Geography

GEOGRAPHY IN OUR CURRICULUM

i. About Geography

Geography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". In simple term, geography is all about the earth and how people are managing it.

The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes (276-194 B.C.). The four historical traditions in geographical research are the spatial analysis of natural and human phenomena (study of distribution), area studies (study of places and regions), study of man-land relationship, and research in earth sciences.

Like Science, Geography is also concerned with the enquiry process through which certain questions might be asked, data collected, interpreted and evaluated, and possible solutions / answers given. This requires pupils/students to integrate geographical knowledge and skills, together with attitudes and values to enquire into the many phenomena in the environment as well as to develop pupils' understanding of the nature of Geography.

Geography can help children to develop their understanding of the world around them. It is the study of people and environment and the interaction between them. By studying geography, it can help to develop understanding of the physical and human elements of a place and how these elements interact between each other to create special characters of a particular place.

Hence, it is important for geography to be taught from the early years, since geography can help children to understand their own private geographies better.

In general, Geography has so much to offer to the pupils/students. It is a subject which can impart geographical knowledge and skills to the pupils. The best way to see what geography has to offer, and why it is important to be taught, is to map it out as in the table below.

Knowledge Understanding
(Key concepts) Skills Attitudes & values

• Places, their physical and human characteristics.
• Locality of the school.
• Contrasting locality.
• Evidence.
• Location.
• Spatial pattern and distribution.
• Similarity and difference.
• Processes and systems.
• Change and stability.
• Cause and effect
• Map work.
• Fieldwork.
• Enquiry, asking and responding to geographical questions.
• Interpreting a range of sources.
• Using geographical vocabulary.
• Awareness of, and respect for, different lifestyles and cultures.
• Ability to see other’s points of view.
• Awareness that people’s values affect their actions.
• Concern for quality in the environment.





ii. Geography in our Curriculum

The subunit Geography of the Social Studies Unit handles Geography at the following levels, namely:
A. Geography at Upper Primary (Primary 4 to 6)
B. Geography at Lower Secondary (Form 1 – 3)
C. Geography Level II at Lower Secondary (Form 1 to 3)
D. Geography at Upper Secondary (‘O’ Level)

A. Geography at Upper Primary (Primary 4 to 6)

The available records indicate that the primary geography has been in place since 1981. At that time, this subject was taught in Bahasa Malaysia. This 1981 syllabus has undergone a revision in 1987, and subsequently, a revised syllabus was introduced in 1988 with the medium of instruction changed to English.
Then in 1990, a new trial edition of Geography Syllabus for Upper Primary Schools (Darjah IV – VI) was developed and introduced. In the same year, this syllabus was confirmed and implemented as the proper syllabus at this level.
For this syllabus, textbooks and workbooks entitled “Primary Geography for Brunei Darussalam” Darjah 4, 5 and 6 were produced in stages through a joint venture project between Curriculum Development Department and Macmillan Publishers Ltd, UK.

Samples









In 2009, a new subject called Social Studies was introduced to replace the subjects Geography and History at upper primary level. Hence, this new subject has replaced Geography at Year 4 in 2009, Year 5 in 2010 and Year 6 in 2011.
B. Geography at Lower Secondary (Form 1 – 3)

Geography Syllabus for the Brunei Junior Certificate of Education 1981 was first developed in 1981. This syllabus was implemented in 1982 for Secondary 1 students. (Curriculum Development Centre, Education Department, Brunei). This syllabus was revised in 1983, and implemented in 1984. (Curriculum Development Centre, Education Department, Brunei).

This syllabus again revised and improved in 1990 (Trial Edition). It was implemented in 1991 (Curriculum Development Department, Ministry of Education, Brunei Darussalam). The same syllabus was reprinted in 1991 (Second Print) and in 1998 (Third Print).
For this syllabus, textbooks and workbooks entitled “Secondary Geography for Brunei Darussalam” 1, 2 and 3 were produced in stages through a joint venture project between Curriculum Development Department and Macmillan Publishers Ltd, UK.

Sample









Usage of this syllabus was abandoned when the Interim Stage of the SPN21 was introduced in 2008. In line with this, Scheme of Work (SOW) for Year 7 and 8 was produced in 2007 and implemented in 2008 beginning with Year 7. A revised Scheme of Work for Year 7 and 8 was produced in 2008 and implemented in 2009.
Based on this Scheme of Work, a Differentiated Instruction SOW for Interim Geography was produced in 2009 and being implemented from 2010 for both Year 7 and 8.
This interim Geography Scheme of Work for Year 7 and 8 will be replaced by the subject Social Studies for Year 7 and 8 in the year 2012 when the actual SPN21 for secondary level is implemented beginning with Year 7 in 2012.
C. Geography Level II at Lower Secondary (Form 1 to 3)

The Geography Level II syllabus was implemented in 1997 in line with the decision by the Ministry of Education to introduce Level II Programme to studentswho did not pass the Primary Certificate of Education (PCE) or the Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (PSR) at the second attempt. This programme was introduce with the aim of giving opportunity to such students to proceed their education to the secondary level. It was decided then that each Level II syllabus should contain at least 70% of the content of the mainstream syllabus.

As the content is mainly taken from the mainstream syllabus, there was no specific textbooks or workbooks produced for this programme. The students and teachers are asked to use the same textbooks and workbooks used by the mainstream level, but water the content down to suit the level of the students in this programme.

Feedback from teachers during the implementation of the programme indicated that the majority of Level II students were still unable to cope with this amount of content. Hence, in the year 2000, the Geography Level II syllabus was re-written in order to help teachers to better understand the objectives to be attained by the students at the end of each lesson. However, there were no changes made to the amount of content as the constraints of having to have at least 70% of the content of the mainstream syllabus were still in place at that time. Lower ability students need activity-based lessons and the Level II syllabus did not allow time for this.

In view of this, the Curriculum Development Department decided that an entirely new Geography Level II syllabus, which is not heavy in content, but very much activity orientated, was necessary. Hence this Geography Level II (Revised) syllabus, which is unrelated to the mainstream syllabus, is produced after a number of consultations between officers from the Curriculum Development Department and Level II Geography teachers. During the consultation sessions, discussions centred around ways of ensuring that Level II students were engaged in meaningful activities which would ensure they gained the maximum benefit from studying Geography. Subsequently, a revised Geography Level II syllabus was introduced in 2005















However, in 1997 this Level II programme was replaced with another programme called PMV Programme. So, this Geography for Level II subject was also replaced with another subject called Social Studies for PMV beginning with Form 1 in 1997.

D. Geography at Upper Secondary (‘O’ Level)
This ‘O’ Level syllabus is under the jurisdiction of the Cambridge International Examinations, with the cooperation of our Ministry of Education.

The sub-unit Geography is tasked to develop any teaching resources pertaining to the subject, as well as giving briefings to teachers on the teaching and learning of geography at this level. So far, this unit has produced 2 resource books:
1. Teacher’s Source Book for Brunei Darussalam (1986)
2. Geography of Brunei Darussalam : Source Book for Upper Secondary (2004)















The latest revision of the ‘O’ syllabus was done by CIE in 2009, and implemented in stages beginning with Year 9/Form 4 in 2010.