Towards the Nature of Geography for geography education: an exploratory account, learning from work on the Nature of Science

This paper offers an exploratory account of the Nature of Geography (NOG) for geography education. The proposed NOG framework describes geography through the theoretical offerings of the family resemblance approach across the dimensions of: aims and values; knowledge; methods and methodological rules; practices; and geography as a social-institutional system. In science education, the recontextualized family resemblance approach has stimulated fruitful contributions to research, including its applications as an analytical methodological tool for curriculum research and development, and to inform teacher education. Rather than seeking to describe the essence of geography through an illusive shared epistemological object of study, the family resemblance approach offers a framework shown to be robust in science education with space for multiple foci and flexibility to hold unresolved questions in tension. Our argument is that integration of the NOG framework into geography education would introduce students to a more holistic understanding of the different ways in which aims and values, knowledge, methods, practices, and social-institutional dimensions interact in the construction and constitution of geography. We suggest possibilities for NOG across teaching resources, curriculum research, and teacher education.