Environmental Education in Russian Universities

This paper presents the results of a simulation exercise designed to explore and understand the implications of trying to survive in a marginal and poverty-stricken African community. The aim of the simulation was to create an approximation of a community involved in an income-generating project, akin to a Public Works Programme. This project sought to enable every person to earn a dollar a day on which to live. In addition, the exercise helped the participants to question and assess whether the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have a chance of reaching their proposed targets. The nearly one hundred participants were undergraduate geography students, reading Development Studies and Demography at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. The outcome of the simulation was that the students developed a clearer understanding of poverty, particularly the ‘Deprivation Trap’, and how complex the development process is in practice.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Inge Kaul, Isabelle Grunberg and Marc A. Stern (eds), Global Public Goods. International Cooperation in the 21st Century Edward Clay and Olav Stokke (eds), Food Aid and Human Security Mirjam van Reissen, EU ‘Global Player’: The North–South Policy of the European Union Sheila Page (ed.), Regions and Development: Politics, Security and Economics John Bailey and Roy Godson (eds), Organized Crime and Democratic Governability: Mexico and the US–Mexican Borderlands Peter Soderbaum, Ecological Economics Charles David Smith, Ecology, Civil Society and the Informal Economy in North West Tanzania Peter P. Mollinga (ed.), Water for Food and Rural Development. Approaches and Initiatives in South Asia Roger Jeffrey and Nandini Sundar (eds), A New Moral Economy for India’s Forests? Discourses of Community and Participation Rekha Wazir (ed.), The Gender Gap in Basic Education: NGOs as Change Agents Gail Wilson, Understanding Old Age: Critical and Global Perspectives Bhanoji Rao, East Asian Economies: The Miracle, A Crisis and The Future Jayati Ghosh, and C. P. Chandrasekhar, Crisis as Conquest, Learning from East Asia     

Teaching and learning in the tropics: an epistemic exploration of “the field” in a development studies field trip

Development studies employs theories, tools and methods often found in geography, including the international field trip to a “developing” country. In 2013 and 2014, I led a two-week trip to Ethiopia. To better comprehend the effects of “the field” on students’ learning, I introduced an assessed reflexive field diary to understand what the field trip experience teaches students about themselves and their relationship to the field. In this paper, I present critical reflections on “the field” that speak to a provocative concept – “the tropics”. These reflections illuminate prevailing challenges in the study and practice of development and suggest a way forward.     

Are South African Geography education students ready for problem-based learning?

Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of the possible training strategies that could be more fully implemented in the South African formal education system. The intention to migrate from teacher-centred to learner-centred instructions in higher education institutions and schools makes PBL a plausible option. Geography education students might be exposed to PBL because their training implies the acquisition of abilities to solve real-world situations at various geographical scales. This paper explores the perception of second- and third-year students in a BEd programme in Potchefstroom, South Africa. The study uses a mixed-method research approach based on questionnaire application, students' learning journal entries and field notes. Findings from the study indicate that students show very positive perceptions of PBL as a training strategy for teaching and learning. A gender difference regarding general aspects of PBL, independent learning, workload, assessment rubrics and the different role-players in PBL indicates that female students hold more positive perceptions of the PBL experience. Overall, the results indicate that students with higher academic performances in most instances hold more positive perceptions of the PBL experience.     

When bodies do not fit: an analysis of postgraduate fieldwork

Feminist geographers are increasingly examining embodied aspects of research. These embodied dimensions of fieldwork often build upon intersecting positionalities, yet studies focusing on bodily limitations encountered by feminists in the field are relatively few. In this article, we explore what it is like to be bodies that do not fit easily into the context within which they are supposed to be doing fieldwork. We are both female postgraduate students conducting fieldwork in the Global South. We have encountered, many times over, instances where, because of our sick and fatigued bodies, we have not been able to continue our work. We question the normalization of able-bodied postgraduate students by problematizing our own experiences, and argue that discourses of ability dominate fieldwork, in both its expectations and its conduct. This is especially the case for those with invisible disabilities because researchers may appear healthy but are not. As a result, postgraduate students may jeopardize their health for the sake of their research.     

The influence of an integrated PBL format on geography students’ perceptions of their self-directedness in learning

Problem-based learning can be implemented in South African geography teacher education to foster geography students’ self-directed learning skills. The purpose of this longitudinal case study was to determine B.Ed. geography students’ (n = 45) perceptions of their self-directedness in learning in integrated problem-based learning experiences over a three-year period. The study used quantitative and qualitative research methods based on questionnaire application and semi-structured focus group interviews. The students completed a standardized questionnaire at regular intervals with the implementation of integrated problem-based learning experiences in geography modules over a three-year period. Focus group interviews with participants (n = 8) were employed to get a deeper understanding of the results of quantitative data. The results indicated that the geography students’ self-directed learning scores increased with the implementation of an integrated problem-based learning format in geography over the three-year period. The students who measured average, below average and low levels of self-directed learning at the beginning of the study had the highest increase in self-directed learning scores over the three years. The female students’ perceptions of their self-directedness in learning had higher increases in their self-directed learning scores after the problem-based learning interventions when compared to the male students.     

Notes and Comments

This section is open for comments and debate on articles published in Development and Change , as well as for short reports, notes, views and reviews on relevant issues of development. Global Development - From Confrontation to Co-operation? André van Dam Striving to better, oft we mar what's well William Shakespeare Paper presented to ‘Education about Global Development’, a colloquy sponsored by MIND and UNESCO in New London, June 1974. The author, a Dutch economist and corporate planner, participated in his private capacity and expressed his own views.     

Providing University Education in Physical Geography Across the South Pacific Islands: Multi-modal Course Delivery and Student Grade Performance

Enormous distances across the vast South Pacific hinder student access to the main Fiji campus of the regional tertiary education provider, the University of the South Pacific (USP). Fortunately, USP has been a pioneer in distance education (DE) and promotes multi-modal delivery of programmes. Geography has embraced DE, but doubts remain about comparability of various modes of study. This paper offers a diachronic examination of final grade performance of undergraduate physical geography students learning via three different modes. Data collected over 10 years on the pass rates of >1300 students are analysed. Various influences on student achievement are highlighted.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Social and Demographic Accounting , edited by Geoffrey J.D. Hewings and Moss Madden.
Managing the Global Commons: The Economics of Climate Change , by William D. Nordhaus.
The South as an American Problem , edited by Larry J. Grffin and Don H. Doyle.
Imagineering Atlanta: The Politics of Place in the City of Dreams , by Charles Rutheiser.
Planning for Cities and Regions in Japan , edited by Philip Shapira, Ian Masser, and David W. Edgington.
Beyond the Great Wall: Urban Form and Transformations on the Chinese Frontiers , by Piper Rae Gaubatz.
Community, Culture, and Economic Development: The Social Roots of Local Action , by Meredith Ramsay.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: James H. Cassing and Steven L. Husted (eds). Capital, Technology, and Labor in the New Global Economy. G.T. Kenshaw (ed.), Market Liberalisation, Equity and Development. Joan M. Nelson el al., Fragile Coalitions: The Politics of Economic Adjustment. Hamza Alavi and John Harriss (eds), South Asia — Sociology of ‘Developing Societies’. Frans Schuurman and Ton van Naerssen (eds), Urban Social Movements in the Third World. Susan Eckstein (ed.), Power and Popular Protest. Latin American Social Movements. Jonathan Hartlyn, The Politics of Coalition Rule in Colombia. Bernard Eccleston, State and Society in Post-war Japan. Melanie Beresford, National Unification and Economic Development in Vietnam. June I. Parpart (ed.), Homen and Development in Africa: Comparative Perspectives. Anil Bhatt, Development and Social Justice. Micro Action by Weaker Sections.     

Virtual Development and Virtual Geographies: Using the Internet to teach interactive distance courses in the global South

This paper evaluates the delivery and learning outcomes of an interactive postgraduate geography and development MSc programme taught partially over the Internet, to students living in some of the most connectivity-poor regions of the world. It focuses particularly on the experiences of course developers, tutors and students, with the distance strand of a Master's Programme pioneered by Royal Holloway, University of London, and IW:LEARN (International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network), a UNDP-implemented project of the Global Environment Facility. Issues of design and implementation are discussed, with particular reference to pedagogical and financial questions and the considerable technical and personnel difficulties encountered. Comparability of experience between distance and residential students forms a central concern.     

Multicultural group work on field excursions to promote student teachers’ intercultural competence

As a response to the intercultural challenges of Geography Education, this study seeks to determine factors fostering intercultural competence of student teachers. Based on a one-week multicultural field excursion of eight German and eight Turkish students in Kayseri (Turkey) on Education for Sustainable Development, we used qualitative interviews to evaluate changes in the 16 student teachers’ intercultural competence. Findings strongly indicate that multicultural fieldwork fosters intercultural learning on a personal level.     

Plausibly deniable: mercenaries in US covert interventions during the Cold War, 1964–1987

This article examines the role and the significance of professional mercenaries as an instrument of US covert action programmes during the Cold War. Arguing that even small groups of these ‘career mercenaries’ used as advisors and so-called force multipliers could potentially make a difference in small-scale proxy wars in the Global South, the author asserts a process of institutional learning in which mercenaries became a possible substitute for official military advisors. While western mercenaries were rewarding targets for communist propaganda and caused discord on the foreign policy level, the greater danger were unintended side effects on the domestic level, including the formation of a paramilitary subculture within the USA.     

A Constructivist Approach to Climate Change Teaching and Learning

It is now broadly acknowledged that climate change due to an enhanced Greenhouse Effect is underway and such change will have major implications for our societies and environments. This paper outlines a pedagogical approach devised to encourage learning and critical thinking about climate change. A constructivist approach to teaching and learning is applied to stimulate analysis of potential impacts of climate change on systems familiar to secondary school students in South Australia. The problem‐based method guides students through a conceptualisation of the implications of environmental change. Students at Woodcroft College, when given the opportunity to examine the potential climate change impacts on a local coastal ecosystem, found the method to be both challenging and engaging. The exercise concluded with students discussing possible personal behavioural and broader societal responses to reduce the impacts of future climate change. The paper contends that such teaching to support students to become resilient young adults will be vital in a future world of environmental risk.     

At home in the city: everyday practices and distinction in international student mobility

International students have been overlooked in geographies of ‘home’, yet this paper demonstrates how international student mobility offers unique insights that can advance our understanding of ‘home’ and belonging in the city. Drawing on photo-elicitation and mid-point and return interviews with Canadian students, this paper explores the everyday home-making practices of exchange students in urban centres in the Global South. It focuses on the ways in which international students create a sense of ‘home’ and belonging in their host city and how insider knowledge gained through local everyday practices is converted into cultural capital. It contributes to the literature by considering how home-making practices are implicated in spatial and scalar boundary-making processes for distinction. By illustrating through participants’ photographs how students articulate ‘home’ using spatial and scalar markers, I examine how students tighten the spatial boundaries of ‘home’ to focalise and localise symbolic capital within the city. The findings further add to debates on im/mobility by demonstrating that students’ distinguish their relative immobility during the sojourn from the mobility of travellers and tourists to legitimise claims of belonging as ‘insiders’ and of place-specific capital. The paper then concludes by considering how students are ‘collecting homes’ for distinction.     

Book Reviews

M. P. Cowen and R. W. Shenton, Doctrines of Development Peter W. Preston, Development Theory: An Introduction John Brohman, Popular Development: Rethinking the Theory and Practice of Development Stuart Corbridge (ed.), Development Studies: A Reader Development and Social Diversity—Development in Practice Readers Peter Willets (ed.), The Conscience of the World. The Influence of Non-Governmental Organisations in the UN System Patricia L. McCarney (ed.), Cities and Governance: New Directions in Latin America, Asia and Africa Robin Luckham and Gordon White (eds), Democratization in the South: The Jagged Wave Kunibert Raffer and Hans W. Singer, The Foreign Aid Business: Economic Assistance and Development Co-operation William Ryrie, First World, Third World Robert Z. Lawrence, Regionalism, Multilateralism, and Deeper Integration Robert Z. Lawrence, Albert Bressand and Takatoshi Ito, A Vision for the World Economy: Openness, Diversity, and Cohesion Jan Joost Teunissen (ed.), Regionalism and the Global Economy. The Case of Africa Lennart Petersson (ed.), Post-Apartheid Southern Africa: Economic Challenges and Policies for the Future Ben Fine and Zavareh Rustomjee, The Political Economy of South Africa: From Minerals-Energy Complex to Industrialisation Owen Crankshaw, Race, Class and the Changing Division of Labour under Apartheid Finn Tarp and Peter Brixen, The South African Economy: Macroeconomic Prospects for the Medium Term Deborah F. Bryceson (ed.), Women Wielding the Hoe: Lessons from Rural Africa for Feminist Theory and Development Practice Leif Manger with Hassan Abd el Ati, Sharif Harir, Knut Krzywinski, Ole R. Vetaas, Survival on Meagre Resources. Hadendowa Pastoralism in the Red Sea Hills Emmanuel Manzungu and Pieter van der Zaag (eds), The Practice of Smallholder Irrigation. Case Studies from Zimbabwe Margaret Hall and Tom Young, Confronting Leviathan. Mozambique since Independence David Murray, Angels and Devils. Thai Politics from February 1991 to September 1992—A Struggle for Democracy? Alan R. Kluver, Legitimating the Chinese Economic Reforms: A Rhetoric of Myth and Orthodoxy Walter Hatch and Kozo Yamamura, Asia in Japan's Embrace. Building a Regional Production Alliance Albert Berry (ed.), Poverty, Economic Reform and Income Distribution in Latin America Pieter de Vries, Unruly Clients in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica: A Study of How Bureaucrats Try and Fail to Transform Gatekeepers, Communists and Preachers into Ideal Beneficiaries Christine Barrow, The Family in the Caribbean: Themes and Perspectives Barbara Harriss-White, A Political Economy of Agricultural Markets in South India. Masters of the Countryside Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen, India. Economic Development and Social Opportunity     

Negotiating time and space on a study abroad program in South India

This paper investigates the context of student learning in study abroad programs, drawing on ethnographic research on a semester long study abroad program in South India. We show how students use multiple constructions of time and space as a framework for understanding cultural differences and for understanding what it means for them to “experience” India. We argue that students' conceptualization of space and time in the study abroad location also impacts what kinds of activities they consider to count as valuable forms of learning. Students' ideas about India shape their expectations of what the pace, workload, and activities of the study abroad program in India should entail. Their concepts of Indian time and space lead them to privilege “experience”-based learning over classroom-based or scholarship-based learning. In conclusion, we show how these insights have implications for study abroad pedagogy. Here, we suggest that student learning that is entirely based on “experience” outside the classroom is inherently limited and that students need to contextualize their field-based learning experiences with insights from critical, historical and social science research.     

Avoiding Plagiarism

This essay examines how undergraduate economic geography courses in Anglo-American institutions traditionally frame economic activities in developing regions and asserts that mainstream approaches have devalued the complexity and diversity of economic geographies in the Global South. Focusing on developmentalism as a commonly used heuristic frame, it is argued that teachers and textbooks may provide only a partial representation of economic activities in the developing world and that this can lead to the marginalization of the Global South as a context for economic geography study and research. The essay concludes with ideas about how teachers might subvert these tendencies.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Fairhead, James and Leach, Melissa Reframing Deforestation. Global Analysis and Local Realities — Studies in West Africa Kaimowitz, David and Angelsen, Arild Economic Models of Tropical Deforestation: A Review Carney, Diana and Farrington, John Natural Resource Management and Institutional Change Cernea, Michael M. and McDowell, Christopher (eds), Risks and Reconstruction, Experiences of Resettlers and Refugees Nederveen Pieterse,Jan (ed.), World Orders in the Making Mallick, Ross Development, Ethnicity and Human Rights in South Asia Mengers, Harry A. Urban Development in the State of Karnataka, India: Policies, Actors and Outcome Tipton, Frank B. The Rise of Asia. Economics, Society and Politics in Contemporary Asia Griffin, Keith (ed.), Economic Reform in Vietnam Shireen M. Hashim, Income Inequality and Poverty in Malaysia Buckley, Peter J. and Mucchielli, Jean‐Louis (eds), Multinational Firms and International Relocation Bird, Richard M. and Vaillancourt, François (eds), Fiscal Decentralization in Developing Countries Bloström, Magnus, Kokko, Ari and Zejan, Mario Foreign Direct Investment. Firm and Host Country Strategies MacBean, Alasdair (ed.), Trade and Transition. Trade Promotion in Transitional Economics Page, Sheila Regionalism Among Developing Countries Taylor, Annie and Thomas, Caroline (eds), Global Trade and Global Social Issues Tellegen, Nina Rural Enterprises in Malawi: Necessity or Opportunity? Rapoport, Robert N. Families, Children and the Quest for a Global Ethic     

Foundation Degrees in Geography and Tourism: A Critical Reflection on Student Experiences and the Implications for Undergraduate Degree Courses

Over the last decade, some UK Geography Departments have diversified their range of courses to offer Foundation degrees (Fds), providing students with alternative routes through higher education (HE). These courses are delivered either offsite at further education colleges (FECs), embedded within an undergraduate programme at higher education institutions (HEIs), or by work-based learning. These pathways present students, staff and institutions with new opportunities, issues and challenges. This study examines contrasting pathways of offsite and onsite Fds in Tourism Management and Development Geography offered by two HEIs and two FECs in southwest England. The needs and experiences of Fd students are varied, related to the individual's personal and academic background, the course pathway taken, institution-specific issues and the degree of support and preparedness for HE. The contrasting academic cultures, teaching methods and assessments encountered in FECs and HEIs, and the availability of resources, raise generic and specific issues, such as confidence building and learning to become independent and autonomous learners, which challenge Geography and Tourism students during their academic careers. This study concludes that closer collaboration between the HEI and the partner FEC is necessary for Geography and Tourism courses, and highlights the need for better alignment and reinforcement of HE systems in FECs, for instance through fieldwork, and the offering effective induction and support in study skills. Finally, it is important to facilitate the smooth transitions of students ‘topping-up’ to Year 3 of an Honours degree at the parent HEI. Managers of undergraduate courses in Geography and associated subjects can also learn from the vocational and contextualized learning promoted by Fd courses and direct entry students to undergraduate courses.