Leica – as well as give the current GPS time with Source: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/ a very great accuracy. Global_Positioning_System

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The GPS system is maintained and managed by the US Defense Department. In principle, everyone can avail themselves of its services if they possess a suitable GPS receiver. Its varieties are produced by independent commercial firms. Thanks to geostationary satellites placed in orbit round the Earth, it is possible to read the location of a point with an accuracy of a few metres.

TASK CARD 1. Relying on the explanations, identify the local meridian with the use of a gnomon. 2. On the basis of observations and measurements in the field, define cardinal directions and ordinal (intermediate) directions.

The right-hand rule: If we face the north, we shall always have the east to our right

3. Prepare a topographic map of your nearest vicinity. Set a route across the area taking into consideration the diversity of relief and ground cover, and mark characteristic geographical objects. 4. Using a GPS receiver, determine the geographical coordinates of the locality where you live, and walk along the planned route. 5. Give three examples of information that can be obtained from GPS receivers used in car navigation. .......................................................................... .......................................................................... ..........................................................................

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Conclusions "I have heard and forgotten, I have seen and remembered, I have done and understood" – Konfucjusz. This article presents some examples of fieldwork projects during which the pupil can conduct observations of geographical objects, take measurements, and use instruments himself, although under the supervision of the teacher. This is a way of creating conditions for applying knowledge in practice and of enhancing the efficiency of the didactic process. References 1. Arends R. I., 1995. Uczymy się nauczać, WSiP, Warszawa. 2. Czaińska Z., Wojtkowicz Z., 1999. Aktywne metody a edukacji geograficznej, cz. 1, SOP, Toruń. 3. Dylak S., 2005. Konstruktywizm z perspektywy doskonalącego się nauczyciela, [in:] E. Arciszewska, S. Dylak (ed.), Nauczanie przyrody – wybrane zagadnienia, CODN, Warszawa, 65-84. 4. Okoń S., 1996. Wprowadzenie do dydaktyki ogólnej, PWN, Warszawa. 5. Piotrowska I., 2003. Ewaluacja metod nauczania w edukacji geograficznej, [in:] M. Śmigielska, J. Słodczyk (ed.), Edukacja geograficzno-przyrodnicza w dobie globalizacji i integracji europejskiej, PTG, Uniwersytet Opolski, Opole, 39-42. 6. Piotrowska I., 2005. Observation and presentation of phenomena in Geography education, [in:] K. Donert, P. Charzyński (ed.), Changing horizons in geography education. Geography in European higher education, 2, Herodot Network & Association of Polish Adult Educators, Liverpool-Toruń, 52-57. 7. Piotrowska I., 2006. Edukacja geograficzna jako podstawa postrzegania, rozumienia i ochrony środowiska przyrodniczego, [in:] M. Łanczot, G. Janicki (ed.), Wartości w geografii, UMCS, Lublin, 97-99. 8. Piotrowska I., 2007. Cognitive and application aspects in the bilingual teaching of geography, [in:] K. Donert, P. Charzyński, Z. Podgórski (ed.), Teaching Geography in and about Europe. Geography in European higher education, 4, Herodot Network & Association of Polish Adult Educators, Liverpool-Toruń, 50-57. 9. Piskorz S., 1995. Zarys dydaktyki geografii, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa.

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Effect of a river valley in a town on its spatial development. The case of Poznan Iwona Piotrowska Departament of Geography teaching and Ecological Education Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University ul. Dzięgielowa 27, 61–680 Poznań, Poland [email protected] Abstract The development of settlement observed in river valleys was connected with access to water which was drawn mainly from rivers and the access to food obtained directly from the river. The defensive as well as transport-related economic functions of rivers were equally important. According to numerous authors along with the intensive development of urbanisation, industry and river transport in the 18th century the processes of developing river valleys became more intensified. The performed works resulted in transformation of the spatial structure of river valleys through adjustment of the river channel and also of its embankments along with the development of settlement, which consequently led to the change of hydrography and land relief. The valley of the Warta River in Poznań is an example of such a landscape in the case of which the man got adjusted to the environment, whilst transforming it at the same time. Key words: Warta river valley, functions of rivers, development of urbanisation, transformation of landscape.

Introduction River valleys are considered to be a very significant landscape element playing an important role in its structure and functions as well as in preservation of wildlife resources. Natural river valleys are characterised by high diversity of ecosystems. Moreover, they are considered to be the most valuable and universal ecological corridors. The development of settlement observed in river valleys was connected with the access to water which was drawn mainly from rivers and the access to food obtained directly from the river. The equally important functions of rivers included also those related to defence and economy, especially with regard to transport.

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So the river valley landscapes are formed by big river valleys – most often flat – in which water is the main landscape- and relief-forming factor. The examples of such landscape include the Warta River valley in Poznań. Poznań, one of the oldest and biggest cities in Poland, is located on the Warta River at the mouth of its right-bank tributaries, namely Cybina and Główna as well as the left-bank tributary, called Bogdanka. It is located in the Wielkopolska Lake District between Poznań Lake District, Gniezno Lake District, Września Plain and the Poznań Warta River gorge separating Gniezno Lake District and the Września Plain (Figure 1). In 1999 a residence of the first Piast dynasty from the second half of the 10th century and Mieszko’s palace and chapel complex were discovered at Ostrów Tumski in Poznań (the archaeological works were conducted under the supervision of Prof. Hanna Kóčka-Krenz Figure 1. Warta River, West Poland of the Adam Mickiewicz University). The complex was an early Piast duke’s palace and later a king’s palace and at the same time the biggest stone structure of the first Piast dynasty (Kóčka-Krenz, 2005). So, clearly, it is a special place. The relief in the territory of Poznań is highly diversified and it results from the activity of the ice sheet and postglacial (fluvioglacial) waters. The Warta is the third longest river in Poland (808.2 km) and the main right-bank tributary of the Odra River (Figure 1). It drains the land forming a river basin with the area of 55.7 thousand km2. The most important glaciation was the third one that ended about 12 thousand years ago. It formed not only the land surface but also the water network. Warta River valley in Poznań The Warta in Poznań runs in a unique and special way, taking advantage of the geomorphological form, i.e. a river gorge. This part of the course, called the Poznań Warta Gorge (Figure 1), is interesting from the perspective of both relief development and river terraces existing in the valley landscape. The Warta River

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has always played an important role in the economic life of Poznań and according to Kaniecki (2004) since the very beginning the city has been inextricably linked with the river. However, in the 60s of the 20th century when the old channel of the Warta River was buried and communications routes became extended, the insular nature of Poznań was destroyed. The remains include varied landform features within the city territory, land elevations and descents that stand as an evidence of height differences. In some places the relief was totally transformed as a result of adjustment to urbanisation needs. Therefore, the aspect of adjustment of the emerging city of Poznań and its subsequent spatial development to the relief and course of the valley of the Warta River and its tributaries forms a very interesting geographical, natural, historical and tourist issue. A long time ago Stanisław Pawłowski examined land forms, defining their course and importance to the developing Poznań. The basic morphological unit of the area on which Poznań is situated is a flat moraine plateau having elevation of about 80–100 m above sea level. (Żynda, 1996). There is some diversification visible, namely in the southern part of the city the plateau reaches the height of 80 85 m above sea level, whereas in the northern part at the foot of the Morasko terminal moraine its height amounts to 90–100 m above sea level. There are glacial channels, valleys and small valleys as well as closed depressions cut into the area of the moraine plateau. The most significant form in the landscape under consideration is the longitudinally oriented Warta valley that cuts through the city. The valley is about 15 km long with varying width (ranging from 1.5 to 4 km) and relative depth of indentation in the plateau level of up to 20-40 m on average (Żynda, 1996). The course of the Warta valley that forms an axis of the whole hydrographical system determines together with valleys of tributaries the occurrence of so-called city’s green wedges. In the north-western part of the city, between Morasko and Radojewo, are the highest hills of the Poznań terminal moraine. Their relative height is approximately 50 m with reference to the plateau level and over 100 m with reference to the Warta level (51.8 m above sea level). The culmination is Moraska Mountain (153.75 m above sea level) being the highest Poznań elevation and also the highest hill of the central Wielkopolska. The peak of the hill is situated in the territory of the Morasko Meteorite reserve and is covered with forest. The Poznań Warta Gorge is a characteristic place determining the development conditions of Poznań. While defining the term of gorge it should be stated that it is a section of the river valley with narrow bed and steep slopes in which the river passes over an obstacle that occurs on its way (e.g. a mountain range or any other

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elevated land). The total length of the longitudinally oriented section of the Warta valley amounts to 45 km. One of the landscape types is an epigenic gorge that originates from the transformation of a postglacial channel into a classic river valley. The river takes advantage of the postglacial channel, running however in the opposite direction to the direction of the glacial river. An example of this type is the Poznań Warta River Gorge (Figure 1). The gorge valley of the Warta River in Poznań is about 15 km long, its width at that point ranges from 1.5 km in the northern part to 4 km in the southern part and it cuts through hills of the terminal moraine of the Poznań stadial and the whole territory of Poznań and its surroundings are characterised by the relief of the post-glacial origin. In the middle of the gorge section of the valley, oriented along the north-south axis, Poznań is located with its oldest part situated on the bed of the Poznań Warta River Gorge (Kaniecki, 2004). As a result of withdrawal of the glacier ice sheet and shifting of its head in the northern direction as well as erosive processes occurring in the Warta River valley river terraces were formed. The Warta River terraces in Poznań as a result of relief-forming activity of the river In the case of most of land areas rivers are the most important external relief-forming factors and their activity is among the most common relief-forming processes. The activity of rivers consists in erosion, transport of material and its accumulation. The destruction of the area through which the river passes is a result of the following processes: deep erosion (or bed erosion, depending on rocks forming the bed) – in this case the river deepens the river channel, lateral erosion – when the river has an effect on the banks of the river channel and destroys and shapes them as well as backward (source) erosion – when the river broadens a spring niche. The constancy and permanence of the erosion processes occurring in river valleys throughout the ages contribute to their evolution and the main form resulting from deep erosion includes river terraces. A river terrace is a landform that according to Pawłowski (1929): “is a more or less horizontal step preserved along a longer section of space on the bed or slopes of the valley which originates from the river cutting into its old bed”. Terraces are defined in a similar way by T. Bartkowski (1957) and B. Krygowski (1958, 1961). River terraces have its genesis in alternate activity connected with the processes of deep and lateral erosion and accumulation. Terraces may be present in groups, stretching along the river valley at various heights, on the both sides of the valley or on the one side only (Figure 2).

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S

N Figure 2. Arrangement of terrace steps that can be seen in valleys and ice-marginal valleys – schematic illustration, (Krygowski, 1958); I – the most recent terrace, IV – the most ancient terrace, V – plateau

River terraces have their genesis in alternate activity connected with the processes of deep and lateral erosion and accumulation. Therefore, it is often possible to see several steps of river terraces. Each terrace reflects the level of the river bed changing over time. So river terraces are fragments of old valley beds. In a cross section the valleys form a typical stair system (Figure 2). As for relation to the river levels we distinguish between flood terraces and over-flood terraces. There are several terrace levels present in the Warta valley. On the basis of research Bartkowski (1957) identified in the territory of Poznań seven river terraces in the Warta River valley (Figure 3). The following terraces can be found in the valley of the Poznań Warta Gorge: ▶ terrace I – (flood terrace), the most recent one; Holocene form; height of approx. 53 m above sea level (relative height up to 3 m). It occupies the 800metre wide valley bed and is present on the both right and left banks. Its bottom is made of sand, gravel and other river deposits. Currently significantly elevated by embankments constructed Figure 3. Geomorphological map of the gorge section of the Warta River near Poznań (Bartkowski, 1957; Kaniecki, 2004) 1 – terminal moraines, 2 – sandar, 3 – tunnel valleys, I – VII – terrace levels

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▶

▶ ▶

▶ ▶

▶

since the Middle Ages. It is developed with Ostrów Tumski with Zagórze as well as Śródka on the right bank and Chwaliszewo, Grobla and Piaski on the left bank. terrace II – the time of origin of the second terrace is estimated to be 13-11.8 thousand years ago; height of 55-57 m above sea level (relative height from 3 to 7 m). It is preserved in a small fragment, to the south of the Bogdanka valley. In 1253 Przemysł I founded the city on this terrace situated on the left bank. terrace III – relative height from 8 to 9 m. Fragmentary on the right bank of the Warta, to the north of the Główna valley. terrace IV – height of 62.5 – 66.5 m above sea level (from 10 to 14 m on average), its bottom is made of glacial till. The Rataje and Komadoria districts have been developed on this terrace. terrace V – height from 15 to 16 m. Sporadically present, only in the northern part of the valley. terrace VI – height of approx. 70 m above sea level (relative height from 17 to 20 m), preserved in a very small fragment on the right bank between the Cybina valley and Starołęka. terrace VII – the most ancient one, came into existence 18.4-17.2 thousand years ago; height of 71-73 m above sea level (relative height from 19 to 20 m), width of 1-2 km, gradient of 5‰ on the right bank and 7‰ on the left one. Once it was separated from the lowest levels with a step threshold but the threshold was significantly smoothened as a result of earthworks performed during the city development. The bottom is made of glacial till. In the City Centre it encompasses the area between Plac Wolności and the Main Railway Station. The following districts are situated on the terrace: Wilda, Starołęka, Naramowice and a part of the City Centre.

A good example of the case study is an analysis of modifications introduced by people in the city space, made on the basis of archive and aerial photographs (Figure 4).

Figure 4. The Warta River fragment in the city of Poznań on the plan of 1938; (Klause G., 2008) and currently (source: http://mapa.zumi.pl/poznan)

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Over 58% of the Poznań area is located on the plateau land over 80 m above sea level, about 35% on the river terraces and within the area of tunnel valleys and about 7% on the flood terrace of the Warta valley. The highest point in the territory of the city is Moraska Mountain (154 m above sea level) situated in its northern part whereas the lowest area of the city is the Warta valley (60 m above sea level). This clear relief and height diversification is perfectly reflected in the spatial development of the city, arrangement of buildings and street routes. Plan of a geographical tour “Following the Warta River terraces in Poznań” Taking into consideration the processes of erosive activity of the river and the resultant forms and having the knowledge of the geological and historical past of Poznań and the Warta River valley, it is worth tracking the route of the river terraces in the territory of Poznań. The adjustment of the city to the land relief and hydrography is equally interesting. By combining geomorphological and hydrological aspects with the issues of spatial development, histor y and cultural elements the proposed tour gives an opportunity to get to know the city area and its development over the centuries in an interdisciplinary way. It is perfectly visible on the satellite photo showing the route of the Warta River valley and the city spatial arrangement Figure 5. Poznań in the Warta valley (Source: Google Earth) (Figure 5). Therefore the main goals of the tour should include: ▶ presenting relief-forming activity of the river using an example of river terraces; ▶ presenting the river role in the process of city development; ▶ making aware of the impact of both relief and hydrological conditions on the spatial development possibilities; ▶ defining the role of the river in the cultural landscape of Poznan.

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Figure 6. Plan of a geographical tour “Following the Warta River terraces in Poznań” (white fields mark educational sites – from the east: Jordana Bridge, Ostrów Tumski, Chrobrego Bridge, Chwaliszewo Street, Wielka Street, the Old Market, Paderewskiego Street, Plac Wolności); author’s proposal (Piotrowska, 2010). Illustration source: http:// mapa.zumi.pl/poznan

The tour route (Figure 6) was marked out from the place of the city origin, so it includes: Ostrów Tumski, Jordana Bridge (from the eastern side with a chance to have a look at Śródka), Chrobrego Bridge, further Chwaliszewo Street, Wielka Street, the Old Market, Paderewskiego Street to Plac Wolności. The advantage of the proposed tour is a partial reference to the Royal and Imperial Route existing in the territory of Poznań. At the same time, while observing the spatial scope of the terraces it is possible to imagine the great power with which the river affects the geographic environment. Conclusions The landscape of the Warta valley and its natural and tourist values as well as very interesting geomorphological, geological and historical past are worth noticing. The Warta together with its tributaries, especially Cybina and Bogdanka, form a characteristic cross shape (Klause, 2008). The numerous tributaries and division of the main Warta current into many branches (with two of them embracing Ostrów Tumski island preserved up to now) made such districts as Piaski, Czartoria, Chwaliszewo or Rybaki form separate islands. The changes in the valley landscape took place throughout a long time both as a result of natural river processes and

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conducted hydrological works (Kaniecki, 2004). It resulted in the development of isolated fragments of higher terraces creating so-called “mountains.” The ones preserved to this day include Przemysła Mountain and St. Wojciech Hill whereas Musza Mountain (the area of the present Plac Wolności) and St. Martin Mountain (its remnants include a steep descent of St. Martin Street to the east behind the church and less steep descent to the west) were levelled. According to Kaniecki (2004) in some parts of the city the thickness of alluvial soils (sands, gravel, frequently waste) reaches about 7 m. So through forming of embankments and raising of the land level the area where Poznań is located became a place subject to significant impact of people and transformation of the river valley landscape. References 1. Bartkowski, T., 1957. Rozwój polodowcowej sieci hydrograficznej w Wielkopolsce środkowej, [in:] Zeszyty naukowe UAM, Geografia nr 1, Poznań, 1-79. 2. Kaniecki A., 2004. Poznań – dzieje miasta wodą pisane, PTPN, Poznań. 3. Klause G., 2008. Rzeki w Poznaniu – rekreacyjny czy turystyczny atut czy kłopot? [w:] Nauka Przyr. Technol. 2, 4. 4. Kóčka-Krenz, H., 2005. Rezydencja pierwszych Piastów na poznańskim grodzie, [in:] Poznań we wczesnym średniowieczu, (ed.), t. V, Poznań, 59-81. 5. Krygowski B., 1958, Krajobraz Wielkopolski i jego dzieje, PTPN, Poznań. 6. Krygowski B., 1961. Geografia fizyczna Niziny Wielkopolskiej, część I, Geomorfologia, PTPN, Poznań. 7. Pawłowski St., 1929. Rozważania nad morfologią doliny Warty pod Poznaniem. Badania Geograficzne, 4-5, Poznań. 8. Piotrowska I., 2010. Krajobraz doliny Warty w Poznaniu, [in:] Człowiek w krajobrazie miasta Poznania, (ed.) I. Piotrowska, M. Cichoń, Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Poznań, 19-33. 9. Żynda, S., 1996. Rzeźba terenu, geomorfologia, [in:] Środowisko naturalne miasta Poznania, UM, WOŚ, Poznań, 15-21.

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Valuation of contemporary urban space by youth. The Poznan case study Małgorzata Cichoń Departament of Geography teaching and Ecological Education Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University ul. Dzięgielowa 27, 61–680 Poznań, Poland [email protected] Human learning is based on identification and valuation. According to Zimbardo (1999), perceptive identification depends on our expectations towards objects, rather than on the objects’ features. Furthermore, for Madurowicz and Szumacher (2007) spatial categorization results from everyday practice and habits as well as inherited cultural models. In accordance with Szafrańska and Kaczmarek (2007), space valuation is subjective as is a synthesis of stereotypes, previous knowledge and our own images of the environment as the outcome of its direct sensual experience. Our subjective perception and valuation is often distorted in relation to objective factors. Zimbardo (1999) explains that „the main goal of perception is feeling the outside world in a way which serves maximally our needs as biological and social beings moving around the physical and social environment and adapting to it.” As a result, understanding the visual form of a city means concluding based on looks. It comprises pointing at material and spiritual meanings and specific values, which are an evidence of city attractiveness (Cichy-Pazder, 2007). A social aim of being in urban space is determined by a cognitive theme and cognitive opportunities which determine the way and level of meeting your own needs (Reykowski 1970). Urban space contains fragments and places which meet the needs of an individual group of recipients. It is true, thus, what Rykiel (2008) said, namely that „you should not read a city as a general object, but through individual social groups”. This paper aims at determining attitudes of contemporary youth in the process of valuation of urban space. In this context it is important to identify how urban space is valued by youth and to analyse to what degree a system of values influences their attitudes. The study included young people aged 15-18 as this is the age when there is a need to create social bonds, self-financing and taking decisions on the ways of spending free time.

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Research methodology In order to determine the attitudes of youth in the process of valuation of urban space in Poznań a survey was conducted. It was based on questionnaires completed by 15-18-year-olds. The study included 219 high school students from different parts of the city. Individual districts of the city play various functional roles, which were combined into four categories. Zone I includes the vicinity of the Old Town Market. It contains monuments and administrative buildings but recreational areas are missing. Zone II includes the areas at 3-4-km distance from the centre. These are housing estates with a recreational function. Both blocks of flats of ‘Pod Lipami’ district and houses of ‘Sołacz’ are surrounded by parks, such as ‘Cytadela’ or ‘Sołacki Park’, but sport and retail objects are missing. Zone III includes housing estates, mainly blocks of flats. This area is represented by ‘Czecha’ district, with large shopping centres (M1, Ikea) and ‘Malta’ nearby, and ‘Dębiec’ district, with a dense network of roads and green areas and the River Warta Valley nearby. Zone IV includes the city peripheries, which are mainly housing estates with a recreational function. The zone includes ‘Strzeszyn’ district, surrounded by forest areas and lakes, and ‘Krzesiny’ with farmlands and an airport. Neither ‘Strzeszyn’ nor ‘Krzesiny’ have shopping or sports centres. The basic tool for determining the attitudes, developed by perception and valuation of the spatial-functional structure of the city of Poznań, was a survey. It included 18 questions. However, due to limited space and the topic of this article, only one of them will be analysed. School students were to decide what makes them most proud of in their city. Next, they were to grade the listed elements of the functional structure of Poznań, by giving them 1 to 10 points (where 10 was the highest). The students were also asked not to use the same grade twice. As they did not always listen, for the analysis only the two highest results were used. As a result of the above process, 421 indications were obtained. Valuation of the Poznań city structure by youth The contemporary valuation of the spatial-functional structure of Poznań by youth (see Figure 1) concentrates on infrastructure. Most of the highest grades were given to shopping centres (108 indications, i.e. 25.6%) and cultural and sports centres (68 indications, i.e. 16.1%). Young people are also proud of the history of their city (60 indications, i.e. 14.3%) and its inhabitants (47 indications, i.e. 11.1%). Among the humanistic elements the young people indicated local customs most often (45 indications). Much lower value is attributed to urban green areas (36 indications) and landscape (27 indications). Among the natural elements the lowest rank was attributed to air purity (only 14 indicators). However, sociologic elements, such as employability and municipality obtained the highest rank only among a dozen or so indications.

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Figure 1. Valuation of the elements of the spatial structure of Poznań city by youth at the age of 15-18 (percentage of the highest indications). Compiled by the author on the basis of the survey

It was found out that the valuation made by young people was very reliable and based on a large knowledge of their place of residence, but more at the scale of a district than the entire city. Moreover, it was realised the process of valuation of urban space depended on the students’ residence. The further from the city centre a student lived, the wider the view of the urban space is and the valuation does not only refer to the neighbourhood. Valuation by young people from the city outskirts were more uniform, with the highest values obtained by the history of the city, as well as shopping and culture and sports centres. In the valuation process the students from zone II apparently targeted shopping centres and large green areas in the neighbourhood. The students from the Old Town assessed Poznań from the perspective of their district, and the highest values were given to shopping and cultural and sport centres. They were the only group which did not appreciate the city authorities. Valuation of the city area by youth reflects reality. Youngsters were more critical towards the state of the environment. The students from the city centre overestimated the value of the natural elements, while the students from the periphery underestimated them. However, looking at the environment from the perspective of the entire city, all the groups assessed the environmental in a similar way. Nevertheless, the students living in zone II rated the environment highest. Upon closer examination, however, we realise this zone has a high share of green areas and low pollution of the air so such valuation seems more accurate.

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Attitudes The results obtained in the valuation process of the city of Poznań indicate three dominant attitudes of youth. 1. Patriotism (local and urban) Local patriotism is an attitude, which is characterized by specific, consciously repetitive activities. In accordance with them, a student feels and thinks about selected sites and areas of his/her surroundings, such as a housing estate. The strongest patriotism is visible among young people living in zone I and II, up to 3 km from the city centre. The research conducted by Cichoń and Dybska-Jakóbkiewicz (2007) suggest that students from this area are predominantly bonded with the area with the closest proximity of the residence, in this case the Old Market or ‘Sołacz’. This is due to the fact that it is the centre where the exchange of various goods, both material and non-material, takes place. It is also possible to spend free time there. The existence of local patriotism and affection to the place of residence is confirmed by the results of the valuation of the natural elements (see Figure 2). It is clear that the students living in zone I and II rated natural elements much higher than the others. At the same time, it should be noted that only young people from ‘Sołacz’ and ‘Pod Lipami’ had reasons for such high ratings.

Figure 2. Valuation of natural elements by youth against the percentage of green areas in the delimited zones (percentage of indications of the highest values). Compiled by the author on the basis of the survey

The second group of respondents, from zones III and IV, represent urban patriotism, i.e. sees and values the city as a whole, irrespective of the fact that it identifies

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only with the place of residence. These areas are primarily residential and the places which the respondents most often indicated include home, playground, street or a housing estate (Cichoń and Dybska-Jakóbkiewicz, 2007). Young people from the city outskirts valued the natural elements considering the entire landscape structure of the city. This valuation would be lower if it had not been for these students’ local patriotism. They highly appreciated the amount of green areas because nature is of supreme value to them. However, the young respondents from zone III, who often spend their free time on the Warta River and Malta, appreciated the landscape. Local patriotism, thus, depends heavily on the specific place of residence and manifests itself mainly in relation to those sites that have emotional significance for us. The city patriotism depends on the knowledge of the entire city and identification with a wider area. 2. Consumerism Consumerism is an attitude based on unjustified consumption of material goods and services. Consumer attitude towards life can be read from the results of the research relating to valuation of shopping centres, which for the young people have the highest value (see Figure 3). Shopping malls are multifunctional facilities whose offer is addressed to young people. It should not thus be surprising that shopping centres have such a high value for youth. Almost 20% of all the respondents

Figure 3. Valuation of shopping malls by youth for the individual residential areas or city districts (percentage of indications of the highest values). Compiled by the author on the basis of the survey

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declared an attachment to such places. Similarly, a study conducted in Warsaw by Dudek-Mańkowska and Fuhrmann (2010) showed that 15% of high school students spend their free time in shopping malls. In their paper devoted to the behaviour of girls visiting shopping centres, Haftko and Baker (2004) suggest that youth is the only group of customers whose spending in shopping malls continues to grow. Perhaps outside Poland there is such a tendency. In Poland, however, due to their limited financial resources, the students treat these multifunctional buildings as places for meeting friends as well as shopping, and it is usually done once a week. The presented results show which of the students live in the vicinity of shopping malls. Moreover, they indicate that the presence of such a facility in the place of their residence is very important to them. Increasingly, consumption, through the use of fast food restaurants and amusement parks, is the sole determinant of quality of life for these young people. 3. Functionalism The functional attitude among the younger generation means perceiving society as a system in which people and cultural elements are interconnected, performing certain functions. A functional attitude is reflected in student valuations of the relationships among the inhabitants (see Figure 4). Young people from all the city zones assess human interrelations as being medium. The lowest value is indicated by the students who live in blocks of flats, while the highest by those who live in detached houses in zone IV. Although the results do not indicate that,

Figure 4. Valuation of cultural elements by youth from the delimited city zones (percentage of indications of the highest values). Compiled by the author on the basis of the survey

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a strong emotional bond is characteristic among young people in the neighbourhoods around the Old Market. Each member of this community must be capable of adaptation, internal integration and subordination, and maintain the same behavioural pattern. The survey also indicates students’ perceptions of different roles and social positions. Young boys give the highest values to sports facilities, while the girls to cultural ones. Such a division, however, does not apply to customs and the history of the city. The assessment of customs and history is determined by the parents' origin and education. This is evident from the results of youth from zones II and IV, whose parents are better educated and feel a greater need for maintaining traditions, unlike the young people from high-rise housing estates and inner city neighbourhoods where many dysfunctional families live. On the other hand, it is the youth of the oldest districts of Poznań who most highly rated and appreciated the status of cultural and sporting facilities in the city structure. Such a high valuation not only confirms the existence of a large number of cinemas and theatres, and sports fields, but also the importance of these facilities for the development of the city of Poznań. Conclusions By examining the accepted values of a person we learn about his/her vision of the world, his/her scale validity of what is happening in this world and the direction of his/her activities. The accepted value system is associated with individual desires, aspirations and preferences. On the basis of the values expressed by the students, we can value the city, i.e. retrieve an emotional relationship of a young person with his/her city (acceptance, indifference, rejection). Valuation of the city, however, involves the selection of places within the space which optimally satisfy the needs of an individual, while the evaluation of the object depends on the value it holds for us. Not only the value systems influences our conscious behaviour, but also adopting a specific attitude determines the manner of valuation. Contemporary youth living in the city of Poznań represents three attitudes: patriotism, consumerism, and functionalism. Following the adoption of the materialistic attitude the evaluation process of urban space focuses around objects in which young people spend their free time, such as shopping malls and cultural and sports facilities. By spending time in these places young people feel satisfaction, which automatically means a higher assessment. Following the adoption of a useful attitude, thus, means people divide the objects into those which meet their needs. In the case of young people, these include recreation, sports or hobbies. Functionalism among

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the younger generation also manifests itself in maintaining good relationships with peers and keeping habits common to the local community. In the process of evaluating the city of Poznan by it's young people, an important role is also played by patriotism, as a result of which young people often overrate the value of their residence. Although it is not always an objective assessment, thanks to it bonds with the "little homeland” are formed. References 1. Cichoń M., Dybska-Jakóbkiewicz I., 2007. Koncepcja nauczania o własnym regionie w przestrzeni miejskiej. Prace i Studia Geograficzne, T. 39, 43-50. 2. Cichy-Pazder E., 2007. Atrakcyjność miasta metropolitarnego. Wyznaczniki percepcyjne i behawioralne. Przykład Poznania, [in:] M. Madurowicz (ed.), Percepcja współczesnej przestrzeni miejskiej, Wyd. WGiSR, Warszawa, 133-142. 3. Dudek-Mańkowska S., Fuhrmann M., 2010. Wpływ lokalizacji centrów handlowych w Warszawie na organizację czasu wolnego młodzieży, [in:] M. Madurowicz (ed.), Wartościowanie współczesnej przestrzeni miejskiej, Wyd. WGiSR UW i Urząd M.St. Warszawy, Warszawa, 367-377. 4. Haftko D., Baker J., 2004., It’s all At the mall: exploring adolescent girls’ experiences, Journal of Retailing, 21 (4), 2-4. 5. Madurowicz M., Szumacher I., 2007. Warsztaty porównawcze z percepcji przestrzeni: Warszawa-Tatry. Raport z badania, [in:] M. Madurowicz (ed.), Percepcja współczesnej przestrzeni miejskiej, Wyd. WGiSR, Warszawa, 309-328. 6. Reykowski J., 1970. Wstęp do teorii osobowości, Warszawa. 7. Rykiel Z., 2008. Szata dezinformacyjna miasta, [in:] B. Jałowiecki, W. Łukowski (ed.), Szata informacyjna miasta, Wyd. Naukowe Scholar, Warszawa, 137-144. 8. Szafrańska E., Kaczmarek J., 2007. Percepcja przestrzeni – pomiędzy prawdą a autentycznością, [in:] M. Madurowicz (ed.), Percepcja współczesnej przestrzeni miejskiej, Wyd. WGiSR, Warszawa, 47-62. 9. Zimbardo Ph. G., 1999. Psychologia i życie, Wyd. Naukowe PWN, Warszawa.

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London 2012 Games: East End urban regeneration scheme – workshop materials Aleksandra Zaparucha Association of Polish Adult Educators, Toruń Branch ul. PCK 9, 87–100 Toruń, Poland [email protected] In 2012 London will host the Olympic Games. The new venues and infrastructure of the Olympic Park are under construction. The urban regeneration scheme prepared for East London will change the way this part of the city is viewed. The following material is the starting point for discussion how Olympic Games legacy will influence all the spheres of life in this post-industrial area. It includes three sections: ▶ handouts which can be used as an inspiration for classes on an urban rejuvenation case study, ▶ statistical data in the form of a table and pie-graphs on population of various sections of London and England. ▶ a selection of texts on various issues connected with the Olympic Games and the area of East and West London. How the material is used – whether as it is or transformed – depends on the teacher and his/her class. If more material is needed, however, there are numerous websites devoted to both Olympic Games and the East London urban rejuvenation scheme. There one can also find useful visual materials – maps, city plans and visualizations of Olympic architecture. The material can also be used as a springboard for a discussion of previous Olympic Games’ legacy. Moreover, it can provoke to look at rejuvenation projects in Poland as well as scrutinise the influence of the European Football Cup to be held in Poland and Ukraine in 2012 over the infrastructure. PART I – East End vs West End of London TASK 1 Even if you have never been to London you might have heard of West End and East End. Work in groups of 3 or 4 to study the two photos below and write as many words and expressions you associate with those parts of London as you can.

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West End

East End

Figure 1. Night entertainment in Leicester Square – a heart of the West End. Photo by Ian Muttoo

Compare your lists with another group’s list to see whether you agree in your opinions. Further reading: your set of materials for this activity includes Wikipedia texts on both West and East End.

Figure 2. An elderly Bangladeshi man in Brick Lane. Photo by Fabio Venni

TASK 2 Compare and contrast the two areas of London using the following linking words: Contrast: • However • Nevertheless • Nonetheless • Still • Although / even though • Though • But • Yet • Despite / in spite of • In contrast (to) / in comparison • While • Whereas • On the other hand • On the contrary

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Comparison: • Similarly • Likewise • Also • Like • Just as • Just like • Similar to • Same as • Compare • Compare(d) to / with • Not only...but also

PART II – statistical data The Isle of Dogs is part of East London which has already undergone urban rejuvenation. Former dilapidated docks, especially East India Dock, have already been redeveloped as a business quarter. On the contrary, the adjacent Canning Town is still awaiting full redevelopment. At the moment it is the scene for construction of the venues for London Olympic 2012. Use the data in the table included in your material to compare Canning Town with Isle of Dogs, the whole borough, the whole of London and the whole of England. The data include information on age groups, ethnicity, health, employment, education and home ownership. The data, presented both in the form of a table (Table 1) and graphs (Figures 3-8), was based on 2001 Population Census in the UK. At that time 11 278 people lived in Canning Town South, and 12 892 in Millwall. Table 1. East End Borough of Newham compared to London and Engalnd in terms of population structure (age, enthnicity, health, employment, education and home ownership) in 2001* Canning Town South

Millwall (incl. Canary Wharf)

Newham (Borough)

London

England

0-4 5-15 16-19 20-44 45-64 65+

8.7 17.7 5.4 38.1 19.2 10.9

4.95 11.20 4.02 61.50 13.10 5.25

8.5 17.6 6.3 42.2 16.4 8.9

6.7 13.5 4.7 42.7 20.0 12.4

5.9 14.2 4.9 35.3 23.8 15.9

Ethnicity:

White Mixed Asian/Asian British Black/Black British Chinese/other

61.0 3.0 6.4 26.9 2.7

66.56 2.56 18.40 5.52 6.96

39.4 3.4 32.5 21.6 3.1

71.2 3.2 12.1 10.9 2.7

90.9 1.3 4.6 2.3 0.9

General health:

65.0 22.4 12.6

75.70 17.10 7.15

67.9 21.9 10.1

70.8 20.9 8.3

68.7 22.2 9.0

20.7

11.40

17.3

15.5

17.9

Age groups:

Good Fairly good Not good People with long-term illnesses

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Table 1. East End Borough of Newham compared to London and Engalnd in terms of population structure (age, enthnicity, health, employment, education and home ownership) in 2001* – continuation Canning Town South

Millwall (incl. Canary Wharf)

Newham (Borough)

London

England

Employment status (for people aged 16-74): Full-time Part-time Unemployed Full-time student Retired Looking after home/family Permanently sick/disabled Other

37.6 8.1 6.7 11.1 9.7 10.9 9.1 6.8

60.3 5.03 5.2 8.9 4.4 6.6 4.3 5.4

40.0 7.7 6.7 13.7 7.8 10.4 6.8 7.0

51.6 8.6 4.4 9.6 9.8 7.2 4.6 4.3

49.1 11.8 3.4 7.3 13.5 6.5 5.3 3.1

Education/Qualifications (for people aged 16-74) No qualifications