There is not a single science completely isolated from other knowledge. All of them are closely intertwined with each other. And the task of any teacher or teacher is to maximize these interdisciplinary relationships. In this article, we will examine in detail the relationship of geography with other sciences.
Inter-scientific relations - what is it?
Inter-scientific (or interdisciplinary) communication is the relationship between individual disciplines. During the educational process, they must be established by the teacher (teacher) and the student. The identification of such relationships provides a deeper assimilation of knowledge and contributes to their more effective application in practice. Therefore, the teacher needs to focus on this problem when studying any science.
Identification of intersubject communications is an important factor in building a meaningful and high-quality education system. After all, their awareness of the student allows him to more deeply know the object and tasks of a particular science.
Nature Studies
The system of sciences studying nature includes physics, biology, astronomy, ecology, geography and chemistry. They are also called natural science disciplines. Perhaps the main place among them belongs to physics (after all, even the term itself is translated as "nature").
The relationship of geography with other sciences that study nature is obvious, because they all have a common object of study. But why then do different disciplines study it?
The thing is that knowledge of nature is very multifaceted, it includes many different sides and aspects. And one science is simply not able to comprehend and describe it. That is why several disciplines have historically formed that study different processes, objects and phenomena occurring in the world around us.
Geography and other sciences
It is interesting that until the 17th century, the science of the Earth was unified and integral. But over time, with the accumulation of new knowledge, the object of its study became more complicated and differentiated. Soon, biology broke away from geography, and then geology. Later, several more Earth sciences became independent. At this time, based on the study of the various components of the geographic envelope, geography ties with other sciences are formed and strengthened.
Today in the structure of geographical science there are at least fifty different disciplines. Each of them is distinguished by its research methods. In general, geography is divided into two large sections:
- Physical geography.
- Socio-economic geography.
The first studies natural processes and objects, the second - the phenomena that occur in society and the economy. Often, the connection between two narrow disciplines from different sections of the doctrine may not be traced at all.
On the other hand, the ties of geography with other sciences are very close. So, the closest and "family" for her are:
- physics;
- biology;
- ecology;
- mathematics (in particular, geometry);
- history;
- economy;
- chemistry;
- cartography;
- the medicine;
- sociology;
- demography and others.
Moreover, at the junction of geography with other sciences, completely new disciplines can often form. So, for example, there was a geophysics, geochemistry or medical geography.
Physics and Geography: The Link between Sciences
Physics is, in fact, a pure science of nature. This term is found in the works of the ancient Greek thinker Aristotle, who lived in the IV-III century. BC. That is why the connection of geography with physics is very close.
The essence of atmospheric pressure, the origin of wind, or the peculiarities of the formation of glacial landforms - it is very difficult to reveal all these topics without resorting to the knowledge gained in physics lessons. Some schools even practice conducting integrated lessons in which physics and geography are organically intertwined.
The connection of these two sciences in the framework of school education helps students to better understand the educational material and specify their knowledge. In addition, it can become a tool for the formation of cognitive interest among schoolchildren in "related" science. For example, a student who previously didn’t get along very well with physics may suddenly fall in love with one of the lessons of geography. This is another crucial aspect and benefit of intersubject communications.
Biology and geography
The connection of geography with biology is perhaps the most obvious. Both sciences study nature. Here only biology focuses on living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms), and geography - on its abiotic components (rocks, rivers, lakes, climate, etc.). But since the connection between living and nonliving components in nature is very close, this means that these sciences are a priori related.
At the junction of biology and geography, a completely new discipline was formed - biogeography. The main object of its study is biogeocenoses, in which the biotic and abiotic components of the environment interact.
These two sciences are also united by the issue of environmental management. In search of the right answer to it, geographers and biologists are consolidating all their efforts.
Ecology and geography
These two sciences are so intertwined that sometimes the subject of their research is even identified. A solution to any environmental problem is simply not possible without resorting to aspects of geographical science.
Especially strong is the connection of ecology with physical geography. It resulted in the formation of a completely new science - geoecology. This term was first coined by Carl Troll in the 1930s. This is a comprehensive applied discipline that studies the structure, properties and processes that take place in the human environment, as well as other living organisms.
One of the key tasks of geoecology is the search and development of environmental management methods, as well as assessing the prospects for sustainable development of specific regions or territories.
Chemistry and Geography
Another discipline from the class of natural sciences, which has fairly close ties with geography, is chemistry. In particular, it interacts with soil geography and soil science.
Based on these ties, new scientific branches have arisen and are developing. These are, first of all, geochemistry, hydrochemistry, chemistry of the atmosphere and geochemistry of landscapes. The study of certain topics of geography is simply impossible without appropriate knowledge of chemistry. First of all, we are talking about the following issues:
- distribution of chemical elements in the earth's crust;
- chemical structure of the soil;
- soil acidity;
- chemical composition of water;
- salinity of ocean water;
- aerosols in the atmosphere and their origin;
- migration of substances in the lithosphere and hydrosphere.
Students will master this material more effectively in integrated lessons, on the basis of laboratories or chemistry rooms.
Mathematics and Geography
The relationship between mathematics and geography can be called very close. So, it’s impossible to teach a person how to use a geographical map or a plan of an area without basic mathematical knowledge and skills.
The connection between mathematics and geography is manifested in the existence of so-called geographical problems. These are the tasks:
- to determine the distances on the map;
- to determine the scale;
- to calculate the height of the mountain according to temperature gradients or pressure gradients;
- demographic calculations and the like.
In addition, geography in its studies very often uses mathematical methods: statistical, correlation, balance, modeling (including computer), and others. If we talk about economic geography, then mathematics can be safely called its "half-sister."
Cartography and geography
The connection of these two scientific disciplines should not cause the slightest doubt. After all, a map is a language of geography. Without mapping, this science is simply unthinkable.
There is even a special research method - cartographic. It consists in obtaining the information necessary for the scientist from various maps. Thus, a geographic map is transformed from an ordinary geography product into a source of important information. This research method is used in many studies: in biology, history, economics, demography, and so on.
History and Geography
"History is geography in time, and geography is history in space." This unusually accurate thought was expressed by Jean-Jacques Reclus.
History is connected exclusively with social geography (social and economic). So, when studying the population and economy of a particular country, one cannot ignore its history. Thus, the young geographer a priori should generally understand the historical processes that took place in a certain territory.
Recently, among scientists there are ideas about the full integration of these two disciplines. And in some universities the specialties "History and Geography" have long been created.
Economics and Geography
Geography and economics are also very close. In fact, the result of the interaction between the two sciences was the emergence of a completely new discipline called economic geography.
If for economics the key question is “what and for whom to produce”, then economic geography is primarily interested in something else: how and where are these or those benefits produced? And also this science is trying to find out why the production of a product is established precisely in this (specific) point of a country or region.
Economic geography originated in the middle of the XVIII century. Her father can be considered the greatest scientist M.V. Lomonosov, who coined the term in 1751. At first, economic geography was purely descriptive. Then, the sphere of her interests included the problems of the distribution of production forces and urbanization.
Today, economic geography includes several industry disciplines. It:
- geography of industry;
- Agriculture;
- transport;
- infrastructure;
- tourism;
- service industry geography.
Finally...
All sciences are related to each other to a greater or lesser extent. The links of geography with other sciences are also quite close. Especially when it comes to disciplines such as history, physics, chemistry, biology, economics or ecology.
One of the tasks of a modern teacher is to identify and show the student intersubject communications using concrete examples. This is an extremely important condition for building a quality education system. Indeed, the effectiveness of its application for solving practical problems directly depends on the complexity of knowledge.