The image of geoscience among student teachers of geography

Within the framework of a study focusing on teacher training in geography at the University of Potsdam, the range of perspectives on the topics of physical geography was investigated. The starting point is that physical geography and human geography represent the main components of school geography teaching . This idea is motivated by the model of geography by Weichert (2003). Initially, physical and human geography content seemed to be present in the curriculum in roughly equal proportions. However, a closer look reveals that human geography has a greater prominence. Physical geography is largely "shunted off" to elective modules and thus subliminally portrayed as less important to students. The study presented here focuses on students' subjective views of physical geography. The results of the guided, semi-narrative interview study show that the majority of the students interviewed have a positive view of physical geography. However, students with neutral and negative views are also found. These negative views seem to result predominantly from the structure of the course. There seems to be an urgent need for action here, if physical geographic working methods, concepts and knowledge are to be taught as key competencies in school lessons as well.