Investigating change in young people’s understandings of Japan: a study of learning about a distant place

Abstract

This article demonstrates how a set of complementary qualitative methods can be used to construct a detailed picture not only of the nature of young people's representations of a distant place but the processes of learning by which such representations develop over the medium term. The analysis is based on an interpretive case study of a class of 13-to 14-year-olds in England learning about Japan as part of their geography curriculum. The findings identify three processes through which students' representations of Japan became more detailed and nuanced over time: transfer of existing knowledge from other locational contexts to the distant place; active connection with new information; and processing of that information through categorisation and category refinement. Evidence from the study suggests the potential for learning activities designed to encourage these processes and highlights the need for additional longitudinal research in geography education.

The Case as Space

“…When researching young people's understandings of place, I chose to focus on 13-to 14-year-olds studying Japan in their geography lessons, as there was little research evidence regarding older children's representations of distant place and the way that these changed over time in an educational setting (Taylor, 2009a). I worked with one class in a comprehensive school in the East of England over a 4-month period in 2006 to build up a very detailed set of evidence of their representations of Japan and how these changed over the period of teaching, with particular regard to their understandings of diversity within and between Japan and other countries (Taylor, 2011(Taylor, , 2013. Findings with potential to inform teaching included the value of direct and indirect contact with young people in the distant place for challenging stereotypes and encouraging a more nuanced understanding.…”

“…Perhaps there are insights here for Stake's naturalistic generalization (Stake, 1995). In my case study, the findings suggest ways forward for selecting and deploying teaching strategies to support students in learning about distant places (Taylor, 2011), but for understanding of this aspect of education to move on, further insights from other cases are needed.…”

“…In this article, I would like to suggest that Massey's formulation of space as "the sphere of a multiplicity of trajectories" (2005, p. 119) has potential to inform thinking about not only the object of research but also the overall framing of the research project in the methodology. I will illustrate this primarily through an example of case study research in which the substantive focus was young people's understanding of a distant place (Taylor, 2009a(Taylor, , 2011(Taylor, , 2013. During this project, I aimed to achieve congruence between the theoretical framing, methodology and methods in the way that place/space were conceptualized, which led me to explore the implications of seeing the case itself (a class of students learning about Japan) as a bundle of trajectories.…”

“…Interaction with the nonliving elements of the bundle provides a whole other dimension, for example, in this case, photographs taken by young people in Japan and electronic discussion boards were important in creating opportunities for a developing understanding of diversity within Japan (Taylor, 2013). Links not made may be as interesting as links made-As the class met, certain representations were taken up, communicated, and changed, others were not (Taylor, 2011).…”

“…Though the teacher in my case had strong views on the topics she wanted to explore with the class, particularly regarding everyday life and culture in Japan, she was also open to students' ideas and interests. Thus, there were various points, particularly when the class was smaller than usual, when students pushed the boundaries of conventional place studies, asking questions about food norms, the role of a geisha, and cartoon styles (Taylor, 2011). These questions and resulting discussion indicated boundaries of existing knowledge as well leading to sharing of new ideas.…”