Chang, Chew Hung

In balancing the role of assessment as an integral part of the curriculum and teaching process and that of a measurement and reporting tool, practitioners are often challenged to design good assessment tasks that fulfil these purposes as well as developing cognitive skills and abilities. While there are many research studies on inquiry in fieldwork and on assessment in geography education, there is little recognition on how the whole process of inquiry acts as a form of fieldwork assessment within geographical education. This chapter proposes that inquiry can be a mode of assessment for and as fieldwork and need not be solely administered at the end of fieldwork activities.

For over 30 years, the Southeast Asian Geography Association (SEAGA) has provided a dynamic platform for the exchange of knowledge, research findings, and ideas among academics, policymakers, and educators from Southeast Asia and those working on Southeast Asia. Using Marsden’s (1989) notion of the politicization of geography by significant power groups, this article describes a critical narrative of the key trends, themes, and topics defining scholarly discourse in the community of SEAGA and its potential impact on school geography in the region. For each of the three decades (1990-1999, 2000-2009, and 2010-2019), the authors analyzed significant themes and issues for each period. Employing purposive sampling of conference proceedings and topics presented between 1990 and 2017, the authors found the following trends over the years: i) the pluralization and diversification of themes and topics; ii) an increasing interest for cross-thematic studies, and iii) a greater emphasis on sustainability and environmental issues in recent years. Based on these observations, the authors acknowledge that the evolution of discourses in SEAGA conferences is also a part of broader thematic shifts in international publications such as the Journal of Geography and has a direct bearing on changes in the geography curriculum in schools in other places around the world. In addition, there is a natural confluence of academic geographers and geography educators in the region in discoursing topics that matter to Southeast Asia.

Climate change is complex and there is a need to educate our future generations so that they are able to deal with the plethora of information and views that they come into contact within their lives. This book inquires into what it means to teach and learn about climate change.

Now in its second edition, Chang further explores what education for climate change entails, discussing the concept of climate change education (CCE) itself, how it is taught in schools and how public education is being carried out. Featuring updated literature in a quickly advancing field, the book defines CCE for the global citizen and looks at pedagogies supporting CCE. It also identifies teachers as key stakeholders in climate change discourse, how to improve teacher readiness on the topic and how teacher professional development can support successful implementation of CCE.

This book will be invaluable to climate change educators and can act as a reference resource for teachers, education policymakers and public education agencies.