Geography Teachers' Views on Harm De Blij's Book 'Why Geography Is Important'

Abstract

Books written for academic purposes have a great impact on the development and progress of science branches. In addition to these, popular books written about the field of science make important effects and contributions. One of the books that affect the recognition and agenda of the science of geography is the book titled "Why Geography is Important" by the famous US geographer Harm De Blij. The data of this study, which was carried out using case study, one of the qualitative research designs, were collected through the Turkish translation written by Blij. The scope of the book on geography subjects, what it tells and its usability in geography teaching were evaluated with 50 geography teachers working in different cities of Türkiye who voluntarily participated in the study. After the volunteer participants read the book, the data of the study were collected through an online focus group interview moderated by the researchers. The data transcribed after the recording with the consent of the participants were subjected to content analysis with MAXQDA software. As a result of the research, it was determined that the physical geography sections of the book were scientifically sufficient. It was concluded that the relevant work contains good examples and definitions in terms of geography education, but the human geography sections are sometimes biased due to ideological approaches but have satisfactory information. It is recommended that geography teachers and individuals receiving geography education should read the book with the idea that it will be useful.