What are the aims and objectives of teaching geography?

Aims and objectives of teaching geography are:

For the proper teaching of a subject it is essential to have knowledge of aims and objectives of the subject.

This is also true for the teaching of geography. Various methods of teaching are then evolved according to these aims and objectives.

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For determining the aims of teaching any subject we have to take into consideration the utility and usefulness of that subject. We have material as well as spiritual aspects in our life. For a successful spiritual life it is essential that we have a well founded material life.

The aims and objectives of teaching various subjects are normally very similar and they are generally guided by economic and social considerations. The aims and objectives of teaching geography include all the aims and objects of education. Different writers have listed these aims and objectives in different ways.

However before taking up such a discussion let us take up the criterion used for selecting aims of teaching geography.

In the opinion of Prof. Holtz the teaching of geography has following two sets of aims.

(i) Practical aims, and (ii) Cultural aims.

Prof. Holtz has included the aims under these two heads as under.

(i) Practical aims

(a) Knowledge of land through geography.

(b) To bring about industrial and agricultural development using the knowledge of geography.

(c) To have a proper idea of various geographical factors that influences our lives.

(d) To have a correct idea of references occurring in geography books and news-papers.

(e) To inculcate in pupil a desire for undertaking travelling and tourism.

(ii) Cultural aims

(a) To develop a feeling of patriotism.

(b) To develop love for nature and capacity to understand and appreciate the natural beauty, physical forces and such other things.

(c) To develop the ideal of world citizenship universal brother­hood, cooperation and sympathetic outlook for others.

(d) To assess the cultural values in the light of values of the land and the man.

(e) Adjustment of human life according to the geographical circumstances.

In view of Prof. James Fair grieve the aims of teaching geography can be expressed as under:

“The function of geography is to train future citizens to imagine accurately the conditions of the great world stage and to help them to think about the political and social problems in the world around”.

The aim of teaching geography is that it provides mental discipline which means that the subject trains the pupils’ whole mode of thought which in its turn influences his intellectual life and studies in the same field.