The traditional
definition of literacy is: “Literacy is the ability
to read and write”. However in our
modern technological society the concept of literacy is expanding to include the
ability to function in a wide variety of contexts and areas of human endeavour and disciplines. It is not unusual to hear educators talking about scientific
literacy, financial literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, spatial literacy
and geo-literacy, to name just a few. Interestingly the Australian Curriculum,
Assessment and Reporting Authority in their overview has limited
their definition to:
“In the Australian Curriculum, students become literate
as they develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to interpret and use
language confidently for learning and communicating…”
However the actual ACARA Geography curriculum does go
further with the concept of literacy and gives credence to the idea of geo-literacy
when it states:
“In Geography, students develop literacy capability as
they learn how to build geographical knowledge and understanding and how to
explore, discuss, analyse and communicate geographical information, concepts
and ideas. They use a wide range of informational and literary texts, for
example, interviews, reports, stories, photographs and maps, to help them
understand the places that make up our world, learning to evaluate these texts
and recognising how language and images can be used to make and manipulate
meaning. They learn to comprehend and compose graphical and visual texts
through working with maps, diagrams, photographs and remotely sensed and
satellite images.”
Such geo-literacy is developing quite a following in the United
States through the work of the National Geographical Society.
" In our modern, globally
interconnected society, it is more important than ever that people understand
the world around them. For that reason, National Geographic is committed to
advancing geo-literacy in the U.S. and around the world." National Geographic 2014
Scoop.it aficionado, Seth Dixon has put together an interesting article on geo-literacy which
contains some great short videos on geo-literacy from the National Geographic. Click here to view the article and videos.
As Seth says in his article:
“Students are not simply passive recipients of learning that is transmitted to them;
students can actively shape what they learn. However, if we can create an
environment that promotes and encourages higher-order thinking, we can help our
students see their role in shaping a new world–that is our goal in promoting
geo-literacy.”
and ...
