A Constitutive Principle of Regional Geographical Learning That Reconstructs Stereotypical Regional Representation in Elementary School Social Studies

This study proposes a lesson model for reconstructing stereotypical regional representations in regional geographical learning in elementary school social studies. Previous studies on geography education have suggested that regional geographical learning could create stereotypes regarding places, regions, and countries through simplification, fixation, and othering. Recent geographical studies have considered regions as sociallyconstructed products. Therefore, based on social constructivist learning, children must examine, criticize, and reconstruct their own regional representations. Based on the results of social psychology research and area studies, five strategies (consciousness of stereotyping, decategorization, recategorization, cross-cutting categorization, and metacognition of recategorization) based on human mental responses are important for reconstructing stereotyped regional representations. To develop a lesson model that incorporates these strategies, it would be effective to incorporate the Knowledge Constructive Jigsaw method, which aims to generate collaborative knowledge, into the Social Construction Reconstructive Regional Geographical Learning to examine, critique, and reconstruct regional representations using geographical concepts. This lesson model allows children to relativize their stereotypes and reconstruct new regional representations through dialogue.