Scientific-normative specifics of grouping countries in geography and economics training
Authors: Dermendzhieva Stella , Draganova Tamara 
Published: May 2024

Studying the continents, regions and countries of the world is the most enduring course of study in school geography along with the home country course. In the history of the development of geographical science and the methodology of training geography, the problems of classifying, grouping and typologizing countries in the world have been studied in depth by many scientists and methodologists. In the noosphere and times of digital transformations, the diversity of criteria and indicators for the division of continents, regions and countries is increasing. Every country in the world has specific features and characteristics that predetermine the similarities and the differences between individual countries at the continent and regional level, which makes it possible to classify and group them. Appropriate indicators are needed to characterize the countries according to a given criterion, but with the clear distinction that countries are classified by the criteria and grouped by the indicators. State educational standards and curricula for junior high school stage, first and second high school stage were studied, and the indicators and signs in the grouping of the contries were normatively followed. The place and role, the content and the requirements for the activity of the action - grouping in the normative framework, which is also present in the activities for the acquisition of the key competences related to the 9 groups of key competences, have been studied. In the curricula of geography and economics for general education and profiled preparation, the overall conceptual framework of regionalization and the geography of society has been transformed with clearly perceptible normative requirements for grouping countries according to clearly defined indicators - geographical location, area, number of population and form of government. In the overall didactic cycle for grouping the countries in the school geography in Bulgaria, specific competencies are required on the part of the teachers to realize the expected results through a different form and manner, modern training methods and techniques, various didactic means and resources. An electronic resource that has a universal and simplified interface and a large number of operational possibilities, through which geographical maps can be created for the didactic purposes of school geography, is MapChart. MapChart is an electronic platform for online work that has unlimited possibilities for implementing countries grouped by various indicators. Each teacher can create an unlimited number of author's geographical maps, as well as save them and create their own gallery, and also import the maps in presentations, posters, text, etc. With MapChart, every teacher and student can create their own personalized geographic map. The research thesis encompasses the competence to group countries according to normatively defined indicators. The research proves the existence of a synergistic-normative unity between the educational stages and a model is proposed for realizing the expected results through an electronic platform. For the study of the normative framework, the indicators and the required competences, the following objectives were fulfilled: the state educational standards and curricula in geography for the study of continents, regions and countries were analyzed; the features of the procedural requirements for the characterization of a country and specific grouping of countries are identified and presented; the place and the role, the content and the requirements for the action have been studied - grouping in the normative framework; presentation of the situational vision of the competence for grouping the countries in relation to the 9 groups of key competences; software programs have been studied and MapChart has been proposed to achieve the expected result of grouping countries by indicator as an opportunity to create an author's geographical map. Content analysis, situational analysis, comparative analysis, synthesizing, summarizing, and other techniques have all been used in the current study of the competence for classifying the countries according to the state educational standards and curricula in geography and economics