Hecht, Alfred; Pletsch, Alfred. The Virtual Geography Textbook on Canada
and Germany. In: Ahornblätter. 12. Marburg, 1999 (Schriften der Universitätsbibliothek
Marburg; 90).
ISBN 3-8185-0274-9 ISSN 0931-7163 http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/sum/90/sum90-7.html
Alfred Hecht, Alfred Pletsch
The Virtual Geography Textbook on Canada and Germany 1
How the idea of a virtual geography textbook on Canada and Germany was
born
"Textbooks are one of the most important educational devices in
a whole array of teaching support tools. They help mold understanding in
students which quite frequently lasts a life time."2
They do it through the manner in which the content is presented and the
way they are perceived. It is therefore understandable, why textbook authors
and editors give such special attention to a continuous improvement of
their products. By doing so, they have to consider requirements from various
sides such as official guidelines from the ministries, school boards and/or
other institutions involved. Of even more importance, however, is new information
from the continuously and rapidly changing world. The latter aspect holds
particularly true in the field of geography, a teaching as well as a research
discipline that has constantly to do with new “facts and figures” in a
broad range of themes, such as population, economies, urban and rural development,
national and international/global interaction, and many others.
It is therefore easily understandable that, especially in geography textbooks,
there is sometimes a lack of up to date information, despite the very obvious
effort from the author’s and publisher’s side to make them as attractive
and useful as possible. In fact, the quality of most of the available and
officially approved textbooks on the market in Germany and Canada is truly
remarkable. It was, nevertheless, found by the German-Canadian-Geography-Text-book-Commission
(GCGTC) of the Georg Eckert Institute in Braunschweig (Germany) that in
various areas improvements were possible and desirable. The GCGTC formulated,
after having scrutinized German and Canadian geography textbooks and atlases
from 1994 to 1997, a number of recommendations on how this goal could be
achieved. Some special recommendations were formulated towards Canadian
educators and publishers, others were addressed to the German side.3
Some overall recommendations of general interest are repeated here. They
read as follows:
"1. In our opinion it is important to know what one country thinks
it would like to have students in the other country know about itself.
For instance we think it is important that German geography students learn
about the major geographic dimensions of Canada. The reverse is true for
Canadian students. Information on the major geographic features like the
physical, settlement, economic and cultural landscapes of each country
should be available to teachers and students in both countries. In our
evaluations, we too frequently found case studies of the other country
removed from the local country setting and only viewed from the perspective
of the home country. This lead frequently to misinterpretations. We strongly
recommend that textbook writers carefully embody their examples
or case studies of the other country in the broader geographic milieu of
that country so as to prevent distorted interpretations.
2. Both Canadian as well as German textbooks continue to use old images
and stereotypes in their description of each other. Canadian texts tend
to present Germany as it may have been shortly after W.W.II. The Ruhr is
far too frequently still presented as the only major industrial region
of Germany. Bavaria is still the poor agricultural south and Munich is
important because of its Oktoberfest - a mainly beer drinking event. Usually
the auto industry, specifically Mercedes or BMW, are used as examples of
German industry leaving the impression with Canadian students that these
are the only cars driven in Germany. In contrast, Canada is usually presented
in Germany by images of Eskimos, northern limits of agricultural possibilities,
raw materials, and the St. Lawrence river. One could go on with many other
examples, but the point is that textbook authors and the curriculum guideline
writers should be aware of the danger of presenting stereotypes that first
of all may be quite old and, what may be even worse, may be wrong. The
integration of each country’s geography, society, and economy is unfortunately
never presented and we recommend that it should be rectified.
3. A major problem we encountered, which has no excuses in the modern world,
is the use of old factual information. Books published in year X can not
have information from year X-10 in it and have it presented as current
information. It is unfortunate for instance that some recent editions of
both, Canadian and German textbooks, recycled older edition data. We recognize
the problem of publishers trying to keep up to date, but we nevertheless
recommend strongly that information be as up to date as possible
especially in new editions. Acquiring up to date information is not a problem
today anymore, especially since the statistical offices of both countries
can easily be reached via Internet. The respective addresses are: http://www.statcan.ca
(Statistics Canada), http://www.doe.ca
(Environment Canada) and http://www.statistik-bund.de/e_home.htm
(Statistisches Bundesamt).
4. Present technology allows instant access to documentation and information
in all major parts of the world. In our opinion, Canadian teachers and
students should be given WWW site addresses in Germany where relevant and
up to date information is stored and from where it can be retrieved. The
case should also hold true for German teachers and students for information
on Canada. Although the language may be a problem in some instances, many
web sites are in English and even within many Canadian geography classes
some students can speak some German. We recommend that ministries
of education or school boards set up web sites in their schools.
5. With the rapid diffusion of electronic mail (e-mail) schools and individual
students can interact easily with a school or an expert in the region of
the world which is being studied.4
[...] In our opinion, such interaction would enhance interest in geographic
education. Issues and conditions being studied in faraway places would
become far more real to the learner. We recommend that such possibilities
be used in geographic education and that students form working groups across
the Atlantic for specific projects.
6. Textbooks and atlases are important geographic learning devices. Yet,
many maps in the textbooks and atlases we examined had errors. We recommend
that Canadian and German authors of textbooks and atlases consult with
experts in the other country before they finalize their manuscripts and
before they go to press. Since most manuscripts in the future will be produced
with the help of computers, there should be no difficulty sending such
manuscripts back and forth electronically. Corrections in other words can
be made before publication takes place and not only in the next edition.
The latter will bring along its own set of new errors. We recommend
this procedure strongly.
7. In today’s class room setting many modern media can be introduced to
enhance geographic education. This does not mean they should replace textbooks
and atlases but rather that they be used to complement them. For instance
maps can easily be stored on disks and viewed on screens. Subsequently
they can also be printed if desired. In this way the number of maps of
a country being studied can be increased phenomenally compared to what
can be offered in a printed atlas. In addition, the maps can be presented
thematically avoiding information overload on individual map pages as is
frequently the case now. We recommend that more and more geographic
information be produced and made available in electronic format."
Bob Sharpe’s statement that “Electronic atlases, the Internet, computer-assisted
mapping, and geographic information systems (GIS) are having an effect
on geographic education that is probably as great as the introduction of
printed books and atlases. The integration of these technologies and the
concomitant evolution of a virtual geography textbook are now shaping the
future of geographic education in uncharted ways”5
can be seen as having been derived from these recommendations and the study’s
overall conclusion.
The actuality of this statement became all too clear during the 4th World
Conference on Textbook and Educational Media Research (IARTEM), which was
held in Oslo in October, 1997. It is at that conference that our idea of
creating a Virtual Geography Textbook (VGT) on Canada and on Germany was
first announced to experts from all over the world. The idea was strongly
supported and considered essential for future education, the more so as
similar attempts are being made in other fields of education. Another official
announcement was made at the annual conference of the Association for Canadian
Studies in German Speaking Countries, held in Grainau in February, 1998.
At that occasion, the project was discussed with a great number of teaching
and research faculty from several European countries and from Canada. Yet,
another presentation of the project was given to the Canadian Association
of Geographer’s meeting in Ottawa in June, 1998.
The project: accessibility, key word content and organizational structure
The focus of the VGT project is to prepare Geography/Social Science
teaching modules on Germany and Canada which could be taught in their totality
or in parts by lecturers and school teachers over a one to four week period.
The modules can also be integrated into university teaching or into special
seminars or programs, such as German as a foreign language (Deutsch als
Fremdsprache), a worldwide supported endeavor of Inter Nationes (Bonn)
and the Goethe Institutes all over the world. Universities on both sides
of the Atlantic could integrate the modules in various manners in their
undergraduate or even graduate work, depending on the specific interests
in a given course. They can also be used as an excellent introduction to
the respective country by individuals via Internet.
Four modules will be produced, with a somewhat similar thematic and formal
set up for the two countries concerned. The first one will focus on an
overall introduction, a second module will deal with resources and physical
aspects of the country, a third with the regional aspects of each country’s
economy and urban realm and a fourth with the cultural/historical landscapes.
The languages used would be German, English, and French for German and
Canadian learners/users respectively. Each module will consist of a 20
to 25 page text document, some maps, graphs, tables as well as some 20
to 30 representative photographs. In addition, each text will have a number
of Internet addresses embedded in it where teachers and students could
turn to expand their information base if so desired.
Accessibility to the modules will be provided from a number of sites commonly
known to teachers and students. The main bases of the modules are at Wilfrid
Laurier University (Waterloo, Ont. Canada) and at Philipps-Universität
(Marburg, Germany) to make sure they can be properly looked after as well
as regularly updated. Information and linkages to these sites will also
be provided from a large number of places which teachers and students would
be familiar with, especially from the Georg Eckert Institute in Braunschweig
which is directly connected to many schools through the German federal
project “Schule ans Netz” ( Schools to the net: http://www.san-ev.de).
In addition to these Internet accesses, hard copies and possibly CD-ROMs
may be offered to all schools in Canada and Germany where teachers and
students either do not have access to the Internet or are not inclined
to use it.
The organizational structure of the modules may vary slightly but follows
basically a standardized concept. There will be up to ten units (lessons)
within each module. They are thematically interconnected, yet can also
be used individually according to the needs of a lecturer, a teacher or
a student. The main component of the modules is the written text. Within
the text are in most cases a small number of selected maps, graphs, and
tables. More important are the embedded links to further resources which
can be retrieved if the information is needed. Such links are provided
to other locations within the module or to other modules of the VGT as
well as to supplementary resource sites on the WWW. At the end of each
lesson there are suggestions for questions formulated from the author’s
point of view, but which can be modified or replaced according to the needs
of the users. Reference texts, videos, CD-ROMs, and other links may be
listed as additional resources. In some cases, articles or texts on special
topics will be integrated and made retrievable, as required for specific
projects.
The following are the outlines of the four basic modules and the key words/phrases
around which the themes will be developed. None of them is exhaustive or
complete. Other key words may come up during the writing process. Still
others may be added because of actual changes which can not be predetermined
at this moment. There is great flexibility at this stage. Should you, the
reader, especially if you are a lecturer or a teacher, find that you are
missing some important geographic themes or that you know of some excellent
Internet sites which we should flag, please let us know. The modules will
be written within the coming year and should be available in the finalized
versions by the dawn of the new Millenium.
Here are the modules and their key words on Canada:
Module C1: Introduction to selected aspects of Canadian geography
In this module, the following key themes will be focused on: Major
dimensions of Canada’s physical geography, the aboriginal people of Canada,
French, and English settlements, the Canadian geopolitical space, modern
multiculturalism, resources and Canadian economic development, Canada’s
changing national and regional economies, from hunters and gatherers to
modern urbanities, Canada and its world neighbours and Canadian geography
in the 21st century. It is clear that this module has an introductory character
and a thematic approach. The idea is to focus on issues that have influenced
Canada’s geographic and historical development in the past, but also to
examine the new political realm of today. This module is structured for
individual lesson use, but can also be used for an overall study approach
to Canada.
Module C2: Selected aspects of Canadian economic and urban geography
This module is going to be somewhat more focused than the introductory
one. Its major themes are the following: Staple growth theory, fish, furs,
timber, cereals, forestry products, energy (oil, coal, gas, hydro, nuclear,
tar sands), iron and steel, manufacturing, auto production, Canadian exports
and imports, NAFTA, high-tech, telecommunication, transportation, the service
sector, urban development and urban patterns as related to economic development,
and Canadian shopping behaviour. It is obvious that the concepts in this
module are much more focused on specific Canadian economic questions. Starting
from a theoretical approach, the classical Canadian economic themes of
the past as well as the present will be treated from a geographic perspective.
The cultural and historical roots will be highlighted as well, but the
main interest is the analysis of today’s economic milieu. Special emphasis
is given to the opening of the economic space across the continent and
beyond, aspects which are of particular interest to Canada.
Module C3: Selected aspects of Canadian resource geography
Probably no other developed country has relied and is still relying
on its resources as much as Canada has. Hence the following themes need
to be discussed: The Canadian minerals and non minerals resource base,
problems with the extraction/harvesting of the natural resource base, monetary
and non monetary “value” of Canada’s resources, the “limits to growth”
concept to the Canadian scene, the fragile Canadian resource environment,
the fur resources and its problems, resource extraction settlements and
their lives (e.g. mining towns, single resource towns, etc.), forests,
water, natural landscapes, national parks, tourism. This may be considered
as the most typical Canadian module, at least if one looks at it from a
stereotypical point of view (as is often the case from outside of Canada).
The human need for jobs and its associated settlement acquirements in resource
extraction regions when confronted with the need to conserve a valuable
environmental heritage is one of the key issues Canada is dealing with.
Module C4: Selected aspects of Canadian historical and cultural geographic
landscapes
Canada’s cultural and historical landscape is tremendously varied.
The following themes are hence only a fraction of what could be examined,
but they are some of the major ones: early fishing endeavors by Europeans
on the east coast, the French Canadian settlement pattern, the fur trade
culture, the opening of Canada’s North, expanding and retreating frontiers,
the evolving Canadian political realm, Canadian land surveys, the binding
of Canada, the mosaic of Canada’s native people (Inuit and Indian), the
changing ties from Europe to the USA, Canadian multicultural dimensions
and their geographic variations, the problem of the two founding nations
in one political entity. Again, these topics are very specific to Canada
and in many cases make it different from the neighbouring United States.
Many of today’s political and societal problems of Canada can only be understood
by scrutinizing the past.
The four modules on Germany will concentrate on many similar issues:
Module G1. Selected aspects of the geography of Germany
This introductory module will focus on the following aspects: the problem
of the German entity, the natural landscape of Germany as part of Central
Europe, climate, vegetation, soils and major watersheds, the historical
path and patterns of settlement, population development and population
structures, urban development and urban systems, from an agrarian to an
industrialized country, economic core regions and their characteristics,
transportation and communication (roads, railroads, harbors, waterways,
airports), a reunified Germany in a new Europe, etc. The idea of this module
is, comparable to the one on Canada, to give a broad overview of today’s
Germany in geographical terms. But many questions are being treated beyond
the geographic realm. Political and social involvements, economic implications
etc. are being treated in each individual unit. They also will respect
chronological events, history being the key perspective to understand today’s
Germany.
Module G2. Selected aspects of population and human settlement development
This module presents a number of particularities which are rather unique
to Germany. As far as its population is concerned, key issues such as historical
political development, emigration and immigration, rural-urban and urban-rural
migration, demographic development through time, foreign guest workers
in past and present times, social conflicts, two societies since reunification,
etc. will be discussed. Rural and urban settlements will be analyzed in
their morphological and functional realm. Recent transformation processes
in rural settlements, the historical making of the urban pattern (unique
in Europe), changes in the urban system through time, the capital city
Berlin, urban renewal, urban decay, town planning in former East Germany,
pedestrian malls, new shopping centers, etc. are other themes. The specific
challenge of this module is to portray the historical process of urban
development to the present, with special emphasis given to recent changes
that have occurred since 1949. Has Germany become a nation of two solitudes?
There is much evidence to support such a view.
Module G3. Selected aspects of Germany’s economy, resource management
and regional planning schemes
The thematic broadness of this module explains why it can only be very
selective. One of the aims is to somewhat ‘correct’ the widespread image
of Germany as an ‘industrial landscape’, as it is often seen from outside.
Germany is, after all, in vast areas still a rural environment and thus
the agrarian sector will be treated from different points of view. As far
as Germany’s industry is con-cerned, key words are: the industrial past,
the importance of the automobile sector, the chemical industry, old and
new industry cores, high-tech development, north-south shift of the economic
centers, the service sector, the European Banana myth, integrating East
Germany’s economy into that of the West, transportation and communication
systems, unbalanced regional development, regional planning, incentives
and development programs, protection of the environment, land conservation,
etc. Again, very specific questions will arise within this range of topics
due to Germany’s reunification. Another aspect is Germany’s extremely sensitive
political landscape for environmental issues.
Module G4. Selected aspects of German historical and cultural geographic
landscapes
Because of Germany’s highly fragmented political structure in the past,
there exists a great variety of cultural landscapes today. Another cause
of this is Germany’s location in central Europe. It has been a crossroad
of cultures and civilizations since earliest times. Questions that will
be treated are: Central Europe, crossroad of European civilizations, areas
of old and more recent settlement, patterns of rural settlements according
to phases of colonization, urban development since Roman times, urban morphology,
urban patterns and urban topology, rural economies, cottage industries,
inheritance laws and their implications on farm size structures, impacts
of manorial and feudal land ownership on rural societies, the role of the
Church and of religious orders in the process of medieval land taking,
recent changes due to different political systems and planning concepts,
renewal of rural settlements, etc. Many political and environmental institutions
have launched programs over the last decades to preserve the unique heritage
in Germany’s cultural landscape. Only some selected few can be looked at
in this module.
In addition to these four thematic modules for each of the two countries,
an overlapping fifth module will be created which is basically a Methodological
and Technical Support Module (MTSM). In this module, some basic educational
aspects of virtual learning will be examined, discussed, and evaluated.
In addition there will be much technical advise on how to use the VGT and
where its pitfalls are. The idea is to direct lecturers, teachers, and
students through the jungle of technical details of the Internet, including
those who might not yet be quite familiar with it. In other words, this
module will be included to prevent discouragement, even though we will
make a great effort to provide easy access to the units. But we also know
that sometimes this is not sufficient. Examples will be discussed on how
to use and to exploit the whole range of information in the VGT. The following
chapter presents a first approach to demonstrate the content of a VGT-module
in order to make its underlying concepts more understandable.
Two examples to get familiarized with the VGT
In the following, two lessons of the VGT will be presented at a preliminary
stage. It is particularly desired that the reader should comment on these
examples and let us know where we could or should improve the text and/or
the documentation. The e-mail addresses of the authors will be listed at
the end of the article. Underlined words or phrases in the electronic text
may be clicked on in order to connect to the Internet. Internet links are
thus made identifiable in the usual way.
Module G1: Selected aspects of the geography of Germany
The VGT on Germany and Canada is not meant to replace traditional textbooks,
but rather to complement them. It is constructed in such a manner as to
the use in a North American like education system. Canadian official education
guidelines were consulted. The following units can be used individually,
in part or in total in the class room. They follow a thematic approach
to Germany without trying to be exhaustive and/or complete. Each unit has
a number of retrievable charts, diagrams, maps, photographs, etc. More
detailed information can be gathered from other modules of the VGT on specific
topics. Many links are directly retrievable in the following text in order
to create immediate connection to further sources. For general information
on Germany, the data made available by the Federal Statistical Office (http://www.statistik-bund.de/e_home.htm)
are very helpful.
In this first module, the following themes will be discussed:
Unit 1: The evolution oft present day Germany
Unit 2: The natural landscape of Germany
Unit 3: Climate, vegetation, soils, and major watersheds
Unit 4: Historical paths and patterns of settlement
Unit 5: Population development and population structures
Unit 6: Germany’s urban history and present-day’s urban system
Unit 7: From an agrarian to an industrialized country
Unit 8: Economic core regions and their characteristics, a few regional
examples
Unit 9: Transportation systems - roads, railroads, harbours, waterways,
airports
Unit 10: A reunified Germany in a new Europe.
Unit 1: The evolution of present day Germany
One of the difficulties with the geography of Germany is its shifting
identity and shape over time. In its present political boundaries, Germany
only exists since 1990 (click for scanned political map of present day
Germany). With a total area of now 356,974 sqkm (one third the size of
Ontario) it is the sixth largest country of Europe after the Ukraine, Russia,
France, Spain and Sweden. Prior to World War I (1914-1918) the territory
was as big as 540,657 sqkm (click for scanned political map of Germany
1871-1918). As one of the consequences of that war Germany lost about 10
percent of its territory, mainly in the south-western part where Alsace-Lorraine
was ceded to France and in the very North where territory was given to
Denmark after a referendum in 1920. Major losses (click for scanned map
about territorial changes after W.W.I) took place in the East where Western
Prussia and Posen were annexed by Poland. After World War II (1939-1945)
territorial changes were much more dramatic. The Eastern parts beyond the
rivers of the Oder and Neisse were connected to Poland and some to the
Soviet Union. The remainder of Germany was subdivided into four occupation
zones (click for scanned map) controlled by the Allies (US, France, Great
Britain, and Soviet Union). In 1949 two German states (click for scanned
map of divided Germany as of 1949) were founded: "the Federal Republic
of Germany" (FRG= West Germany, 248,890 sqkm, capital Bonn) and "the
German Democratic Republic" (GDR = East Germany, 108,084 sqkm, capital
East Berlin). In this process, the former capital of the country, Berlin,
was subdivided into two: West Berlin and East Berlin.
The political territory of Germany is even more complicated, if one looks
at the early history of the country. Germany’s name is derived from the
Germanic tribes who lived in extended parts of Northern and Central Europe
for hundreds if not thousands of years. When the Romans conquered Central
Europe at the beginning of the first century A.D., they made a distinction
between Upper Germany (Germania superior) and Lower Germany (Germania inferior),
but neither one had anything to do with what became Germany much later.
During the Middle Ages the so-called Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
(click for scanned historical map), although German in name, was nothing
more than a highly fragmented mosaic of more or less independent kingdoms,
principalities, ecclesiastical states and/or other political entities,
which were but loosely tied together under the German Emperor.
Consequently, in the 16th century the famous cosmograph Sebastian Muenster
described Germany not as a country, but as that part of Central Europe
where the German language was being used. Anton Friedrich Buesching, one
of the most influential geographers of the 18th century, claimed that the
German political nation at that time had nothing to do with what could
be considered as being Germany in geographical terms. It was only in 1871
that the German Empire was founded as a unified nation under the famous
chancellor Bismarck. It lasted not even 50 years in that format and was
succeeded by the Weimar Republic in 1918 and the so-called Third Reich
(click for scanned map of Germany 1933-1945) of Adolf Hitler
in 1933. Each of these German countries had its unique constitution, forms
of operation and frequently changing boundaries. It is therefore not surprising
that today’s Germany cannot be understood as a permanent and homogeneous
unit. It consists of different cultural and religious groups, has many
linguistic dialects and is economically very differentiated.
The geographical location of Germany is in the centre of Western Europe.
Since reunification in 1990 it borders on nine neigbouring states (http://www.statistik-bund.de/basis/e/be01_t03.htm):
Denmark in the north, The Netherlands. Belgium, Luxembourg and France in
the west, Switzerland and Austria in the south, and the Czech Republic
and Poland in the east. The total length of its border is 3758 km, not
counting the shorelines of the North Sea (Nordsee), the Baltic Sea (Ostsee)
and the Lake Constance (Bodensee). The longest borders are those with Austria
and the Czech Republic.
Present-day Germany is a federal state that consists of 16 Laender (provinces),
including three so-called city states (click on scanned political map of
today’s Germany). Since reunification they are often referred to
as the so-called "old Laender" which are those that belonged
to the former FRG and the "new Laender" which were part of the
GDR.
The three city states are Hamburg, Bremen, and Berlin, the remaining 13
Laender are (from north to south, new Laender in bold face): Schleswig-Holstein,
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Brandenburg, Lower
Saxony (Niedersachsen), Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt), Saxony (Sachsen),
Thuringia (Thüringen), Hesse (Hessen), North Rhine-Westfalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen),
Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), Saarland, Baden-Wurttemberg (Baden-Württemberg)
and Bavaria (Bayern). The political boundaries of the Laender correspond
only in part to earlier historical states. This means that they do not
represent homogeneous units. In most cases the boundaries were defined
by the Allies, when the two states were founded. Nevertheless, the Laender
have some very specific characteristics, some of which were frequently
captured in the past by unique stereotypes (click on cartoons). The example
of the beer-drinking Bavarian is all too well known.
There are striking differences between the Laender (click on comparative
map) as far as their size and their population is concerned (click also
Unit 5). The city state of Bremen, the smallest of all, only covers 404
sqkm. On the other end, Bavaria’s surface is more than 70,000 sqkm, almost
as much as the three neighbouring states Baden-Wurttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate
and Hesse taken together. The same holds true for the population numbers.
They vary from 0.68 million (Bremen) to almost 18 million (North Rhine-Westfalia)
people with a total population (http://www.statistik-bund.de/basis/e/pop01.htm)
of just over 82 million in 1997. Germany’s size of some 357,000 sqkm corresponds
to only 4% of Canada’s land mass, but it has almost three times as many
people. Not surprisingly, Germany has one of the highest population densities
(click on chart) in Europe. The distribution (click on scanned map), however,
is very uneven. Significant differences exist between the western and eastern
Laender, between the North and the South as well as between urbanized and
rural areas. Of the total population 68 million people live in the 11 old
Laender (http://www.statistik-bund.de/basis/e/pop04.htm)
and 14.1 million live in the new Laender (http://www.statistik-bund.de/basis/e/pop05.htm).
Consequently, in the East the density is only 145 people per sqkm, while
in the West (former FRG) it is 261. Nearly one third of the overall population
live in the 84 largest cities all of which have populations of more than
100,000 people. Only 7.3 million live in communities with a population
of less than 2,000.
These few introductory remarks show how difficult it is to envision Germany
as a political and geographical unit. Comparisons to the historical development
and to the spatial dimensions of Canada reveal major differences and rise
questions such as: What are the main characteristics of Germany’s territorial
evolution? What could be considered the historical ancestors of today’s
Laender? What are possible problems raising from the high population density
in Germany?
Module C1: Selected aspects of the geography of Canada 6
The VGT on Canada, an example of which follows below, is first and
foremost written for a non Canadian audience. In its organizational structure
it compares to North American geographic learning approaches, especially
those of Canada. We examined closely Canadian curriculums in doing it.
The four modules that are to be produced can be used in their entirety
or in parts as desired. The units of analysis within the first module follow
a thematic approach to understanding Canadian geography. More detailed
information can be gathered from the other three, more specialized modules.
External Internet links are easily clickable in the following text. For
general information on Canada for instance visit the web site of Statistics
Canada and browse through it, till you find what you want. It is highly
organized and easy to navigate (http://www.statcan.ca).
The following is the outline of the first module followed by the first
draft of the introductory unit of this module.
Unit 1: Introduction
Unit 2: Canadian lands
Unit 3: Land and ice
Unit 4: Environmental concerns
Unit 5: How the Canadian territory came to be
Unit 6: Population: Distribution, Immigration, Ethnicity, Native People,
Multiculturalism
Unit 7: Population dynamics
Unit 8: Transportation
Unit 9: Making a living - primary, secondary, tertiary industries, and
trade
Unit 10: Canadian Urban and Rural Landscapes
Unit 11: Diversity and Canadian unity.
Unit 1: Introduction
What are the major distinctive characteristics of Canada that could
be considered (http://canada.gc.ca/canadiana/map_e.html)
significant in the context of studying world geography in schools? A few
come clearly to the foreground. Canada has an immense land mass, the second
largest in the world after Russia, inhabited by a relatively small population
of just over 30 million people.
Secondly, the size of the different provinces within Canada varies tremendously.
Prince Edward Island is the smallest in both area and population, while
the largest provinces are Ontario and Quebec in terms of population and
land mass respectively (http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/People/Population/demo02.htm).
The Northwest Territory’s land mass however is larger then Quebec’s but
it is not a province. It should also become quite clear from the above
table that the density of population varies by a factor of about 20 between
the provinces. Furthermore, it would be quite misleading to think that
the population density measure (http://www.uni-marburg.de/geographie/virtual/vgt/karten/figure1.htm)
is a good indicator of the population distribution within the provinces.
Except for the Maritime provinces all provinces have most of their populations
concentrated in the southern parts of their land mass, while the northern
areas are very sparsely populated somewhat like the Yukon and the Northwest
Territories.
Canada is a northern country with a restrictive climate for agriculture
over most of its territory. In fact, only about 6% can be used for crop
production and another 2% is used as range land. Despite this the actual
acreage devoted to agriculture is still very large. In fact, it is about
twice as large as the total area of Germany. Hence Canada is very well
known for its large cereal production especially wheat. Yet, 23% of the
total area is covered by tundra and another 3% by icefields. Forests, most
of them still being virgin, cover about 45 % of the land mass, wetlands
another 12%, and fresh water bodies a further 8%. As can be seen, humans
have not yet changed much of the natural landscape of Canada. Cities use
only about 1% of the total land mass.7
Canada has received immigrants from many parts of the world and declares
itself a multicultural country. At the same time it has a large aboriginal
population of about one million people, and the relations between the aboriginals
and the larger society (including the issue of Native land claims) are
still being worked out. Canada is a federal country of ten provinces and
two territories (http://canada.gc.ca/canadiana/proind_e.html),
and there is constant negotiation and occasional contention between the
central government and the provincial and the territorial governments over
their spheres of authority. Canada has two official languages (http://www.statcan.ca/english/census96/dec2/off.htm),
and in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec there have
been persistent efforts to secede from Canada in the last two decades.
The number of additional languages spoken is large (http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/People/Population/demo18a.htm).
In fact, about 30% of Canadians are not of English or French ethnic origin,
and more and more are also claiming multiethnic backgrounds. The country
has many natural resources (http://www.NRCan.gc.ca:80/homepage/nat_resources.shtml),
and the export of raw materials was very important in the course of Canada'
s development and is still significant (http://www.statcan.ca/english/
Pgdb/Economy/intern.htm). At the same time, Canada is highly urbanized
with over 76% of its population living in urban places and 40% of them
being city-dwellers (http://www.statcan.ca:80/english/Pgdb/People/Population/demo05.htm)
residing in the three largest metropolitan regions of Toronto, Montreal,
and Vancouver. Canada exists next to the most powerful country in the world,
the United States, strong not only militarily and economically but culturally,
and this inevitably affects Canada, particularly because both countries
are predominantly English-speaking. Clearly all these things make a study
of Canada very interesting for any geography student. Major questions are:
How would you describe the most basic physical geography dimensions of
Canada? Why is Canada’s population ethnically so diverse and how did it
get this way? Why were resources so important in Canada’s past and not
any more?
Conclusion
The above discussion has clearly shown that there is a need to improve
the way geographic learning should take place in the 21st century. We believe
that such an approach as described here will not reduce the acquisition
of geographic knowledge, but rather it will make learning easier, faster,
more informative and correct. By providing up to date information, accessed
with modern technology with links to the original information sources themselves,
it will help the individual learner to forge ahead with less need for support
from the teacher. It does not suggest that the teacher will be removed
from the learning process of the student. But the later may very well become
more the learning consultant than the basic information provider. It should
also allow the teacher to spend more time with those pupils who may need
additional time to grasp the relevant geographic concepts. The fact that
a number of institutions of higher learning and some corporations are taking
a similar route towards education, distance education courses, courses
on the Internet, and specific learning modules within industry, etc undergirds
the applicability of this approach.
Prof. Dr. Alfred Hecht, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies,
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ont., N2L 3C5, Canada
e-mail: ahecht@wlu.ca
Prof. Dr. Alfred Pletsch, Fachbereich Geographie, Philipps-Universität
Marburg, Deutschhausstrasse 10, 35037 Marburg
e-mail: pletsch@mailer.uni-marburg.de
[1] For more information click: http://www.uni-marburg.de/geographie/virtual/vgt.htm
or http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwgeog/virtual/vgt.htm.
Very sincere acknowledgements are extended to the Georg Eckert Institute
in Braunschweig (Germany), to External Affairs, Cultural Division, in Ottawa
as well as to Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., and to Philipps-Universität
in Marburg for financial and institutional help to the Virtual Geography
Textbook project.
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[2] Introductory remark in the foreword to Hecht,
A..; Pletsch, A. (eds.): Geographies of Germany and Canada. Paradigms,
Concepts, Stereotypes, Images.
Hannover 1997 (Studien zur Internationalen Schulbuchforschung; 92): 9.
[Zurück zum Text]
[3] The unabridged text of the recommendations
was published in Hecht; Pletsch 1997: 339-344.
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[4] Refers to Hecht; Pletsch 1997.
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[5] Sharpe, B.: Toward the Virtual Geography
Textbook. Prospects and Pitfalls. In: Hecht; Pletsch 1997: 329-336.
[Zurück zum Text]
[6] We like to express our sincere appreciation
to John Warkentin who wrote an excellent introductory chapter on Canada.
The content of this module relies very heavily on John’s work. See Warkentin,
J.: Basic Geographical Aspects of Canada. In: Hecht; Pletsch 1997.
[Zurück zum Text]
[7] Canada. The Canada Year-Book 1997: 7.
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[Zum Inhaltsverzeichnis "Ahornblätter 12"]