Present Climate Change as a Threat to Geoheritage: The Wildfire in Bohemian Switzerland National Park and Its Use in Place-Based Learning
Bohemian Switzerland is a national park in Northern Czechia famous for its sandstone rocks, which were affected by a massive fire in 2022. Specific geomorphology of the region affected the spreading of the fire and complicated its extinguishing. The fire directly or indirectly damaged several geosit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Geosciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/13/12/383 |
| _version_ | 1797380881435852800 |
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| author | Artur Boháč Emil Drápela |
| author_facet | Artur Boháč Emil Drápela |
| author_sort | Artur Boháč |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Bohemian Switzerland is a national park in Northern Czechia famous for its sandstone rocks, which were affected by a massive fire in 2022. Specific geomorphology of the region affected the spreading of the fire and complicated its extinguishing. The fire directly or indirectly damaged several geosites in Bohemian Switzerland. The catastrophe brought a possibility of showing the unique connection between geoheritage and present climate change and increasing awareness about the problems. The text is focused on field education of geography, striving to strengthen environmental awareness among students through educating their teachers. The research is based on desk research, field observation and didactic principles application. The causes of the fire were complex, including physical geographical (drought and bark beetle calamity within climate change) and human geographical phenomena (mass tourism and tourist misbehavior, inappropriate forestry practices). The teachers we worked with reached similar conclusions at the end of our course. Our fieldwork educational concept proved viable and was appreciated by them mainly thanks to the incorporation of research-based learning and the absence of unnatural emphasis on climate change. Climate change is a politicized topic, bringing controversies to the classrooms in the peripheral region. The approach we proposed is anchored in inquiry-based methods and touches on the issue indirectly. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:43:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-097afdf0e8934f8aa79831fe830f6ccd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3263 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:43:25Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geosciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-097afdf0e8934f8aa79831fe830f6ccd2023-12-22T14:11:38ZengMDPI AGGeosciences2076-32632023-12-01131238310.3390/geosciences13120383Present Climate Change as a Threat to Geoheritage: The Wildfire in Bohemian Switzerland National Park and Its Use in Place-Based LearningArtur Boháč0Emil Drápela1Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education, Technical University of Liberec, Komenského 2, 46005 Liberec, Czech RepublicDepartment of Geography, Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education, Technical University of Liberec, Komenského 2, 46005 Liberec, Czech RepublicBohemian Switzerland is a national park in Northern Czechia famous for its sandstone rocks, which were affected by a massive fire in 2022. Specific geomorphology of the region affected the spreading of the fire and complicated its extinguishing. The fire directly or indirectly damaged several geosites in Bohemian Switzerland. The catastrophe brought a possibility of showing the unique connection between geoheritage and present climate change and increasing awareness about the problems. The text is focused on field education of geography, striving to strengthen environmental awareness among students through educating their teachers. The research is based on desk research, field observation and didactic principles application. The causes of the fire were complex, including physical geographical (drought and bark beetle calamity within climate change) and human geographical phenomena (mass tourism and tourist misbehavior, inappropriate forestry practices). The teachers we worked with reached similar conclusions at the end of our course. Our fieldwork educational concept proved viable and was appreciated by them mainly thanks to the incorporation of research-based learning and the absence of unnatural emphasis on climate change. Climate change is a politicized topic, bringing controversies to the classrooms in the peripheral region. The approach we proposed is anchored in inquiry-based methods and touches on the issue indirectly.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/13/12/383Bohemian Switzerlandsandstone rockswildfireclimate changedroughtbark beetle |
| spellingShingle | Artur Boháč Emil Drápela Present Climate Change as a Threat to Geoheritage: The Wildfire in Bohemian Switzerland National Park and Its Use in Place-Based Learning Geosciences Bohemian Switzerland sandstone rocks wildfire climate change drought bark beetle |
| title | Present Climate Change as a Threat to Geoheritage: The Wildfire in Bohemian Switzerland National Park and Its Use in Place-Based Learning |
| title_full | Present Climate Change as a Threat to Geoheritage: The Wildfire in Bohemian Switzerland National Park and Its Use in Place-Based Learning |
| title_fullStr | Present Climate Change as a Threat to Geoheritage: The Wildfire in Bohemian Switzerland National Park and Its Use in Place-Based Learning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Present Climate Change as a Threat to Geoheritage: The Wildfire in Bohemian Switzerland National Park and Its Use in Place-Based Learning |
| title_short | Present Climate Change as a Threat to Geoheritage: The Wildfire in Bohemian Switzerland National Park and Its Use in Place-Based Learning |
| title_sort | present climate change as a threat to geoheritage the wildfire in bohemian switzerland national park and its use in place based learning |
| topic | Bohemian Switzerland sandstone rocks wildfire climate change drought bark beetle |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/13/12/383 |
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