Nimble at work: equipping students with first-order and second-order thinking

ABSTRACT

Geography lecturers face increasing teaching challenges from the state, institution, department, and students to better equip undergraduates for their subsequent careers. I argue that the primary objective in geography curriculum should be exposing undergraduates to a mixture of both applied and theoretical perspectives, which, among other benefits such as acquiring and developing their disciplinary knowledge, would allow them to best transfer their skills and knowledge to the workplace. The former is crucial for students as they need to embark the workplace in broadly knowing how to approach matters realistically in applied measures (second-order thinking), whilst the latter will prove useful in enabling them to frame issues in a wider manner (first-order thinking). Using a research proposal project as an example in a field studies module offered by a geography department in a Singaporean university conducted in Thailand, I reflect on this engagement via the consultation and guidance and grading their assignment. Whilst field-based modules arguably offer better first-hand experience for students, I conclude by suggesting how we could take this combination of applied and critical geographies for students to experience back in the classroom.

KEYWORDS:

• Applied geography
• critical geography
• field studies
• research proposal
• first-order thinking
• second-order thinking

Acknowledgments

I wish to express appreciation for critiques and suggestions made by the reviewers in strengthening the paper. I want to thank Tim Hall and Niamh Moore-Cherry for their helpful comments on an earlier draft and James D Sidaway’s advice to be more concise in the paper’s title. I also thank my colleagues Carl Grundy-Warr and Dan Friess in executing this research proposal exercise together for students. All errors or misinterpretations are my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Project Big Picture aims to both radically overhaul the power structure of the Premier League and help financially safeguard teams in the divisions below. For further details, please see https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/54510898