Context and Embodiment: Investigating the Subject Conceptions and Practice of Pre-service Geography Teachers in Singapore
Date
2009
Authors
Seow, Tricia
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education
Abstract
Research on teachers' subject conceptions of geography has contributed to a better understanding of how teachers perceive geography, and has explicated the relationships between teachers' conceptions and their practice. However, such research tends to neglect two important influences on teachers' subject conceptions and classroom practice: power structures and embodiment. The paper argues for an interrogation of the influence of power structures on the way pre-service secondary geography teachers in Singapore think about the subject, and how they teach it. In addition, this article also articulates the importance of considering the ways in which bodies are implicated in the construction of conceptions of geography, as well as in notions of how to teach it effectively. An analytical framework that incorporates power structures and embodiment into a study of pre-service teachers' subject conceptions and teaching practice is suggested as a means of integrating these two elements within research in this area.
Description
Keywords
geography, subject conceptions, power structures, embodiment, pre-service teachers, Singapore
Citation
Seow, T. (2009). Context and embodiment: Investigating the subject conceptions and practice of pre-service geography teachers in Singapore. Research in Geographic Education, 11(2), pp. 7-27.