Rediscovering Geography New Relevance for Science and Society (1997) / Chapter Skim
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8 Rediscovering Geography: Conclusions and Recommendations
8 Rediscovering Geography: Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 161-171
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From page 161... ...
Given society's enhanced interest in geography as a subject, it is essential to improve the knowledge base of geography as a discipline related to critical issues for science and society, to increase the appreciation and use of geographic perspectives in science and society at large, and to treat geographic learning as 161
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From page 162... ...
A particular challenge is that of analyzing and modeling relationships among natural science and human science phenomena and processes, which are so often separated by boundaries of epistemology, professional specialization, data categories, and units of measurement. Besides the technical challenges, such as relating economic and ecological indicators, this is also a challenge to individual scientists to transcend conventional boundaries for understandings of other kinds of processes and linkages.
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From page 163... ...
In this and other cases, geography's ability to contribute on the basis of sound scientific research will often depend on the availability of valid longitudinal information covering the diverse topics incorporated in the discipline's perspectives. · Increase the use of geographic perspectives to provide scientific insights that may not be achieved in other ways.
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From page 164... ...
· Develop programs that bring geographic perspectives to bear more e~ectively on business, government, and other organizations at national to community levels. Clearly, the United States cannot wait a generation until geographically literate students move into positions of responsibility to utilize geography to improve decision making and social well-being.
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From page 165... ...
Directions needing increased emphasis include connections with critical issues for society, involvement in intellectual challenges to science at large (e.g., analyzing and understanding complex dynamics) , and the pursuit of opportunities for interactive learning as a challenge for both research and teaching.
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From page 166... ...
· Alter faculty reward structures in universities, colleges, and geography departments. Reward structures need to recognize the importance of long-term, collaborative research; geographic education, including scholarly contributions to geographic learning; contributions to societal problem solving; and interdisciplinary interaction, including working and publishing with colleagues in other disciplines.~ TAKING INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY FOR STRENGTHENING THE DISCIPLINE Finally, geographers need to recognize that they also have responsibilities to their discipline, to other sciences, and to society.
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From page 167... ...
Geography faculty need to take collective responsibility for identifying and infusing into undergraduate and graduate programs the core of conceptual and methodological approaches that provide coherence to the discipline. They need to ensure that undergraduate and graduate students are solidly grounded in the fundamentals of geographic learning, while at the same time affording graduate students opportunities for in-depth training at the frontiers of knowledge in selected subspecialties.
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From page 168... ...
Increased research attention should be given to certain core methodological and conceptual issues in geography that are especially relevant to society's concerns. Key issues include complex systems and nonlinear dynamics, relationships between physical and human geography, multiscale analysis, comparative case study analysis, and visual representation.
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From page 169... ...
Geography's organizations should increase their interactions with private-sector firms and associations, government agencies, educational institutions, nongovernmental interest groups, and appropriate funding organizations to examine ways to improve the effectiveness of information and technology transfer, to increase personal and professional linkages, and thereby to improve business and government and community decision making. To strengthen geographic institutions: 7.
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From page 170... ...
Such categories include long-term research; collaborative research; research directed toward societal problem solving, including policy research; research on geographic learning; geographic education as a field of scholarship, teaching, and professional service; and interdisciplinary interaction and communication. This recommendation should be implemented by university and college administrators, in collaboration with geography's organizations and with national and state associations concerned with reward systems and personnel policies for university faculty members.
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From page 171... ...
Unless significant actions are taken, and taken quickly, either geography's contributions will be severely supply constrained (leading, for instance, to restricted enrollments in university courses and programs) or may decline in quality, as limited professional resources are stretched too thinly.
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