Didactic-Geographical Interpretation of the Balkan Space

Authors:

Pages: 416-424
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/TBNH4931

Abstract:

The paper is a natural continuation of the previous editions of the conference due to our conviction that the geographical aspect of the study of the Balkans in the Bulgarian school as a living space could (and should) be organized more clearly on the quality of basic defensible arguments. Space is a category, which has different dimensions: philosophical, social, political, cultural anthropological. Geographically it is related to the construction of “mental model” of a certain territory. Research and study requires tracking the specifics of the individual layers: natural-geographic, demographic, social and economic. Complexity of geography as a science presupposes it. One of the main difficulties is the fixing of boundaries (and dimensions), because there is no overlap in the formation of individual layers. “Blurring” of space in the 20th and 21st centuries, driven by technological revolution, especially to the possibilities of movement and communication, the acceleration of the urbanization process and the mechanisms of market economy, makes borders increasingly imaginary. And here seems to be a risk of failure to comprehend the contemporary dynamic processes and phenomena in depth by the disclosure of their nature in the context of their fate to localization in space. The Balkans as a separate territorial category is a multidimensional concept. Modern social geography focuses on key issues, such as: ethno-cultural structure of the population; the complex relationships with other nations, outside the region, burdened by the historical legacy; achieving economic development and using the advantages of the geographical position based on the close connections with the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Arab world; improving the integration of the Balkan countries on regional and European level. The question is whether (and how) geography at school adequately responds to the needs of the forming of a comprehensive picture of the Balkans. The answer to this question is sought in realizing didactic research in several key aspects: • the normative frameworks, fixed in junior high school (the 8th grade) and high school (the 9th grade), which utilize the geographic knowledge about the Balkans through provisioning indispensable concepts, context and activities as a component of the geographical jurisdiction of the students as part of the their culture; • projection level curriculum in existing textbooks through correlation analysis between the expected geographical knowledge and its interpretation of copyright collectives; • analysis of difficulties in the implementation of the curriculum, established by empirical research; • comparative analysis of the pattern of geographical education in other Balkan countries (curriculum and course content). The conclusion is that geography in Bulgarian secondary school interprets knowledge on the Balkans too stereotyped. Using the model “general-particular” with relation to Europe, leads to fragmentation. Problem areas, the region-specific subject of study of geography as a science is only hinted or missing. Interdisciplinarity as a potential for the formation of a comprehensive picture is formal. An option to diminishing these imperfections in the didactic interpretation of the Balkans we see in the model offered in modular training, in which subjects are consistent with the methodological Дидактико-географска интерпретация ... 417 achievements of modern science and geography, practices of world and European experience for didactic- geographical interpretation of the curriculum for complex multi-ethnic characteristics, concept of complexity in the study of geography, current dynamics of the events affecting the lives of each of us, concreteness in the specifics of students from different regions of the country, professional competence, style and creativity of teachers.

Keywords:

space, the Balkans, educational geographic content

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