Journal of the Korean Geographical Society ISSN:1225-6633(Print) 대한지리학회지

This study explored ways to improve the contents framework of elementary geography education by applying the five big ideas of geography education presented in the 2015 revised national curriculum. First of all, the author diagnoses that the contents framework of the current elementary geography is an ambiguous combination of the classification of geography as a discipline and the expanding environments sequence, and that there is a lack of clear educational grounds and logic. The author notes that the 2015 revised national curriculum specifies five big ideas of geography education for the first time in the history of geography education in Korea and summarizes their educational significances and that, but, five big ideas of geography education present in the curriculum have some problems which do not fully correspond to the contents framework of elementary geography. The author proposed two ways of interworking between the five big ideas and curriculum framework: one is to reflect in contents framework of the current elementary social studies from a conservative point of view and the other is to reconstruct the contents framework of the geography education. Finally, the author mentions that it is major research themes to research on the contents organizer of geography education, to develop the contents framework compatible with the contents organizer, and to research on how to correspond to the contents framework of history and civics as two other areas of social studies.