Didactics of Geography
Due to its systematics as a combination of natural and social sciences, geography is the only discipline at schools to inherently convey this principle. Thus, the great challenges of the 21st century (climate change, finite resources, geopolitical conflicts, migration, demographic changes etc.) are the issues geography deals with in a holistic and integrative manner according to the basic concept “human-environment-system”.
The task group on geography education’s largely empirical research concentrates in various ways on the central issue: “How can geography at school adequately meet the growing complexity of global situations?” The wide range of investigations covers diagnostics and promotion of systematic competence as well as the conceptualisation of basic concepts and the instructional handling of ethical issues. Here, quantitative research methods (e.g. IRT models) as well as qualitative research methods (e.g. documentary method, videography) are taken into account.