Geographical cross-disciplinary topic learning is an important carrier for deepening the reform of basic education geography curriculum and developing students' core competencies. To systematically grasp the development trends of related research at home and abroad, this paper takes the relevant literature on geographical interdisciplinary topic learning in the CNKI and Web of Science databases as samples, and adopts the method of combining CiteSpace keyword co-occurrence analysis and content analysis to analyze the research hotspots, frontier issues, and development trends. The fi ndings indicate that current research hotspots are mainly concentrated on disciplinary positioning, theme construction, learning organization, technological support, and implementation conditions. Related research is moving from the juxtaposition of knowledge across multiple disciplines toward deeper integration of disciplinary concepts, methods, and ways of knowing, and from isolated lessons or individual projects toward sequenced and progressively structured curricula across grade levels. Increasing attention is also being given to authentic participation, whole-process learning assessment, digital and intelligent support, and the development of curriculum communities. These fi ndings may provide a reference for advancing the theoretical development, practical improvement, and institutionalization of interdisciplinary theme-based learning in geography in China.

The Senior High School Geography Curriculum Standards: Daily Revised Edition (2017 Edition, Revised in 2025), explicitly designates for the first time the well- or ill-structured nature of contexts as the key criterion for differentiating academic quality levels. Based on the context-dependent characteristics of academic quality standards, this study clarifi es the connotation of contextual progression and extracts its disciplinary core from the descriptive dimensions of comprehensiveness, regionality, and practicality. Furthermore, drawing upon typical cases from the PEP senior high school geography textbooks, this paper elaborates on a three-dimensional approach for constructing progressive contexts: deepening along the element interrelation axis, expanding along the spatiotemporal scale axis, and upgrading along the practical preset axis.

To build a translational bridge between national curriculum standards and junior high school geography teaching, Jiangsu Province has compiled Teaching Guidelines for the Compulsory Education Junior High School Geography Curriculum Standard. Rooted in local teaching realities, the province explores localized implementation approaches for academic quality evaluation. Taking the Guidelines as an example, this paper elaborates its design logic of refi ning academic performances and extracting competency performances based on national curriculum standard, and constructs implementation pathways for key competences cultivation and academic quality assessment. Supported by thematic teaching guidance as well as suggestions on hierarchical, life-oriented and inquiry-based homework design, a complete implementation framework is established to translate curriculum standard into classroom instruction. This research provides localized practical references for regions to advance the curriculum reform and realize the regular implementation of key competences in geography education.

Ecological civilization education can provide a robust ideological foundation and a talent pool for Chinese-style modernization. Given the inherent disciplinary advantages of geography in this fi eld, enhancing the ecological civilization literacy of pre-service geography teachers is of great significance, However, current research on ecological civilization education rarely takes the heterogeneity of educational recipients into account. The eff ectiveness of cultivating ecological civilization literacy among pre-service geography teachers is undermined. On this basis, this paper adopts Self-Determination Theory as a theoretical lens, points out the practical dilemmas at present: autonomy is systematically eroded, competence is habitually neglected and relatedness is structurally weakened. Taking the ecological civilization practice association of School S as an example, it focuses on three dimensions: club operation mode, faculty guidance strategies and community relational bonds, and puts forward optimization paths for cultivating pre-service geography teachers’ ecological civilization literacy. The aim is to better harness the important supporting role of ecological civilization education in ecological civilization construction and the advancement of Chinese-style modernization.

Physical Geography is a core compulsory course for geographic science majors. At present, there are substantial discrepancies in the scheduling of this course among domestic universities, with a wide span of teaching semesters and frequent revisions to training programs. Taking undergraduate geographic science majors as the research object, this study adopts a combined qualitative and quantitative approach. Based on the sorting of training programs and survey data collected from teachers and students, it explores the advantages and challenges of off ering the course in diff erent academic years. The study shows that scheduling the course in the lower, middle and upper grades each has its own applicable characteristics. Meanwhile, practical problems exist such as insuffi cient diff erentiated teaching by instructors, students’ vague understanding of the course positioning, repetitive teaching content for senior undergraduates, and inadequate implementation of advancedlevel teaching. The fi ndings of this study can provide a reference for universities to optimize the teaching schedule of Physical Geography, improve the curriculum system, and elevate the undergraduate teaching quality of geography majors.

Bringing frontiers of geographical research into the classroom and translating research advances into basic education can help students gain insight into developments in scientific research, stimulate their interest in inquiry, and develop an appreciation of the scientifi c spirit. In response to the requirements for advancing science education in the new era, this study examines the underlying logic among science education, geography education, and frontiers of geographical research, and proposes three principles for translating research frontiers into classroom practice: grounding instruction in the pursuit of truth, adapting to students’ needs and characteristics, and maintaining a competency-oriented focus. Using the project-based learning unit Evolution of Karst Water-Storage Projects in Guizhou as a case, the study explores approaches to integrating research frontiers into geography classrooms from four aspects: selecting the project theme, setting competencyoriented objectives, designing scaff olded tasks, and developing an assessment system. The study provides practical insights into integrating frontiers of geographical research into geography classrooms and implementing project-based learning within the broader perspective of science education.

Learning science offers a theoretical lens for understanding deep learning by focusing on internal cognitive mechanisms. Problem-based Learning drives students to engage in higher-order cognitive activities through real-world situations and problem-solving, serving as a crucial pathway to deep learning. From the perspective of learning science, this paper analyzes the cognitive progression mechanisms and information-processing procedures in high school geography problem-solving, and constructs a cognitive progression model of “surface learning-deep learning-transfer learning.” Taking “the impact of regional development on transport layout” as a case, it designs a PBL instructional plan aligned with the cognitive pathways of problem-solving. The study aims to remedy the prevalent issue of surface-level knowledge acquisition, guide students toward stepwise cognitive progression, foster the occurrence of deep learning in geography, and provide practical references for the cultivation of core competencies in geography.

This paper addresses the balancing dilemma between "boundary-keeping" and "boundary-crossing" in interdisciplinary teaching oriented by the core competencies of geography. lt proposes a professional practice framework centered on "scale grasping" as the core. lt arques that "boundary-keeping" represents a rational adherence to the subjectivity of the geography discipline, while "boundary-crossing" signifies a pedagogical innovation that actively integrates multidisciplinary resources to solve complex geographical problems. The two are dynamically unified through teachers' professional judgment. "Scale grasping" is specifically manifested in four geographical dimensions-spatiality, methodology, structure, and process-providing analyticalbases for diagnosing imbalances in teaching. This paper maintains that interdisciplinary teaching should move toward "deep integration" and achieve systematic transformation through three pathways: objective design, process organization, and eff ect evaluation, thereby off ering theoretical references and practical guidance for geography teachers in conducting interdisciplinary teaching.

In the digital age, the security of geospatial data has become an important part of national security education, and it is also a key way to implement geographical key competences and conduct education on the overall national security perspective in high schools. Facing the growing risks of geospatial data leaks and the lack of integration of national security education into subject teaching, this article takes the dual-teacher collaborative public class "Protect Data Security, Strengthen the Cyber Defense" as a practical example. It focuses on core geography content like spatial cognition, geographic information technology, regional security, and national territorial awareness, while also incorporating requirements from political education such as the overall national security perspective, legal awareness, and public participation. The study builds an interdisciplinary teaching path of "real-world scenario-driven — technical principle analysis — risk identifi cation and judgment — multi-level governance construction." The research shows that deeply integrating geography and political education can eff ectively connect knowledge, technology, security, and law, promoting the co-development of students' spatial thinking, holistic thinking, and national security awareness. It provides a practical model for secondary school classrooms to carry out overall national security education that can be replicated and promoted.

As a core thinking approach of geography, scale thinking has unique strengths in analyzing the temporal and spatial variations of vegetation. This paper takes the campus lawn as the research object, adopts the fi ve-point sampling method to investigate plant population density, and measures environmental factors such as light intensity, soil temperature and humidity simultaneously. The results show that the dandelion density in the courtyard lawn in winter is far higher than that in the playground lawn, which is associated with trampling, wind force and maintenance modes. In summer, the dominant species in the courtyard lawn shifts from dandelion to goosegrass and green foxtail. Judging from the geographical time scale, this seasonal alternation belongs to short-term environmental fl uctuation rather than long-term evolutionary community succession. On this basis, this paper takes the controversial issue "succession or fl uctuation" as the teaching entry point, discusses how to carry out interdisciplinary integrated teaching of geography and biology based on daily campus scenarios, and provides case references for implementing the cultivation of Geography Praxis.

Spatial-temporal integrative thinking is an important component of geographical holistic thinking. This study conceptualizes spatial-temporal integrative thinking into three hierarchical levels: spatial-temporal objects, spatial-temporal relationships, and spatial-temporal coupling, and develops an assessment instrument to measure students’ performance across these levels. The results show that, among the students in the sample, the overall level of spatial-temporal integrative thinking was at Level 2, with spatial-temporal relational and coupling thinking being relatively weak. Based on these fi ndings, this study proposes the following training paths: enhancing students’ ability to identify spatial-temporal information through the construction of geographic representations; deepening their ability to analyze geographical flows through an “input– interaction–output” framework; and improving their spatial-temporal coupling ability through a “Time-Space-Flow-Process ”diagram. Preliminary evidence from teaching practice suggests that these approaches can help promote the development of students’ spatial-temporal integrative thinking toward higher-order levels.