National Geography Research Articles

Reflecting on the powers, possibilities and constraints of geography curricula in England, Finland and Sweden

ABSTRACT National curriculum statements found within the Official Recontextualising Field (ORF) provide an insight into how geography as a school subject is conceptualized in a country’s education system. National curricula can shape teachers’ agency in curriculum making and what, how and where children and young people study and learn geography. This paper engages with the lower secondary national geography curriculum for England, Finland and Sweden. We examine the structure and nature of the national geography curricula in each country, before drawing on the threefold arrangement of geographical knowledge as a tool for the analysis of the curricula. Our analysis found that deep and descriptive world knowledge forms the largest proportion of all three national curricula documents, and we argue that this can lead to a potentially limited conceptualization of geographical knowledge and representation of geography. We also suggest that the threefold arrangement could more actively engage with political dimensions when considering futures, and that there should be greater attention paid to the histories and geographies of the discipline (geography) in school geography.

Study on Morphological Motivation on English and Chinese Noun Derivatives: Taking American National Geographic and Chinese National Geography as Examples

Linguistic motivation remains an important theoretical issue in language research. Lexical motivation, as the most basic level of linguistic motivation, has always been a hot-discussed topic in the study of motivation, but there is little study on the comparison of lexical motivation between English and Chinese, especially on noun derivatives. Therefore, this article, using corpus research and qualitative analysis, aims at finding, describing, and explaining the similarities and differences between English and Chinese noun derivatives in morphological motivation. The corpus, selected by the principle of authority, equivalence, timeliness and feasibility, is built on American National Geographic and Chinese National Geography on which a few researchers delve from the perspective of motivation, so it is worthy of more exploration. Theoretically, this study will explain the inherent laws of language and promote the further development of linguistic motivation theory. Practically, this study may improve the efficiency of vocabulary teaching and learning.

Affordances and Borderscapes: Language Ideologies, Nationalisms, Generations and Geographies of Resistance in Cyprus

In this article, we explore the ways language has been used in Cyprus during different historical periods as a means of a dividing power, with the use of Cypriot dialects as a form of resistance and reunification of the island. We situate these translanguaging themes within a context of affective biopolitics that impacts Cypriot generations in shaping their everyday life through borderscapes and nationalisms. More specifically, we first examine how the official languages of the island (Greek and Turkish) have been used in the dominant public sphere(s) of Cyprus to marginalise Cypriot dialects, which, in turn, have been used as an oral means of communication, but also to impose symbolic signifiers of the biopolitics of borders and nationalisms in dividing communities. Secondly, we explore ways in which Cypriot dialects have been used as forms of linguistic resistance to nationalism, offering an alternative collective identity for generations of both communities, even during periods when nationalism was dominant in both communities. The translanguaging exploration centres on a close discourse analysis of one particular radio programme—the ‘Cypriot radio sketch’—that has been very popular among Cypriots since the appearance of radio in Cyprus in 1953. Finally, we analytically and discursively contextualise attempts of revival of the Cypriot dialects by younger generations as communicative forms of resistance to powers of partition, as well as translanguaging pathways to actualise their desire for the reunification of the island. We eclectically draw on a multi-method approach to combine datasets from interviews, media and social media while combining critical discourse analysis to theorise the affordances, borderscapes and affective biopolitics of generational language use within geographies of nationalism and resistance in the borderscapes of a divided Cyprus.

Item analysis of National Geography Olympiad multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in Indonesia

Item analysis of National Geography Olympiad multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in Indonesia

Assessment in geography through geography Olympiads: comparison of results of the Czech National and International Geography Olympiads from 2015 to 2022

Geographical Olympiads are disciplinary competitions that can be a tool for assessing geographical knowledge and skills in different countries of the world. This article aims to analyse the results of the national and international geography Olympiads and to identify their conditionality and interrelationship. The secondary aim is to find out whether the Czech Geography Olympiad (GO) selects contestants who can succeed in the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo). The fulfilment of these two aims can be an incentive for other national geography competitions to reflect and discuss on their structure in relation to iGeo. To achieve the aims, data from the national and international geography Olympiad from 2015 to 2022 were analysed quantitatively. The results indicate that the iGeo has a higher internal consistency and correlation among its parts than the GO, which tests some knowledge and skills that are not required in the iGeo. The results show that the concept of assessment is somewhat different in the two monitored competitions, which may mean a less than ideal selection of contestants for the international round of the competition.

조선 전기 민간(民間)의 차생산과 유통 형태 고찰

This study examined the tea production and distribution by the private sector in the first half of the Joseon era. After researching various government-issued geography sections, history records, and tea poems, evidence of tea production and distribution by the private sector was found. National geography sections listed 32-35 tea production areas in Gyeongnam and Jeonra province, but other areas also produced teas according to tea poems. On the other hand, a certain region was listed as a tea production area on the national record whenin fact, it was no longer. Teas produced were distributed in tea shops, tea merchants, and markets. In addition, some scholars and temples produced teas and shared them as the form of a present. These findings suggest that, although there is insufficient direct information on tea production and distribution, enough evidence was found to assume tea production and distribution from the private sector encompassing teas for the central government and general use.

The progressive pilgrim: Real and mythical Indian geography in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa

AbstractSeveral English‐language adaptations of the Indian epic Rāmāyaṇa have been published since the beginning of the 21st century. The epic has been regarded and recreated as a metonym for the Indian nation. Contemporary versions have often referred to Indian geography and have tried to poetically or literally associate mythic spaces with real ones. In this paper, I use discourse analysis in order to study some of the most influential 21st‐century English‐language retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa. I conclude that these and other versions of the epic describe India as a regionally divided nation which can ultimately be united through national geography, its association with mythology and the contrast between the geography of India and that of foreign nations. In this sense, I regard these contemporary versions as a ‘literary pilgrimage’ through which Indian readers can get to know the geography of their nation and regard it as sacred.

FINANCIAL PLANNING AND DECISION MAKING AS PREDICTORS OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN MSMES

Purpose: the present study demonstrates that the combination of financial planning and decision making jointly contribute as predictors of efficient financial performance, permeating into MSMEs’ market sustainability. Theoretical Framework: Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) currently have a relevant role in gross domestic product and direct job creation in Latin American countries. The literature shows that financial planning is a highly valuable tool for large businesses, facilitating decision making and creating positive impacts on financial performance. However, these studies are centered on businesses classified as large, excluding MSMEs. Recent studies have approached financial planning, decision making, and financial performance in MSMEs on an individualized basis. Methodology: The study carried out was quantitative, non-experimental, correlation, cross-sectional, and explanatory. A total of 308 MSMEs participated, obtained from the National Geography and Statistics Institute (INEGI, 2019), of which 34.41% were industrial, 32.14% commercial, and 33.41% from the service sector. Normal distribution tests were done (Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests), along with symmetry and kurtosis. Findings: The findings suggest that MSMEs which have been around for seven years or more have financial planning knowledge favoring their decision-making and generating efficient financial performance, making time a determining factor. Research, Practical & Social Implications: Our findings have significant implications for generating proper planning based on solid tools, with the effect of assertive decision making which favors financial performance. Originality/Value: The most important contribution from this study to MSMEs is to show that financial planning is not only for large organizations, but can apply to them as well.

Low Power Hydroelectric Systems (Lphs) To Energize Iot Devices

Introduction: This paper describes the results of the exploratory research developed by the SciBas investigation group of Francisco José de Caldas Distrital University within the low power-Pico hydraulic Hydroelectric Generation Systems (0,5 Kw to 5Kw) framework, that uses the minimum water reservoirs or Ultra Low Head (ULH) or Very Low Head (VLH) - such as drainage channels – and provides energy to IoT devices or its applications. Problem: About 80% of the world’s population lives in places where energy depends on fossil fuels; thus, it is necessary to generate electric power with renewable sources. Nevertheless, Low Power Generation Systems are an under-researched field, so the applied experiences have not been categorized and documented enough. Objective: Formulate a baseline to provide a detailed understanding of the structure of Low Power Hydroelectric Systems (LPHS) and establish a perspective for future Colombian context research. Methodology: Construct conceptualizations, categorizations and sub-categorizations based on vertebrate diagrams oriented to conceptual maps that show documentary references included between the years 2019 and 2023. Results: A review of papers related to Hydroelectric Energy Generation was made, of which 30% consisted of research about LPHS and its advantages and disadvantages; 35% about the generators, batteries and converters that complement this kind of system; and, finally, IoT device applications and sensor networks comprise 35% of the investigation. Conclusion: It was established that, in addition to the fact that LPHS generation is propitious for IoT devices and its applications, the idea of designing and implementing systems that power sensors and devices through clean energy is an advantage over other forms of generation with resources that, although exhaustible, are easily found within the national geography and are therefore viable for their implementation in non-interconnected zones of the electric system. Originality: This research is made in drainage channels terms, confirming its unprecedented nature; as well as considering energizing of IoT sensors and sensors networks by LPHS. Limitations: The review is limited to academic records; therefore, a deepening fieldwork is required for local, regional and national experience documentation in order to expand the applied research baseline.

AUR – The Electoral Geography of Romanian Conservative Nationalism

In December 2020, Romania held elections for its new Parliament amid the pandemic crisis. The voter turnout was historically low, at 31.84%. The Alliance for the Union of Romanians, a new party, won 9% of the vote, making it the fourth largest party in the Parliament. Having received only 0.29% of the votes in the local elections held 2 months prior, Alliance for the Union of Romanians’ success was unexpected. To explain this outcome, we analyse its programmatic choices, political strategy and symbolic and electoral geographies. The pandemic crisis allowed the consolidation of a nationalist and conservative constituency originating in the 2018 constitutional referendum to ban same-sex marriages. Romania’s example shows that a nationalist-conservative radical party can become viable if extra-political groups, networks and organisations are willing to lend significant local support to it.

VIEWING VIDEOS ON THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL TO IMPROVE STUDENTS' SPEECH SKILLS

The purpose of this study was to improve the speaking abilities of SMA Negeri 2 Baubau students in the eleventh grade by having them view videos using the national geographic channel approach. Eighty SMA Negeri 2 Baubau eleventh graders made up the sample. A test and questionnaire were used as the research instrument. One technique descriptive analysis was employed to analyze the data about the speaking achievement of the students at SMA Negeri 2 Baubau. Students' scores in both the control and experimental classes were described using a descriptive quantitative analysis. The results showed that students' speaking achievement at SMA Negeri 2 Baubau may be impacted by watching videos on the national geography channel. This discrepancy was evident in the t-test result of 8,291, which was higher than the t-table result of 2,021, indicating that the eleventh-grade students at SMA Negeri 2 Baubau are drawn to national geographic channel method videos.

Prayers, Not Protests: Christian Internationalism and Young Womanhood in South India

Protestant communities in South India were vocal in dissenting against colonial rule and in expressing their discomfort with the demographic politics of nationalist discourse. Within this context, this paper focuses on young Christian women in Madras, who, in the 1930s and 1940s, articulated an internationalist ethic and a geography of ecumenical belonging that drew on their positioning within internationalist humanitarian, Christian socialist and global student Christian networks. Critiquing the narrowly regional and national geographies within which minoritised communities in South Asia have tended to be studied, I argue that these young women drew on social gospel theology to imagine an expansive international geography of social action, while critiquing their positioning as ‘minorities’ within the emergent Indian nation.

Indonesian and English Cultural Values in Buku Bahasa Inggris Textbook Grade 8

Textbooks play an important role in introducing students to various cultures. Majority of English teachers only concentrate on teaching four language skills rather than introducing culture to their students. It is critical to analyze cultural aspects in textbooks, particularly in English subjects, to ensure that the cultural values are represented in the English textbook. This study was conducted to find out multicultural values of the source culture and target culture that are represented in Buku Interaktif Bahasa Inggris, discover what techniques of multicultural values of the source culture and target culture are represented, and find out what culture is more represented in Buku Interaktif Bahasa Inggris. This study used content analysis method in order to collect and analyze the data. The result of this study shows that source culture is strongly represented in the textbooks, with National Geography as the multicultural value that mostly appears in the book, conveyed by Geographical Factors as the technique. This study could be useful for both teachers and authors as an input and evaluation so that cultural content can be included and considered in the textbooks or learning process.

『조선환여승람』의 편찬과 그 의미

Most of the officially and privately published eupji(邑誌) in the Joseon Dynasty, which began to be compiled in earnest from the late 16th century, imitated the format of Donggukyeojiseungram(『東國輿地勝覽』). Joseonhwanyeoseungram(『朝鮮寰輿勝覽』) written by Lee Byung-yeon(李秉延, 1894~1977, family clan; Yeonan), a Confucian scholar from Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do, also accepted the format of Donggukyeojiseungram. He wrote the book covering the natural and human environment with the help of a separately organized reporter and the cooperation of Confucian scholars from each region (129 counties) across the country. Although this book accepted the compiling system of the geographies of the previous period, the contents were partially selected according to the author's intention. Most of all, although some of the figures included in the geographies of the previous period were re-included, this book shows quite large differences overall from the previous ones. According to the criteria of the author, this book differs greatly from the previous ones specially in terms of recorded persons. In particular, the fact that the compilation process was carried out through active communication and cooperation with the Confucian scholars of the region and the fact that the characters were included in an excessive amount is quite different from the geographies of the previous period. Joseonhwanyeoseungram has at first glance the characteristics of an individual eupji that summarizes the current status of each county, but maintains in the end the characteristics of a national geography that can grasp the current nationwide situation by bundling it into one format. Above all, from a viewpoint of the history of historiography, this book is meaningful in that it maintains differentiation in describing the situation of the 20th century, although it applied the format norms of compiling the eupji of the previous period.

“We Choose Abundant Life”

AbstractThis article offers an overview of the document “We Choose Abundant Life”: Christians in the Middle East – Towards Renewed Theological, Social, and Political Choices, published in September 2021 by a group of Christians who belong to different churches and with different cultural perspectives, national geographies, and areas of expertise. The document offers renewed alternatives of theological, social, and political choices for the churches, peoples, authorities, and institutions in the Middle East.

Geographies of nationalism

This review article considers recent scholarship on the geographies of nationalism by focusing on three key binaries that have defined the field of nationalism studies: inclusive/exclusive (geographies of community), love/hate (geographies of emotion), and past/future (geographies of time). It argues that asking who participates in constructing such conceptual dualisms, geographers can offer important insights about how nationalist discourses underpin contemporary practices of governing ourselves and others as political subjects—and their multifarious spatial dimensions. Geographers are well positioned to investigate the drawing of conceptual boundaries as political acts, with real effects in the world, rather than intellectually “wrong.” As such, this article calls for nationalism scholars not to outright reject binaries, but to take them seriously as a way to open up broader questions about the geographies of nationalism that all subjects of today's state system must confront.

Hybrid Culture in Indonesian EFL Textbooks: Policies and Pedagogical Implications

Hybrid Culture is a new term which reflects the diversity and complexity of the world culture existing today. The term hybrid culture refers to the mixture of several kinds of culture blended or integrated into one new culture which has the characteristics of the old and new culture it represents. In the context of EFL learning in Indonesia, many EFL textbooks do not really cover the hybridity of the culture which creates the pedagogical implications in the future of education. The majority of the textbooks either focus on the local or target culture. They do not emphasize the importance of the students to understand that culture is not single-handedly original in its nature but consists of many external factors. This study attempts to examine such a phenomenon. The data were taken from 3 (three) local EFL textbooks used in some high schools in Indonesia. The researcher uses the Content Analysis method with the cultural content evaluation by Byram and Morgan (1994) and Kilickaya (2004). They proposed a qualitative evaluation checklist with a list of criteria for examining the extent and methods of how culture is presented. There are nine categories from the checklist, namely- social identity and social groups, social interaction, belief and behavior, socio-political institutions, socialization and the life-cycle, national history, national geography, national cultural heritage, stereotypes and national identity (Byram & Morgan, 1994). Then the results were compared and it was found that the textbooks do not clearly represent the hybrid culture in their content.

Understanding the leading indicators of hospital admissions from COVID-19 across successive waves in the UK.

Following the end of universal testing in the UK, hospital admissions are a key measure of COVID-19 pandemic pressure. Understanding leading indicators of admissions at the National Health Service (NHS) Trust, regional and national geographies help health services plan for ongoing pressures. We explored the spatio-temporal relationships of leading indicators of hospitalisations across SARS-CoV-2 waves in England. This analysis includes an evaluation of internet search volumes from Google Trends, NHS triage calls and online queries, the NHS COVID-19 app, lateral flow devices (LFDs), and the ZOE app. Data sources were analysed for their feasibility as leading indicators using Granger causality, cross-correlation, and dynamic time warping at fine spatial scales. Google Trends and NHS triages consistently temporally led admissions in most locations, with lead times ranging from 5 to 20 days, whereas an inconsistent relationship was found for the ZOE app, NHS COVID-19 app, and LFD testing, which diminished with spatial resolution, showing cross-correlation of leads between -7 and 7 days. The results indicate that novel surveillance sources can be used effectively to understand the expected healthcare burden within hospital administrative areas though the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of these relationships is a key determinant of their operational public health utility.

ENTREPRENEUR PREPAREDNESS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROBABLE SUCCESSORS IN ENTREPRENEURIAL ORGANIZATION: SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION

Preparedness of an entrepreneur with regards to development of his probable successors especially for key roles is not only critical and important keeping in view the long-term business success but also to remain competitive. This research paper presents the creation and verification of the entrepreneur preparedness to the development of probable successors in Entrepreneurial Organization engagement scale, as tested on a sample of 150. The respondents included Leadership Team, Heads of Human Resources and senior management team members of the organizations belonging to 48 organizations due to the involvement of senior management of these organizations and homogeneous nature of the population. The basis of selection was their entrepreneurial orientation. The organizations are more than a year old to maximum of 90 years old. Organizations which were selected belonged to across industries irrespective of national geography as the meaning of entrepreneurial orientation remains same in any industry. Sampling of participants focused primarily on role of respondents in succession planning for probable successors in their organizations. The scale is a 19 item self-reporting questionnaire (1 was dropped as it was irrelevant) that measures four facets of development of probable successors with regards to Statements that represent preparedness of Entrepreneur with regards to the development of probable successors in entrepreneurial Organization. The test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the subscales were both quite good. All the dimensions of development of probable successors were positively and significantly related. The results of EFA rendered 3 distinct factors namely; Leadership Commitment to Planned succession, Communication of Planned succession to probable successors, Succession decisions directed by Family concerns, values and norms. These factors were then checked for construct validity and discriminant validity followed by structural model fit assessment.

The Contents and Characters of Geography National Curriculum in Singapore

The Contents and Characters of Geography National Curriculum in Singapore